Wiley

Godfather of Grime. Wot Do U Call It. Eskibeat pioneer. Beefs with Dizzee Rascal, Stormzy, Skepta.

Wiley didn't just pioneer grime—he essentially willed it into existence, establishing the Eskibeat template that would define a generation of UK rappers before most of them could even spell the genre's name. His early 2000s output, particularly the *Wot Do U Call It?* era, set the blueprint that Skepta, Dizzee Rascal, and countless others would either build upon or openly rebel against, which explains why his beefs with those very artists carried the weight of ideological clashes rather than mere ego. Whether sparring with Stormzy over authenticity or trading volleys with Skepta over grime supremacy, Wiley positioned himself as the uncompromising guardian of a sound he'd invented, a role that sometimes isolated him but never diminished his foundational influence on everything that followed.