For the past 12 hours, the internet has been awash with the news of Stormzy's new single "Wiley Flow". Besides whipping up even more enthusiasm than "Vossi Bop" and "Sounds Of The Skeng", "Wiley Flow" also got people talking with its numerous layered references to iconic grime moments, many of which involved the Godfather himself, Wiley. One or two misguided individuals at first thought the track was a send for Wiley, but a closer listen will quickly tell you this is a homage.
The backbone of the track is Stormzy's use of flows like Slew anybody in the family/fuck it from Wiley's "Bad Em Up" and the infamous "Nightbus Dubplate" (the latter was a response to Ghetts' diss "North London Riddim Dubplate", Scorcher's diss, as well as Devlin's "Extra Extra", and was widely held up as the greatest grime diss of all time). And did you clock the Tunnel Vision-esque artwork for the track too?
Add to that the rock-solid foundation provided by A-list producer EY and the endless grime Easter eggs and you can begin to see why many are heralding this as a return to form. Regardless, it's good to see that Stormz can still handle a grime riddim just as well as a rap or even pop production.
