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BBC’s ‘Leading Black Music Station’ Dubs Ed Sheeran ‘Most Important U.K. Artist’

Ed Sheeran BBC 1xtra leading black radio station most important artists wiley

U.K. pop folkie Ed Sheeran topped a British radio station’s list of “most important U.K. artists in the scene” which wouldn’t be all that notable on its own, except that the station in question, 1Xtra, bills itself as “U.K.’s leading black music station.”

Though 1Xtra’s annual Power List largely reflects their far reaches of their diverse programming, including the nimble-tongued Dizzee Rascal and soulful crooners like Emeli Sande and Laura Mvula, some have taken issue to the milquetoast singer-songwriter that tops the list.

Grime pioneer Wiley, who appears at number 16 on the list, took to Twitter early this morning to register his disapproval.

“We influence a man and all of a sudden it turns he has influenced us,” the MC said of Sheeran’s place on the list. “We have been bumped basically. Not taking anything away from Ed, he is sick. But black artists in England, we are getting bumped.”

Disclosure and their collaborator Sam Smith also placed in the top 5 of 1Xtra’s rankings. But the list as a whole features a number of culturally diverse acts, including Rudimental (who paired with Disclosure to create one of SPIN’s favorite trends of 2013). Given, however, that Sam Smith is the station’s most played artist in 2014 so far, the choices may just be reflective of the prevailing music tastes in the U.K. rather than any intentional slight against any of the other artists that appear on the list.

Either way, Wiley’s vitriolic judgements of the “scene” in question still stand.

“England[‘s] music industry is backwards,” he tweeted. “God bless those who try tho[ugh].”

Read all of Wiley’s tweets below.