Wiley's Video for "On A Level" is On a Hype (Also Includes Pool Sliders and Socks)

He took his time about it, but Wiley's back. Last night he dropped the video for "On A Level".

Everyone's in it: Novelist, Stormzy, Giggs, basically all of Boy Better Know, with Skepta making his directorial debut behind the camera. It's somewhere between Scarface and a menswear ad (we're all going to be repping the pool slides and socks combo this autumn), only set in a Hertfordshire mansion.

First of all it's got that Skepta beat; squelchy and bouncy but not entirely ripped off from some track from 2005. There's lots of nods to Wiley's past, the legendary sidewinder sets, not being a "mook" which is the cuss that starts the Dizzee and Titch beef on the old Conflict DVD - a fight that Wiley had to break up.

But it's not backward looking. Plastician tweeted that Wiley was "reminding everyone what grime sounds like, without taking it 10 years back" and we can get on board with that. There's a new kind of aspiration here, not Wileys usual chat about being in the studio 27 hours a day but taking a bit of time to do him. There's even some fiscal conservatism - "try not spend until you've made it, just leave within your means". Mostly it feels honest to the person Wiley is now, not something made for the kids.