Grime does pay! MBE for drug-dealer turned rapper
HE is dubbed the godfather of the hard-hitting urban music known as grime – and has a background in gang violence and drugs.
But yesterday music star Wiley was summoned to Buckingham Palace – to pick up an MBE.
The rapper, who has admitted knife attacks and selling class A drugs including crack cocaine and heroin, grinned outside the palace after receiving the honour from the Duke of Cambridge for services to music.
The 39-year-old, whose real name is Richard Kylie Cowie, is credited with pioneering grime – an offshoot of rap that originated in London. Yet the artist has a dark history of violence, having been stabbed 20 times.
He was even stabbed seven times by the same attacker over three weeks during a spate of ganglinked violence.
Wiley, from East London, has also admitted knifing others. Collecting his award yesterday, the rapper expressed his surprise that the Royal Family had heard of the underground music genre.
He said: ‘I did think in the music industry you could do work that people would recognise. But I didn’t know if, like, the royals would.’ Grime has grown increasingly popular in recent years through artists like Dizzee Rascal and Stormzy – who attacked Theresa May in a vile rap at the Brit Awards last week. The style focuses on some of the realities of urban lifestyle, including gangs, drugs, violence, guns and negative terms for women.
But grime is now reaching a mainstream audience, with stars releasing a string of chart-topping hits. Reflecting on the success of the music he helped pioneer, Wiley said: ‘It’s amazing, man. I’m so proud – proud of the fact that these kids can do something.’ Wiley, who had his first chart success in 2001, added that as he approaches 40, he wants to focus on developing young talent.
He said: ‘I’m glad I could’ve been an inspiration to those who felt like giving up.’ Asked if he would consider giving up grime, he said: ‘I did half think about it, but with me I couldn’t cos it’s the only thing I knew how to do. You don’t give up what you love.’
Reflecting on receiving his MBE, he added: ‘This could open up doors for me in terms of going back to teach, to help, because I don’t care about myself any more, I care about others. I feel like that’s the way I get on in my life, it’s about everyone else, and that’s why I’m here.’ The star has now added #MBE to the end of his name on his Twitter account. He also shared photos of his award and himself receiving the honour from the Duke of Cambridge on his Instagram with the hashtag #Kings. Wiley grew up in Bow, East London. He moved around several times during his childhood with his father before moving to Chatham, Kent when he was ten to live with his grandmother. He recalls feeling ‘abandoned’ during that time, but eventually moved back to Bow to live with his father when he was 11. As a teenager he began to sell crack cocaine and heroin after being introduced to drug dealing by a DJ friend.
Addicted to cannabis throughout his teenage years, he became associated with gang life and it quickly led to a string of lifethreatening situations. The rapper has been stabbed a total of 20 times – and was knifed seven times during two separate incidents by the same person over a friend’s unpaid drug deal.
After an argument, Wiley was ambushed by a 45- strong gang while attending a show.
He has also described being chased by an attacker armed with a samurai sword and fired at with shotguns. But he had his first taste of fame in 2001 when he had a top 40 hit, Champagne Dance, with the group Pay As U Go.
‘I was a drug dealer, but then I realised I could do music’, he said. Last year an academic accused grime music of fuelling the use of skunk because artists are referencing the drug in their chart-topping songs.
Ian Hamilton, a lecturer in mental health at York University, said the music contains hundreds of lyrics glorifying use of the superstrong cannabis.