Wiley’s huge impact on UK music has been recognised by NME with the Outstanding Contribution to Music award.

The grime pioneer pursued the sound we now identify as grime and, after the award was announced as going to him, he told the Independent he’d die making it.

“I’ll be honest with you, my career will end on this note. Not on this project, but on this music. I will not make anything that is not urban before I die, in my name,” he said. “I made a bad move before, I had to do different s**t to get money, but never ever will I have to do that again.”

Mike Williams, NME’s editor-in-chief, said: “Wiley isn’t just the Godfather of grime, he’s the inventor of it too. He’s the man the rest of the scene looks up to, and the figurehead of the most exciting musical movement in a generation.

“Without Wiley, the entire landscape of British music would look very different, so it’s a huge honour to recognise his influence and talents by awarding him NME’s Outstanding Contribution to Music. This year’s ceremony has just got even more exciting.”

The NME Awards takes place on February 15, and will feature a performance from Wiley, as well as Skepta and Kano competing for best British male.