Looks like record shops across the country are going to need to re-arrange their genre sections…
Ed Sheeran, the red-haired UK singer-songwriter best known for his acoustic-led, chart-topping pop, has been declared as the most important artist in the ‘black and urban music’ game by a British radio station.
The 23-year-old Sheeran landed at #1 of the annual Power List from BBC Radio 1Xtra, billed as “the UK’s leading black music station”, which ranks the most important music figures in the music scene, as NME reports.
Yasmin Evans, one of the stations’ DJs who assembled the rankings along with a panel of industry experts, has defended the placement of Ed Sheeran at the top position. “Having just his music in mind and disregarding anything else that we may have considered for other artists there is so much power in what he produces & writes,” the BBC 1Xtra jockey said in a statement.
However, the list has already drawn major criticism from British musicians for featuring other young ‘white acts in its upper echelons. Dance duo Disclosure came in behind Ed Sheeran, at #2, while their collaborator and guest singer Sam Smith ranked at #4 – with popular rapper Tinie Tempah sandwiched between them at third place.
Leading the backlash is UK grime act Wiley, who landed at #16 on the poll, slamming the panel’s selections as “backward” while complaining that their list was “backwards”, in a series of angry tweets.
“We influence a man and all of a sudden it turns he has influenced us. England music industry is backwards,” wrote Wiley. “God bless those who try. People think I am mad. I am not mad, I can just see skullduggery from miles away. We have been bumped basically.”
Wiley further iterated that he had no beef towards Sheeran himself, but instead was frustrated that Xtra Radio, a staple of UK urban and rap culture, would declare a ‘white’ artist as the best representative;
“Not taking anything away from Ed, he is sick. But black artist in England, we are getting bumped,” he wrote.
1Xtra’s Power List Top 20 of 2014
1. Ed Sheeran
2. Disclosure
3. Tinie Tempah
4. Sam Smith
5. Rudimental
6. Emeli Sande
7. Naughty Boy
8. Katy B
9. Krept & Konan
10. Fuse ODG
11. Boy Better Know
12. Rita Ora
13. Lethal Bizzle
14. DJ Fresh
15. Jessie J
16. Wiley
17. Giggs
18. Laura Mvula
19. Wretch 32
20. Dizzee Rascal
