Wiley’s previous album, Godfather, was supposed to be his last. His autobiography, published last November, felt like a line being drawn under the storied career of this grime producer and MC, at least as an artist (the paperback is out next month). He got an MBE in March.
But Wiley recently signed a new worldwide deal; an album called Godfather just begs for a sequel, and Wiley is trailing a third for 2020. There’s no sense that this mercurial character is slowing down verbally either – Bar finds him with MCs Scratchy and D Double E bouncing bars over computer game sounds at breakneck speed.
Grime moves fast, though, and although some of Godfather II stays true to a classic sound – see the authoritative I Call the Shots, feat JME – other tracks, such as Certified, feat Shakka (a banger), are unabashed lunges for the mainstream.
Not all are as successful. Crash finds Richard Cowie as a comically unlikely loverman (“look at all this food that I gotta digest”) opposite Sinead Harnett, although the production is on point. Still Standing makes for interesting listening, as Wiley repudiates some of his history, but the sung hook and unctuous vibe are a come-hither too far.
