Wiley (rapper)

Wiley (rapper)

Richard Kylea Cowie (born 19 January 1979), better known by his stage name Wiley, is an English rapper, MC, songwriter, record producer and recording artist with Caribbean roots from Trinidad and Antigua, originating from Bow, East London. He first rose to fame as a grime MC and continiously produces grime music while releasing eskibeat-pop singles, such as the UK Singles Chart top 10 hits "Wearing My Rolex", "Never Be Your Woman" and his UK number-one "Heatwave", he is a pioneer in the UK underground music scene, and a versatile music artist with many crossover hits - honoured as the "Godfather of Grime". He has been a prolific artist, producing several albums and mixtapes for a number of labels.

Cowie released his debut album Treddin' on Thin Ice in April 2004 on XL Recordings, his second album Da 2nd Phaze in 2006, his third album Playtime Is Over the following year and the fourth album Grime Wave in 2008. These albums were all released on independent labels and did not achieve major success commercially. Wiley released another album in 2008 on Aslyum. See Clear Now becoming Wiley's highest-charting album, peaking at number 13 - marking the beginning of Cowie's mainstream direction. However, Cowie didn't possess any creative control over the album. Since then a further four albums have been released, totalling to nine albums released during Wiley's career. The single "Wearing My Rolex" was released in May 2008 and peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart. This became Wiley's highest-charting single, until four years later Wiley signed to Warner Music and released the single "Heatwave" featuring Ms D. The song debuted at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart on 5 August 2012, selling over 114,000 copies, while becoming Wiley's first ever solo number 1 and gained continuous major radio airplay.