In an interview with Noisey, Grime maestro Wiley has proclaimed today that his twelfth album The Godfather, due for release this Friday, will be his final project.
“This is my last album, in theory. You know, Wiley the brand, you’re not going to see me trying to cane the arse out of tens of Wileys, you will not. I’ll always use my money to do other, smart things.” Wiley said. It is well known that the road to creating The Godfather has not been a smooth one, with the MC initially intending to release the album on September 2 last year, as well as the threat of cancelling the project altogether on multiple occasions.
Mc Wiley-Godfather Album Out September 2nd 2016 . 16 Track Bonanza . 3 Singles then album.
— Chasing The Art #BBK (@WileyUpdates) March 17, 2016
Speculation is no beginning to mount that Wiley’s retirement from music will follow the album’s release, although he did previously, briefly quit music for a time in 2014. Elsewhere in his Noisey interview, the grime icon did appear to criticise a fellow stalwart of the genre, in Kano. Wiley dismissed Kano’s 2016 LP Made in the Manor as “A good Damon Albarn album.”
Wiley elaborated on this saying “I think it was the wrong album to be made by him [Kano] at a time when grime was in fashion” continuing in a less critical fashion: “You know what I’m saying? I’m happy for him and all the success, but that was the wrong album to be made in this time by that artist. If grime is in and it’s popping, and you can see Stormzy and anyone else bringing it back, and you’re so good at it, you could have just given a fifteen track grime classic to follow up Home Sweet Home.”
When quizzed about his own personal satisfaction with The Godfather, Wiley was rather philosophical about his own music, answering “I don’t think it’s my choice to be happy. Once you’ve made something it’s for other people to comment on. Artists are always gonna be biased. They’re always gonna say, “This is good.” Anything they do next they think is good. But in England, no one really knows. It’s all a gamble.”
