Pitchfork

Various Production's "Hater" 12" just came out in the States, and I'm already going to tell you it's unnecessary. The day I first heard "Hater" a few months ago, I also read about Wiley killing it with a freestyle. That freestyle was hard to find, but finally, thanks to grime DJ and scene patron, Logan Sama, Eskiboy's "I'm a Sinner" is available for free on Sama's War Report mixtape. And Wiley does indeed kill it.

"Hater"'s dubstep-cut pop is reduced to pure grime, the sub-bass rumbles and escalatingly violent synths chopped into a 16-bar loop, the original opening line "I'm a sinner" flipped as a chorus. Over that, Wiley slings three straight minutes of brutal punchlines at the Movement crew's young buck, Scorcher, finishing him (before it's begun) with the opening barrage: "Stay away cuz you don't wanna see careers ending/ Please stop him, he's got record deals pending/ Come to my end just to see if I'm defending." I'm no Logan Sama, but Wiley seems to always have the upper hand in these battles, distilled down to his line here, "I'm the dream you're chasing." Scorcher is game, but Wiley pummels him ruthlessly, and adds another response cut just for fun. Grime may not be trendy anymore, but imagine if Jay-Z still went at every clown who dissed him, ripped up mixtapes because he couldn't help himself, shredded Dipset into clumps of purple chinchilla. That's Wiley.