The London Issue will be distributed exclusively to Living Proof Members. Sent to our members for June, 2026.
Wiley for The London Issue, Living Proof’s first regional Issue.
Universally hailed as “the Godfather of Grime”, Wiley played a massive role in bringing UK Grime to a world-stage with a life marked by the extreme highs and lows of violence, controversy and global stardom.
Coming from London’s culture of pirate radio stations and garage music during the early 2000’s, Wiley followed in the footsteps of his father – a reggae musician who introduced him to hip-hop at a young age – and began producing instrumentals mixing dancehall and jungle music.
After the release of his debut solo album, Wiley joined JME and Skepta’s Boy Better Know collective, finding mainstream success in the following years as the grime sound caught on amongst London youth.
Today, his enduring legacy is present within the sound he helped pioneer, becoming a foundational influence on a new generation across UK rap and drill music.
Issue 14 of Living Proof Magazine features: Wiley, TOX DDS, D Double E, Victory Lap Radio, Karim Bakhtaoui, E Pellici, M Huncho, Bel Cobain, AJ Tracey, Amy Leung, Dynamite, Potter Payper, Charlie Birch and Tim & Barry.
Issue 14 will be distributed exclusively to Living Proof Members. Sent to our members for June, 2026.
At the turn of the millennium, UK garage was the dominant sound of London – champagne-soaked, Gucci loafer optimism, music that felt like the good times were finally arriving. It was seductive, polished, and for plenty of young people navigating daily life in London’s inner city, it simply did not reflect the reality of things. They had more to say than the genre was built to hold. Wiley was a member of Pay As U Go Cartel, a collective pushing UK garage into darker territory alongside So Solid Crew and Heartless Crew. In 2002 the crew released “Champagne Dance”, a number thirteen chart hit and Wiley’s first taste of mainstream success. But they were also the subject of the traditional UK garage scene’s ire – felt by many to be bringing trouble to the raves. Out of that rejection, a new sound was forming, and Wiley was one of its most important architects.
Whilst producers like The Neptunes and Timbaland were using the Korg Triton to make chart-topping hip-hop and R&B, over in East London, Wiley was using the very same kit to make some of the most important British electronic music of the decade. Some of the elements still considered fundamental to the grime sound were presets found on the Korg Triton – “gliding squares” chief among them. The music Wiley was making was different to UK garage, yet wasn’t labelled as grime yet. Instead he called it “eskibeat”: a cold, stripped-back sound built on a glacial sonic palette that gave the emerging genre its emotional temperature. Soon, he was pumping out icy, forward-thinking tracks at an alarming rate.
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Full article featured in Issue 14 of Living Proof Magazine.
Living Proof Magazine is shipped exclusively to members of Living Proof; guaranteed copy for June 2026.