³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

The Godfather of Grime is apparently putting down the mic after his forthcoming album "Playtime Is Over". For those outside the UK scene, he's hailed as the grime scene's version of Jay-Z.

The news broke on Monday on and DJ Cameo spoke to Wiley in depth while he was in for Richie Vibe Vee on The Blueprint show. Check the show by clicking here - the interview is 1hr 10minutes in.

During the interview, he cited a number of reasons why he's quit. From that he feels too old at 28 to be at the pinnacle of the game; that he wants to put his energies into Ice Kid (a 15 year old up and coming emcee from West London - you may know him from the "My Yout" track 1Xtra were killing in 2006) to invest in the future; that he's scared of being knocked off the top of the game and that at his point in life, with his daughter, he needs something more concrete to provide for his family.

Whether you think Wiley should or shouldn't quit the spitting game and whatever you think of his reasons why, he's raised a really good question I'd like to get your take on. One of the main reasons Wiley sited leaving the game was the fact that the music game in the UK wasn't stable - there isn't enough money in it for him, he wants a wage. The scene hasn't got enough money for him to live off.

Now, when one of the pioneers and biggest artists within a scene says this, it really makes you think - and being someone within the music game in the UK, his story isn't unique.

For every next level artist/producer/deejay making enough money from the music game to pay their bills, there are 100 or so people struggling to make ends meet. The majority of your favourite UK artists have a day job in order to pay their bills - whether their day job is working in a call centre, working in the music industry as an A&R or something or working in a supermarket.; they've got one. So why hasn't the UK scene got enough money in it to maintain a career? Why do most of your favourite UK artists/producers/deejays HAVE to have a day job?