Rapid Review is our new review segment aimed at getting you across an album in lightning speed. Spend less time reading and more time listening.
Godfather is Wiley's first album since 2014 and first since grime really took off at an international level. While Skepta and Stormzy have been the poster boys of grime's international revolution, they rarely get through an interview without mentioning grime's godfather Wiley. While Wiley was an OG, he's strayed numerous times in his career. He's had huge dance anthems like Wearing My Rolex and Heatwave and dabbled in US hip-hop but on Godfather he's back. It's his first 100% grime record in a very long time and while he says it's going to be his last record, it's a signal that he's definitely back in the game.
Godfather is Wiley back to his best, delivering 16 grime bangers led convincingly by an on-form MC. From the outset, you can tell he's hungry to reclaim his grime crown. Birds N Bars is a relentless, near 7-minute opener that has Wiley rapping, "I based my career on proving myself to non-believers". It's not a highly conceptual record, instead it's about celebrating how far grime has come with some of the best in the game right now like Skepta, JME, Devlin and Ghetts. Before Speakerbox he says, "There's no money that record labels can offer us no more, it's dead, there's no point," which makes up the mantra for the entire record. Grime crew Boy Better Know have expertly dealt with this rise and as such, for the first time, they're in total control to do what they want.
If you skip through the entire thing it's pretty hard to stumble on a weak one. Back With A Banger races with energy, Can't Go Wrong leaves an impact with its booming brass and U Were Always Pt.2 brings the tempo down and turns the heat up. Like Skepta's 2016 LP Konnichiwa, it's strong from start to finish and very difficult to pick holes in.
It's hard to go past Back With A Banger. Love his mainstream hits or not, you can't deny that Wiley a pretty strong party anthem maker. Back With A Banger is a party anthem but instead of pulling from the dance world, it's an all-out grime and garage track. It's heartening to hear him make a track that could take over the clubs without having to venture into other genres to find success. This cut is ferocious and Wiley drives it like a rally car racer.
Lucid isn't bad but it's the most forgettable song on the album. Wiley raps over a pretty standard grime beat and while the hook is cool, it's not memorable. That said, it's certainly not a miss, it's more lost amidst some of Wiley's best work in years.
This isn't Wiley attempting to become the face of the grime revolution, it's more him celebrating how far the genre has come and making sure he slips in one final classic before age gets the better of him. If this is his last release, which it doesn't need to be because he's clearly still got bars, then it's a pretty phenomenal record to go out on. It's his best record in 10 years because it's his first since Playtime Is Over that hasn't been diluted by the inclusion of other genres.
8/10
