20 MusicWeek 20.07.12 INTERVIEWWILEY
FROM GRIMEWAVE TO HEATWAVE
TALENT BY TINA HART
A
familiar face stuffing a bumper-sized Maccie D’s looks up to greet me. Wiley, aka Richard Cowie, is a pioneer, a mentor
(Dizzee Rascal, Tinchy Stryder and Chipmunk), a producer and a businessman. He’s also hungry. As a teenager growing up in London, grime was
an ever-present sound. My ringtone for a good year was Snowman - a beat produced by the notoriously elusive star - so I know first-hand why he’s widely regarded as the scene’s Godfather. I also know Wiley’s a bit of a character when it
comes to dealing with the industry. In my hand, a list that tells its own story: 10 record labels he’s been associated with over the years. I’m not even sure that’s the full set. Nine studio albums down the line, it’s
been more than a decade since Wiley’s first record deal - during which time he’s scored a string of mainstream chart successes and underground hits. Now he’s back on a major record label -
Warner - for a single release of his own, the topically-frustrating Heatwave. (He recently tweeted: “If u hear heatwave on radio while ur staring into a grey sky
dont question why i made the song cos its not my fault the weather is a eediyat”). Music Week had a chat with Wiley about being his many different projects, being hated by the majors and how visiting Jamaica re-inspired him…
Your new single Heatwave features vocalist Ms D and producer Rymez – are they signed
to you?
Rymez was working with me but he’s doing his own stuff with other artists as well so he’ll get publishing [money] now that the tune is signed. And I’m sure Ms D’s being sorted.
“Hopefully if this single and the second one goes well then I’ll be in a good position and I might be able to do an album that incorporates a little bit of grime and dance or whatever” WILEY
Heatwave is doing quite well pre-release and at radio – do you think you’re going to finally bag yourself a solo No.1? Nah. I never ever say No.1, ever. Even when I’ve gone No.1 with Roll Deep or No.2 on my own, I always style it and say “Top 20 or Top 15”. This one, I think, maybe… I want to get a Top 15. We’ve got a few big players with singles out in the same week who you can’t really mess about with – Calvin [Harris] and Example for one.
Are we going to see an LP of yours on Warner soon? You’re going to see a second and third single and
So you’re on a singles deal at the moment? Yeah one step, one step. I want to do it like that so once you’ve done three singles you can see where you’re going.
What’s the story of how you signed to Warner? I had the record [Heatwave], I showed a few other labels. Time passed and I said “I’m going to just do it myself ” so I got it, sent it out to radio and everyone was pushing it. Then I was going to film the video. Whilst I did that I was doing Ten Steps [a series of freestyles released for free to celebrate ten years of grime] and mixtape stuff. My name must have been buzzing a bit and my
manager said Anton [Partridge] at Warner wants to do the single and I was like “Yyyes” because I was breaking my neck anyway. They were negotiating and I thought, “Don’t
negotiate too much just keep it simple.” They agreed a deal and said let’s take it one step at a time… so all I have to do is get this single out of the way then make the second and the third.
You’ve been quoted saying that all the majors hate you. Why would they hate you? Some days they do. Some days we don’t see eye to eye. That’s where sometimes I think to myself, “Stop moaning”. There are times when you’re in the door, there are
times when you’re not. This time around I actually don’t have to worry anymore, I just need to stay in the door. It’s very easy to stay in the door - it’s only when you’re someone like me and you love music too much and sometimes take it so to heart that you make the wrong decision.
Do you think that’s something that you’ve managed to calm over the years, not to take things too personally? Yeah, definitely.
I’ve written a list of all the labels you’ve been signed on, it’s a long list… I got my first deal when I was 19 or 20 with Relentless. That was my first one – Nicole’s Groove, the garage tune [under the guise of Phaze One]. That’s why I like Shabs [ Jobanputra, head of Relentless], he gave me my first deal.
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One of the forefathers of grime – helping to bring through Dizzee Rascal and Tinchy Stryder – now Wiley is bringing a different kind of heat to music
then you’ll see an album but I can’t say that will be my grime project. If I do a grime project that will be in the gaps of what I’m trying to do there. Hopefully if this single and the second one goes well then I’ll be in a good position and I might be able to do an album that incorporates a little bit of grime and dance or whatever.
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