Wiley vs. Stormzy: The Long Awaited Clash

Nobody wins when the family feuds, except for all of us on the outside who need a bit of entertainment to get through the day. For those unaware, Wiley and Stormzy have been dancing around a potential clash for a few years, even when the former’s younger brother Cadell had his own back and forth with the south-London MC. Remember that game where a young Allen Iverson hits a crossover and breaks Michael Jordan’s ankles? Few moments in history sum up the clash between grime’s godfather Wiley and the new boss in charge, Stormzy. 

There are few people left for Wiley to clash; he went up against a 17 year-old Kano and admittedly conceded defeat on Lord of the Mics, had a hilarious clash with Skepta, and went up against The Movement on his lonesome on Nightbus Dubplate, arguably one of the most iconic grime.

Stormzy’s breakout hit, “Know Me From,” was an immediate success but it’s the homage paid to Wiley, through the use of producer Zdot’s instrumental (which The Godfather used prior on “BMO Field”), that he would launch his case for stardom. So when Wiley once said, “Eski boy’s the reason why everybody’s here,” it wasn’t so much of a boast as it was fact. Of course, Stormzy could’ve made it this far without the cosign, but the use of the instrumental was a small gesture of him showing gratitude to his forebears. Five years later, Stormzy is still giving thanks for the position he’s now in with his cut from Heavy Is The Head, “Wiley Flow”. 

Over the past couple of years, Wiley has low key been stoking the fires, baiting Stormzy into responding on wax — rather than tweets. Early grime culture was built on these drawouts, heightening the competitive nature of clashing on the corner, playground or on radio. As Stormzy hails from south London, raised on a heavy diet of UK rap from figures such as Krept & Konan and Giggs. Although grime is undeniably the love of his life, he’s often received criticism for evading the normal radio and clash circuit during his come up. While he doesn’t have to and his lack of doing so doesn’t discredit his merits, it’s brought into question whether grime is losing some of that antagonistic, competitive spirit that the scene has lived on. 

Yemi Abiade writes how the mainstream world doesn’t always allow room for artists to sharpen their lyrical skills, particularly if making anthems is a priority. Wiley’s series of drawouts may appear to be hostile and erratic to the grime outsider but in an age where the fan can connect with the MC in real time, why wouldn’t social media become a tool in beef? 

While he didn’t journey the same paths of his elders a decade earlier, such as shelling down radio sets and sending war dubs, Stormzy emerged at a time when grime was experiencing its own growing pains. The fabled ‘grime resurgence’ wasn’t so much that as it was a refocusing of energies and taking the culture back to basics, away from the gaze of an industry that for years had struggled to market grime to a British audience in the early 2010s. 

That said, Stormzy’s audiences are less concerned with him needing to prove his lyrical capability in a set because for them, it’s his overall image and persona they’re drawn to. However, the issue largely isn’t Stormzy’s refusal to be drawn into a clash that probably wouldn’t change much of his public perception in the mainstream, but it’s how grime evolves when its champion chooses when and how he responds. 

In 2015, when Chip and Yungen went back and forth, the clash renewed a collective passion for the competitive nature of grime. At the end of the day, it’s sport, much like WWE. Your bars and flows are your special moves. Right now, Stormzy is Smackdown-era The Rock, where he’s near unchallengeable but sooner or later someone always comes for the crown — whether that’s a young upstart or a dogged-veteran looking for his last Cinderella story. 

Grime can reconjure some of this magic again and it has done in recent years through the rapid growth of technology in the past decade, but in order for it to successfully do so, many other MCs and producers too have to embrace the energy Wiley has been bringing these past few weeks. 

At the time of writing, Stormzy had just posted his response ‘Disappointed’ to Wiley’s ‘Eediyat Skengman’ diss he sent on January 5th. In high profile clashes such as these, victors are named through consensus on social media. At the moment, it appears fans have been given a new lease of life just off the very fact that Stormzy replied.  But at the moment, it seems that he may have a slight edge over Wiley. For now. 

Heavy is the head but in the words of a certain Mr. Little, if you come at the king, you best not miss.

 Wiley wins this by embracing new tactics. Stormzy wins because Wiley can’t aim his shots on target.