Wiley is one of those dudes who seems to have never breakout into the UK mainstream. Unlike Dizzee Rascal, Wiley’s chart success is rather limited, coming with the breakout success of the house influenced 2008 single “Wearing My Rolex” a few years ago. Unfortunately for him, he hasn’t really reached those heights since, but that dosen’t mean that the Eski-boi can’t put out hits.

Wiley is dropping a new album, Evolve Or Be Extinct on January 19th in the UK and one of the first tracks is “Fire.” It has a real UK funky vibe to it, but is it enough to send him back on top of the charts? Who knows. (via HT)

Kano – Get Wild (ft Aidonia & Wiley)

Even though he’s not a household name over in these parts, Kano has made more than a name for himself in his native UK. Starting off in the UK grime scene with the N.A.S.T.Y. crew, the MC has since gone on to drop 4 dope albums abroad, working with everybody from Dizzee Rascal to Kate Nash.

Although his roots are in grime, most of his solo material has evolved more from US pop and hip-hop–with a UK spin of course. Kano’s 2010 release Method to the Maadness is a follow up to 2008′s 140 Grime Street, and 2007′s excellent London Town. This week he dropped a new single in the UK called “Get Wild,” with Aidonia & Wiley.

Like Wale and Dizzee before him, Kano switches up his sound for more danceable beats, but unlike his grime partners, he keeps the beat rather dark and London-ey. Let me know what y’all think.

BONUS: My favorite Kano song – “Brown Eyes”

Even though Wiley never really crossed over into the US mainstream, the grime rapper has some mainstream success in his native UK by forging the genre that made him, and rapping over house and dance music. Although the States still has an uneasy relationship between dance music and hip-hop, both Wiley and Dizzee have topped the charts in England with their “hip-house” collaborations.

Never Be Your Woman continues that tradition, with Wiley rapping over the classic White Town track of the same name. Yes, it lacks substance but it’s a dance floor filler and one of my favorite tracks I’ve heard this year. Check it.

To be honest, I never even checked Gavin Holland and Nacey’s Nouveau Riche parties. I figured that it would be some electro-hipster bs—not my scene at all. I was so wrong.

Nouveau Riche is a mix of everything. House, hip-hop, B-More Club, Rap, Top 40, UK 2-Step, ATL Booty, and whatever else Nacey and Gavin find in their music collection. As much as I hate on DC parties (and I hate a LOT), this party popped off in a MAJOR way. Even if people weren’t’ familiar with what was being spun, they went in like they didn’t care. I don’t even think I can put the level of banannas that this party provided me in simple words.

The highlight of the night for me was the 30 minute UK dubstep session, complete with MC’s spitting over the beats, towards the end of the night. I’ve been familiar with dubstep (it evolved years after I was living in London) but I never thought it would knock this HARD in a club setting, and especially in America. Maybe we need to set up a UK Dubstep party here in DC?

Here are the top 7 songs I heard (or remember I heard) from Saturday night:

Kid Sister – Pro Nails (Rusko UK Dubstep Remix) and Benga – 26 Basslines

Again, Dubstep is my new addiction right now. The 30 minute dubstep session was a crazy surreal experience to see in DC. Benga’s 26 Basslines was dope, but Rusko’s Pro Nails remix absolutely killed it. It was so crazy that swear I saw girls hanging from the rafters.

Outkast – Bombs Over Baghdad

One of my favorite Outkast songs of all time, and a song that I thought didn’t really get much respect until last night. The 120 bpm track pretty much sent the crowd crazy

Tabi Bonney – The Pocket

I love it when local guys get love in the club, and this Tabi cut pretty much killed. The pocket is the quintessential NE DC song, but now its definitely getting some play with the hipsters in NW. Progress?

Ghosttown DJs – Last Night

Nacey’s affection for Ghosttown DJ’s warms my heart (er, no homo?). He’s pretty much dropped this song every time I’ve heard him spin. This song always brings me back to my high school rec center parties back in the day down South, but I’m glad DC goes in for this song as well.

Wiley – Wearin’ My Rolex

This is such a classic song for me, though its sorta unfortunate that people at the spot weren’t getting into it like they should. Except for Ms. Lady Glock of course.

MJ Cole – Crazy Love

I’m about 80% sure that this was the UK Garage song that they played last Saturday. UK Garage was the soundtrack to my times in London, and it has always been close to my heart. To hear garage in The States is a surreal feeling.

This year, instead of just having me yap on about my Best of lists, I reached out to several of our readers to give their Top 5 of the best releases of the year. I’ll be profiling a new reader each day until the end of the 2008.

Today’s writer needs no introduction. Lady Glock is a fixture on both sides of the Atlantic. Check out her website at ladyglockphotography.wordpress.com.

