Skepta’s “Wish You Were Here” Lyrics Meaning

“Wish You Were Here” is Skepta’s diss tracked aimed at fellow UK grime rapper Wiley. The true genesis of this beef is a bit convoluted. However, it would seem the explosive spark was Skepta’s diss track “In the Country”, in which he criticized Wiley for moving out the ‘hood, even though prior the two of them had in the least a close business association.

According to “Wish You Were Here”, Skepta took the initiative to go to Wiley’s house to squash the beef. This apparently happened during Wiley’s birthday party held in January of 2019, which the birthday boy himself was unable to attend. Even though there is an apparently valid explanation for his absence, Skepta still seems hurt by it all, with Wiley’s nonappearance being his primary gripe on the track. Strangely enough, at the party itself, Skepta actually threatened others not to dis Wiley. So the conclusion would be that sometime between 19 January (Wiley’s birthday) and 2 February (the release date of this track), something had or had not happened which got Skepta back after Wiley.

For instance, Skepta insinuates that at some poin,t Wiley was ‘talking about war’, which he obviously doesn’t appreciate. He also implies that in the pas,t he wrote lyrics for Wiley.

Near the end of the track, Skepta somewhat paradoxically states that even when Wiley reaches out, he might just ignore him. Then he dedicates a few bars to highlighting other prominent people who were apparently at the party Wiley missed.

Quick Facts about “Wish You Were Here”

• “Wish You Were Here” is a hundred percent diss track.
• It is targeted at none other than rapper Wiley.
• The entire writing and production this track were handled by Skepta.
• Skepta dropped this diss track on February 2, 2019.

Where was this song premiered?

It was premiered on a Tim Westwood hosted show on Capital XTRA on February 2, 2019.

Did Wiley respond to this diss track?

Yes, he did. As a matter of fact, hours after Skepta dropped the diss song, Wiley took to Twitter to respond. In his response, he threatened to bring Skepta “back down to earth” for good. Here are Wiley’s exact words on Twitter:

NOTE: In addition to the above, Wiley released several other messages on social media in response to Skepta’s diss.