You can't knock Wiley's work rate. Despite having a penchant for touring and being a little selective as to how long he performs for or whether or not to actually turn up, a little over six months since releasing “100% Publishing” and its swift successor “Chill Out Zone”, the widely acknowledged ‘Godfather of Grime’ is back with his 8th studio album, “Evolve Or Be Extinct”.
Weighing in at a fairly hefty 22 tracks, this latest offering takes the listener deep inside the complex mind-set of Richard Cowie; the same man that due to creative differences with label executives, gave away through Twitter almost 200 unreleased tracks, including those lined up to form the ill-fated “The Elusive” LP. Perhaps it’s this sort of behaviour that Wiley is referring to when he declares that that he’s a “Weirdo” (although on the track, he’s quick to add that “he’s not bi-polar”).
Commercially, this may become one of Wiley’s most viable releases to date. The lead single “Boom Blast” has distinct echoes of his biggest mainstream success “Wearing My Rolex” and similarly, the simplistic, instructive chorus of “I’m Skanking” (“1,2,3,4, I’m Skanking”) has club-ready stamped all over it.
Cracking the mainstream always runs the risk of alienating a core fan base in order to please those that want the cleaner sound, which in the eyes of a loyal following, heads towards the musical taboo of ‘selling out’. Being potentially the biggest name in the scene, it was inevitable that a substantial portion of the album is built upon the sound that Wiley pioneered. The opener “Welcome To Zion”, alongside the title track, carry the trademark Eski sound that is quintessentially synonymous with Wiley and Grime, a fact to which he alludes on “This Is Just An Album” when he brazenly states “…I’m better when I’m spitting on Grime/ So I should, I swear this genre’s mine”.
“Evolve Or Be Extinct” finds Wiley in a state of musical tranquillity that hasn’t apparently been experienced for some time. Gone are label conflicts of past that have controlled his output and his creative freedom, resulting in a sonically diverse LP from an equally eccentric individual. A cacophony of dark bass lines, quirky electronic tones, twinges of Caribbean heritage and ultimately, humorous, honest and all the while infectious wordplay; in “Evolve Or Be Extinct”, Wiley has created a body of work that may finally elevate him to those much desired higher plains of mainstream appreciation.
Download "Evolve Or Be Extinct" from iTunes now - http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/evolve-or-be-extinct/id488091666
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