“Wiley Flow” by Stormzy
The reason this song is entitled “Wiley Flow” is because it is meant to serve as Stormzy’s tribute to Wiley, a fellow British emcee who is often referred to as the “Godfather of Grime”. And grime is the genre of music in which Stormzy specializes. So basically he is giving a big shoutout to one of the pioneers of the art form. Indeed this track interpolates a couple of Wiley’s tunes, as well as Wiley himself opening the song with some dialogue. And what he does is refer to himself as a big brother to Stormzy and the current generation of grime vocalists.
As for the lyrics themselves, they are more or less your standard braggadocio fare. And they see Stormzy laying out various ways he is superior to others, specifically it would seem his rivals/peers and disrespectful youngsters. He brings it all home by referring to his rap as the “Wiley flow”. That would indicate that in this particular song he is intentionally emulating Wiley’s style. Moreover, it would insinuate that Wiley is the same type of person Stormzy presents himself as in this track, i.e. one that is street tough as well as a successful musician.
Writing Credits for “Wiley Flow”
“Wiley Flow” was written by Stormzy alongside Wiley himself and one of the track’s producers, E.Y.
The other producers are AdotSkitz and Illmind.
Interpolates Wiley’s Songs
This song interpolates two of Wiley’s well known tracks. They are: “Nightbus Dubplate” (2006) and “Bad ‘Em Up” (2006).
Additionally the cover art to “Wiley Flow” was inspired by the cover of Eskiboy’s (aka Wiley’s) “Tunnel Vision Vol. 1”, which featured “Bad ‘Em Up”.
What has Wiley said about “Wiley Flow”?
Wiley referred to Stormzy as his “brudda 4 life” in response to this tribute.
When did Stormzy release this track?
Stormzy dropped “Wiley Flow” on the 15th of September 2019. It came as one of the singles from his 2019 album “Heavy is the Head”. The tracks “Crown” and “Vossi Bop” are also tracks from this album.
