Grime’s relative nonimpact on America isn’t puzzling: With its disorienting beats, unfamiliar slang, and melody-averse choruses, the U.K.-born genre has always felt forbiddingly local. Wiley only occasionally departs from that script on an album he’s threatened will be his last. Amid dark, woozy synths and shout-outs to lots of East London locales, he growls an affecting ode to his newborn daughter (“Baby Girl”); a gauzy, nostalgic note to a rival (“Letter 2 Dizzee”); and a bluesy piano ballad (“Nothing About Me”), hinting at a viable way forward just as he waves good-bye.
Now Hear This: Wiley – “Playtime’s Over” DOWNLOAD MP3
