Review Summary: For Tomorrow: A Guide to Contemporary British Music, 1988-2013 (Part 75)
Not 30 seconds into Wiley’s 2004 debut
Treddin’ on Thin Ice does this curious boast appear: “I came to the game with no girlfriend and I’ll be leavin’ the game with no girlfriend.” This is quickly followed by a corrective (“I came to the game with girls on my line”) but when the second track begins with one of those “girls on my line” leaving an annoyed voicemail imploring Wiley to get up and get a job it’s the initial sentiment that lingers. Wiley’s the kind of guy that has to coax himself out of bed most mornings, someone who’s aware of his ample talent but not naturally motivated by it. If Dizzee Rascal’s
Boy in Da Corner was often a chronicle of the hopelessness caused by poverty then
Treddin’ on Thin Ice is the earnest attempt at self motivation. It doesn’t come easy though, by track five Wiley has to literally talk himself into doing a third verse.
Almost entirely self produced,
Treddin on Thin Ice’s beats are often playful but rarely hard. Wiley likes using heavy canned strings that only appear for a moment before they’re swept away by a ghostly synth. His drums clank like an empty can being kicked down the street while nearly unidentifiable keyboard patches get sucked down a drain. The shiny sample based “Special Girl” features a barely audible haunted vocal stutter in the background reminiscent of Boards of Canada’s “Telephasic Workshop”.
These beats are less steely and menacing than
Boy in Da Corner’s though and Wiley complements them with an always funny and frequently hilarious microphone presence. What sets Wiley apart is his willingness to play the loser. On “Wot Do U Call It?” he sounds hurt that his contributions to grime and eskibeat music has been minimized to garage (Pronounced “G-eh-rege”). “Make it in the studio but not in the garage/Here in London there's a sound called garage/But this is my sound, it sure ain't garage/I heard they don't like me in garage,” he complains over a wonky merry-go-round beat. “Pies” is, theoretically, about how good Wiley is at making money but it sounds like an east London remix of “Who Stole the Cookies From the Cookie Jar?”. “Who ate all the pies?/Who ate all the pies?/There goes Wiley, there goes Wiley/He ate all the pies, boy!”
Wiley and his contributions to grime were always doomed to be overshadowed by former Roll Deep co-member Dizzee Rascal but
Treddin’ on Thin Ice does plenty to separate the two. Dizzee was often a clenched fist of anger tempered with depression, Wiley is more pragmatic even optimistic at times with a sly sense of humor. His debut is as good a snapshot as any of a time when the most exciting rap music in the world was coming out of London.
