Wiley popped by the Soccer AM studios to talk about his new album and dispel a number of rumours!
Wiley sets the record straight
There are a lot of rumours doing the rounds about Wiley, but he popped by the
Soccer AM studios to set the record straight.
The rapper's music has featured frequently on Showboat in recent years, but he appeared on the orange sofas for the first time, dispelling rumour number one: that he never turns up to things he's supposed to!
"I probably turn up to things at my own discretion and that's probably where the rumours stem from," he told Helen and Max.
"Obviously if I've got to do something I've got to do it. So I'm here because I've got to be here.
"But if there's ever someone who says 'he's supposed to be here' it's probably stemmed from one of those situations where I might have just stayed and watched Piers Morgan instead of going to my booking!"
Major influence
Seen as a pioneer of the grime scene, the east London-born star first came to prominence in the late '90s on pirate radio stations.
In the fifteen years that have followed, he has been cited as a major influence on the likes of Tinchy Stryder, Chipmunk and Dizzee Rascal, despite a high-profile falling out with the latter.
A former member of the grime collective Roll Deep, Wiley has released an incredible nine albums since 2004, but has apparently only just started appearing his videos... wrong again, says Wiley.
"I appeared in most videos," he began. "Obviously I've been here since 2003, so I've been part of Pay as you Go, I've been part of different things, but what happened is I actually got stabbed in my face a few days before the 'Rolex' video.
"So all these things that people say stem from there. Obviously I turn up to videos that I want to, some videos since that stabbing I didn't go to, but I hoped the English public would understand."
Wiley's latest album 'Evolve or be Extinct' was released on his birthday earlier this month and he revealed he was excited about his tour, but not before dispelling one last rumour: that he's scared of foxes!
"Growing up I was never scored of foxes, but if I was on a backstreet now at 11pm and I saw two foxes and it was just me and them, I wouldn't stroke them and I wouldn't greet them!" he said.
"So I'm not actually scared of foxes but, like I say, I wouldn't want to be on a backstreet with one or two, to wonder what they're going to do!"
To watch the full interview, simply click on the video at the top of the page.
