Ed Sheeran has responded to Wiley after the Godfather of Grime accused him of being a “culture vulture”.
Last week, Wiley reignited his ongoing argument with Drake whilst also seemingly dragging both Sheeran and Nicky Minaj into the ongoing feud. Wiley called Sheeran a “pagan” before terming him and Drake “the 2 worse culture vultures on the planet.”
Sheeran and Stormzy unveiled ‘Take Me Back To London (remix)’ on August 22. The move appeared to irk Wiley who accused Sheeran of being a “clout chaser” by using one of the grime’s biggest stars to gain popularity.
Now, Sheeran has replied in a lengthy Twitter post. Sheeran wrote: “Dear Wiley Just wanna clear a few things up,” in a post this afternoon (September 16). You can see his full response below:
.@edsheeran responds to @WileyUpdates’s ‘culture vulture’ comments ? pic.twitter.com/R162w6CdG4
— BBC Radio 1Xtra (@1Xtra) September 16, 2019
Sheeran said: “I never said no to doing a song for you after we made ‘You’ for no.5. You wanted to release ‘If I could’ the same week as my debut single on a major label and I merely asked if you could move to a week before or a week after, which you did, the song came out, and I’m still very proud of it.
“I’ve said yes to 90% of the features I’ve been personally asked for, unless I’ve been on a break or I haven’t known the artist personally. The only time I can think of that I didn’t let my name get featured on a song I was on, was on Chip’s league of my own part 2, he asked me to sing backing vocals, which [I] did, and I didn’t feel comfortable being a featured artist when I hadn’t written or performed properly on the song.”
Sheeran added: “You know I have a deep respect for the scene, and for you. I look forward to godfather 3, excited to hear it…This is the last [I’ll] say on this.”
Wiley wrote in a now deleted tweet: “Don’t come to grime if [you’re] a clout chaser and a culture vulture stay away” [via BBC Newsbeat]. He continued, using a laughing face emoji: “Anyone who uses us and our sounds are culture vultures… I’m getting my guitar and foot pedal out and I don’t wanna hear nobody moaning about nothing.”
Stormzy came to Sheeran’s defence, replying: “No Wiley you know Ed been doing this from early, been a real one from early, can’t question that, you know I love you and respect you brother but nah don’t do that.”
Wiley’s comments were a far cry from those in 2017 when he told NME that he thought Sheeran should be given the Godlike Genius award. “He’s a Godlike Genius, he’s a mate, but more importantly he’s a great musician,” he said.