UK grime artist Wiley has opened up in a candid interview about how his actions led to the stabbing of Dizzee Rascal in 2002.
Dizzee and Wiley were once good friends, but as Wiley explains, they didn’t speak for years following the incident.
There have long been rumours about what happened that night in Cyprus, but speaking to Time Out Wiley has explained what he claims is the real story of what happened.
He said:
Okay, basically, me and Dizzee went out one night [in Ayia Napa] and there was some fighting with another crew – I won’t say who, but basically everyone knows. Then the next day, I decided to carry it on – I didn’t pull out a knife. I was just fighting. Me and another guy went looking for them again.
Dizzee just rode off, because in his head, he’s probably thinking: “What the fuck are you doing? That was last night! It’s just gonna carry on!” Well, after we started it up again, those guys came looking for us. But the person they found was Dizzee. The thing we done the next morning led them to go looking for us, but see him and stab him.
Yeah, that’s the real reason. Now I’m older, I can see: Dizzee in his head will always be thinking: ‘I know we got into a beef. I know something started. But you lot carried it on the next day. If you had left it I wouldn’t have got stabbed.’ That is the reason me and Dizzee haven’t spoken all these years.
Wiley also explained that the unfortunate incident did actually benefit the genre.
He said:
You know what the sad truth of all that business with Dizzee getting stabbed is? I hate saying this, but I always say it: if he hadn’t got stabbed, grime wouldn’t have been in The Sun. He got stabbed and then bro, the WHOLE of England was talking about it. It took that to get our sound into the nation’s ears. That’s the sad side of things.
But the ‘Godfather of Grime’ did reveal his hope the pair could work together again, adding:
I would work with him any day of my life if I could. I love him like a brother.
And the frosty relationship may well have thawed somewhat, with Wiley set to support Dizzee on August 5 at his Bedford Park show.