Name: Lady Glock
Location: Washington, DC
Website: ladyglockphotography.wordpress.com

Top Five (In no particular order)

1. Jerk It – Thunderheist
2. Walking on a Dream – Empire of the Sun
3. Going On – Gnarls Barkley
4. Lights Out -Santogold
5. Day & Nite (Crookers Remix) – Kid Cudi

Runners Up (In no particular order)

1. Magic – Robin Thicke
2. A Milli – Lil Wayne
3. Rolex It Up (The Heatwave Refix) – Beenie Man & Wiley
4. Inna Da Ghetto – Diplo & Buraka Som Sistema
5. Electric Feel – MGMT

Honorable Mention

1. Biko – Bloc Party

VIDEO NSFW (The nipples are blurred out, but still…)

I already think that this video is one of the best of the year, but could this take this the best beat of the year honors as well? Kano’s album 140 Grime Street dropped in the UK last September and some over there are billing this as the London’s answer to Tha Carter III. If you don’t know what the video is referring to, then I suggest you re-watch New Jack City. I think this is probably one of the best videos of the year. What do y’all think?

Wiley – Cash In My Pocket

Wiley – Cash In My Pocket

Last time we heard from Wiley, the dude was calling his record company out on the Internets. Apparently, Wiley and The Man hugged it out, because his album, See Clear Now drops in the UK in January. His track Cash In My Pocket just dropped on the Internets (via DDoff) featuring Daniel Merriweather, and although the beat is dope, the hook is one of the most annoying things I’ve heard this year. Seriously, I can’t stand Autotune, but they need to throw some on this track.

Wiley describes See Clear Now as an “official” pop record, featuring collaborations with Lily Allen, Hot Chip, and Mark Ronson. I take it grime is officially dead, however, I’m curious to see how this album turns out.

Taiwah

Taiwah - Every Step

Sorry people, I have a MAD late pass with this one. If you don’t know, Taiwah is a South London based soul artist who is dropping some killer tunes right now. The 21 year old songstress is best known for working with Mark Ronson (who seems to be the Lil’ Wayne of the UK producer game right now), on his Versons LP that dropped last year though I wasn’t really feeling her contribution. However, her EP, titled In Jodi’s Bedroom, is simply amazing. It’s vaulting up my best album list as I type.

myspace.com/tawiah

Wiley feat. Beenie Man – Rolex Up The Heatwave

Wiley might not be a household name here in the States, but in the UK, his song “Wearing My Rolex,” was a number 1 hit, and his track was slowly making it into DJ sets on this side of the Atlantic.

However, all is not well in the Eskiboy camp, as Wiley at first walked away from his label, Asylum/Atlantic this week:

Another Wiley vs. Label saga, Eskiboy is now speaking up about his deal with Asylum Records, the Atlantic Records-linked label that recently put out his massive single, Wearing My Rolex.

After dealings with XL Recordings (Treading on Thin Ice), Relentless (Roll Deep’s In At The Deep End) and Big Dada (Playtime Is Over), it seems Wiley has walked out on another record deal. In a series of threads posted on RWD’s very own forum grime’s 29 year-old Godfather has dropped a few words about signing to big labels. “The problem is when someone thinks they can mould you into something not understanding one day you will wake up and notice. Asylum didn’t deserve me,” he shockingly said in a thread titled ‘Do Not Sign A Record Deal If U Have Got Money’.

After staggeringly releasing in depth financial information about his impending album and follow-up to Summertime, Wiley revealed all about his healthy bank balance. “I have to remind everyone I had my bikes, car, chain and watch and all that before this album deal so I didn’t need to sign this deal really but I got pressured into it by my manager obviously he just wanted money and I signed knowing I was gonna end up flipping cos it wasn’t me it was what asylum wanted me to be which was never gonna work.”

He also went on to mention, “I’m jus doin’ my ting now f*** everyone, I swear.”

The dude actually goes into rather specific details on his deal on the RWD Magazine message board (which I’ve never seen an artist do before), saying that the issue arose because the production cost overruns were being taken out of his £100,000 ($185,000) advance. It sounds like typical label bs that could have been resolved through lawyers, and the general consensus from his fans and industry heads is that the dude overreacted. Wiley’s track record of switching record companies like I switch underpants wasn’t doing him any favors, especially when he was poised to hit it big with this upcoming album.

However, cooler heads prevailed. Wiley wrote a letter to his label apologizing for the whole thing, and the album is still supposed to come on Asylum/Atlantic. However, is the damage already done? I’m sure his label and his lawyers aren’t happy with him putting his finances on the Internets like that.

Wiley – Wearin’ My Rolex

I haven’t been up with UK Grime for a number of years, and honestly I don’t even know if the genre is still alive. Sure, Dizzee Rascal is supposedly the king of the scene, but his latest effort, Maths and English, is a departure from the sound that made his name.

Even though UK Grime never took off in the US, (or even in the UK depending on who you talk to), its still one of the most amazing variations of hip-hop ever to exist. If you don’t know, grime is a mixture of US hip-hop, drum and bass, techno, and dancehall riddims. Although Wiley was a mentor for Rascal back in the day, he never got the critical acclaim and sales as his protege. While Rascal was winning Mercury Music prizes and making UK Charts, Wiley’s albums never sold more than 20,000 copies.

But unlike Rascal, Wiley has pretty much stayed true to the grime game. Until now. I don’t know exactly what to make of this new (?) Wiley track that leaked to the net last week. But I like it. This track is continually getting spins on my iPod right now. The house music/house electro backing this song is fitting, and Wiley continually maintains his grime flow. The track has been getting very good buzz on the blog and message board scene, so a change-up in style might be a good look for the Eski boy.

What do y’all think?