Wiley – The Studio January 27, 2018

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Last night in Auckland, grime hit the Studio and who better to represent it than the Godfather of the genre himself, Wiley!

You’re probably thinking to yourself ‘what the hell is grime?’

Well, grime is a subgenre of hip hop that emerged from London, an experimental combination of UK garage and jungle: a high octane, lethal combo of a gritty, grimy and aggressive beat commonly accompanied by references to the dark underbelly of life in London.

Grime was somewhat of an underdog of genres, often condemned for its violent, misogynistic and obscene lyrics. Grime took off, throwing up big names such as Dizzee Rascal, Skepta, Stormzy and of course tonight’s feature, Wiley. Grime has also taken off in the United States with musicians like Kanye West and A$AP Rocky supporting the genre and being fans. Skepta and Stormzy would even score a slot at the mega festival Coachella.

I was extremely excited to see Wiley play his debut Auckland show as I was a fan of his recent album Godfather, which he claimed would be his final album (only to announce part two later on.)

Released on Skepta’s personal label BBK (Boy Better Know) which was co-founded by fellow grime rapper JME, the album received much praise from fans and critics, being called one of the best Grime and UK hip hop albums of 2016 (side note: along with Loyle Carner’s excellent debut album who will in fact be playing Laneway and is worth watching). In other big grime news, BBK last year signed their first international artist and in fact one of the biggest artist at the moment Drake.

Starting off the night were two Auckland based DJs, TwoFace and then Jay Bulletproof before Wiley took the stage at midnight.

I arrived in time to catch Jay Bulletproof’s opening set. He sounded like almost every DJ opening act I’ve seen, playing other musicians songs to get the crowd hyped up. While the crowd was having a hell of a time, one thought came into my head which I couldn’t shake; “I have never seen The Studio so empty.”

While this was a disappointing, the night was incredibly open and relaxed. Punters had their own space to dance and enjoy, but why was this the case for one of England’s top rappers?

Wiley’s entrance was underwhelming and unprepared, but like any grime show, the mosh pit broke out and was instantly sweaty. Circle pits opened along with lots of fighting and rough stuff – I was loving it, having a great time and I was one of the many smiles in the crowd.

Wiley started the show blasting through singles off Godfather (Part One) and then moved to older tracks. While I was enjoying myself, I suddenly realized this performance is really bad! The DJ (local guy) was not prepared and was mucking up points of the set, which Wiley would then have to go fix and would often comment on. To be fair, I was told prior to the gig  that his original English DJ had been ill and couldn’t play, so they recruited one of our own. If only they have chosen someone more capable – this guy was a disaster and brought the whole show down. The backing track was much louder than the vocals and it was difficult to hear Wiley, which was the point of the show.

Highlights were songs like Back With a Banger and Can’t Go Wrong, both off his latest album, which happen to be the biggest tracks. The crowd was hyped and Wiley seemed impressed by their enthusiasm. Regardless of the bad DJ-induced experience I was having, everyone else seemed to be loving the show, and that’s really what makes a concert great, it’s about the fans. I wish I was enjoying it as much as they were. The set spilled over an hour long and the crowd could have partied a lot longer.

Grime has a very dedicated following in New Zealand, many of the punters were loyal to the genre’s traditions and were experiencing the show as a grime fan was meant to be (only singing the last word of the hook). New Zealand does deserve more grime shows but perhaps at smaller venues like Neck of the Woods.

Nevertheless, after the show everyone was buzzing about how great Wiley was. He did have lots of energy and wasn’t letting the technical difficulties bring him down so props to him for that. I’ll give him a second chance if he comes back to town.

Jonathan Strock

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