Album Stream: Wiley – The Godfather 3

After Wiley (once again) started picking up fights, recording diss tracks and throwing his poison all around, nobody would’ve thought that the announced The Godfather 3 will be his last studio album. But, here it is, the godfather of UK’s grime scene has declared a pull-back from the music world. If this is just another marketing gimmick like earlier or not, we can’t say for sure but one thing is certain, and that is that the last LP in The Godfather trilogy proves that Wiley isn’t washed up one bit and that he’s really focused on retiring from the game with a bang.

The fully stacked album that looks more like a mixtape counts 22 song of which the most last barely for three minutes, and features a few dozen of MC’s that are supporting Wiley in his efforts of giving out lectures and throwing shots all around. For some reason those young bloods like Big Zuu and Jammz, and veterans Flirta D and D Double E aren’t credited on the album, and many have tweeted upon the album’s release that they were surprised that their verses actually made it to the finished project. The originator of grime was really taking it back to the old school and that’s most noticeable on Eskimo Dance; a cypher choon in an era when we don’t hear that many cyphers, with MC’s exchanging 20-seconds long verses on different bass-pumping instrumentals.
The variety of producers on the album is also striking with many names like Swifta, Mr. Virigo and Zdot assisting in creating that Wiley’s signature “eskibeat”, keeping the album front and center with the old vibe.

There is nothing fancy about the album really, just a grimy, direct, bass-driven energizer off a 41 years old veteran that is bound to satisfy every genre lover. He IS grime, as he said in one of the interviews, and with this album he proved that he still wears the crown.

“Never not keeping us all on our toes. Dive in into this blistering new album.”
– Wiley

Tracklist:
1. Intro
2. Come Home
3. The Game
4. Da Vibez Is Back
5. Protect The Empire
6. Eskimo Dance
7. Alla Dem
8. Bars
9. Family
10. This Is It
11. Bruce Wayne
12. Double Dragon
13. Starring
14. Amsterdam
15. Balance
16. Free Spirit
17. Light Work
18. Rinse
19. Image Ting
20. West London
21. South London
22. Press Records