U.K. grime veteran Wiley recently lashed out at Ed Sheeran, calling the ginger-haired singer-songwriter a "culture vulture" for using grime in his pop songs, and Sheeran has now responded to Wiley's comments.
The feud started when Wiley called out Sheeran for using Stormzy on his track "Take Me Back to London" last week, with the song reaching No. 1 in the U.K. Wiley claimed that Sheeran was using grime artists for his benefit, but that the relationship wasn't reciprocal.
Wiley said that despite appearing on Sheeran's 2011 No. 5 Collaborations project, the singer didn't return the favour when Wiley asked him to appear on a song after he found mainstream success.
"Listen, we helped that guy get into the picture," Wiley told 1Xtra Breakfast Show host Dotty last week. "I done something for him — 'You'. It's on his album, isn't it? So when I went to do my one I was told, 'You can't do this, Ed can't do the video. You can't use Ed', basically."
Wiley added, "He didn't want to stand up to his label — he folded. I knew life wasn't fair, but I didn't know it was this unfair."
He also implied that Sheeran's 2012 hit "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" took aim at him and grime artists, saying, "I'm mad at Ed Sheeran because he said, 'You need me man, I don't need you.'"
Sheeran has now responded to Wiley's claims, sharing a note on Twitter.
He denied ever saying no to making a song with Wiley after their No. 5 Collaborations track "You," and clarified that he did appear on Wiley's track "If I Could," and only ever asked that the track's release be moved ahead or pushed back a week so as to not coincide with his own major label debut single.
Sheeran went on to say that "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" was written when he was 15 years old and was never about anything other than "teenage angst."
Read Sheeran's full note below.
The feud started when Wiley called out Sheeran for using Stormzy on his track "Take Me Back to London" last week, with the song reaching No. 1 in the U.K. Wiley claimed that Sheeran was using grime artists for his benefit, but that the relationship wasn't reciprocal.
Wiley said that despite appearing on Sheeran's 2011 No. 5 Collaborations project, the singer didn't return the favour when Wiley asked him to appear on a song after he found mainstream success.
"Listen, we helped that guy get into the picture," Wiley told 1Xtra Breakfast Show host Dotty last week. "I done something for him — 'You'. It's on his album, isn't it? So when I went to do my one I was told, 'You can't do this, Ed can't do the video. You can't use Ed', basically."
Wiley added, "He didn't want to stand up to his label — he folded. I knew life wasn't fair, but I didn't know it was this unfair."
He also implied that Sheeran's 2012 hit "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" took aim at him and grime artists, saying, "I'm mad at Ed Sheeran because he said, 'You need me man, I don't need you.'"
Sheeran has now responded to Wiley's claims, sharing a note on Twitter.
He denied ever saying no to making a song with Wiley after their No. 5 Collaborations track "You," and clarified that he did appear on Wiley's track "If I Could," and only ever asked that the track's release be moved ahead or pushed back a week so as to not coincide with his own major label debut single.
Sheeran went on to say that "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" was written when he was 15 years old and was never about anything other than "teenage angst."
Read Sheeran's full note below.
Wiley has already hit back with a string of tweets about the singer. See those below.