THE TWO biggest stars of grime have thrown barbs back and forth, which culminated in the release of Wiley’s Eeydiat Skengman. This, a direct ‘send’ for Stormzy, has reignited an interest in the genre that hasn’t been seen since Chip took on Bugzy Malone a few years ago. 

The comparison to Lennox Lewis V Anthony Joshua has been made, with the old school legend, taking on the new king, but Stormzy should remember that this is Wiley’s playground, he lives for this.

While Wiley might be an original pioneer behind grime, Stormzy has taken the genre to heights that transcend not only the genre, but music itself.

Stormzy is a British icon, this was cemented when he highlighted Glastonbury in the summer and wore his slippers on BBC Breakfast earlier this week. In short, Stormzy has the world at his feet and is a household name, does he really need to be going toe to toe with Wiley? I don’t think so.

It is a little known fact that a lot of the lyrics in Stormzy’s breakout freestyle Shut Up was in fact, a send for Wileys younger brother Cadell, Cadell had tried to bait Stormzy into a clash and consistently sent for him on tracks such as Hotline, and 3 is the new 6. Stormzy killed him with silence by never mentioning his name but leaving subliminal messages in his massive tracks, some say that the Stormzy track Scary is also a dig at Cadell, and Cadell seemed to think so too as he replied with Scarier.  The truth is that Cadell’s name wasn’t big enough for Stormzy to say it, but the competitor in him made it hard not to retaliate, but he didn’t want to give Wiley’s younger brother any exposure.

But, apparently fed up with Wiley’s barbs and social media rants, Stormzy shocked the world by replying to his send with Disappointed, which at the time of writing has amassed 2.5 Million views in two days. He immediately starts the diss by telling Wiley he made a fool of his brother and his dad at one of his shows, which immediately sets the tone for the dark track, which is recorded over drill beat Know Better from Headie One. He goes on to call Wiley a crackhead and threatens that he will ‘slap’ him for mentioning his mum.

The issue is, Stormzy’s level is above this, why is he entertaining and giving Wiley what he wants?

It is because nothing quite sells like a clash, some of Chip’s highest viewing numbers of his career were during his beefs, and he finds it hard to get that same attention without there being someone on the receiving end of a lyrical tirade, this is the whole spirit of grime, competition, Stormzy right now sees he has a chance to prove he can compete with the best, and he has returned to the roots of grime, all be it on a drill beat to prove he is more than a pop star, which Wiley has accused him of, this proves it.

The retort from Wiley released, Eeydiat Skengman 2 is exactly what was expected, Stormzy says he is unhappy with Wiley mentioning his mum, so Wiley responds with a plethora of disses against Stormzy’s mother, its starting to get a bit ugly now as Wiley threatens to ‘rip her weave off’.

But this is why you shouldn’t mess with Wiley, he is seemingly unhinged when it comes to sending and he has taken all comers over the years. He has beefed with Dizzee Rascal, Devlin, Dot Rotten (X5), Skepta, Boy Better Know, Big H and the Bloodline Crew and that isn’t even half of them.

Clashing is Wiley’s bread and butter, and the more Stormzy continues to respond, he is playing directly into the eskiboy’s hands, as it is essentially a battle he cannot win. This is Wiley’s playground and he has Stormzy directly where he wants him, this beef ends when Wiley has had enough promotion to drop his new album, which was expected on New Year’s Day.