Wednesday 20th March 2013 by Adam Tait | Photos by WENN.com

Grime trailblazer Wiley took to Twitter to explain his reasons behind leaking his album online ahead of its release.

The record, The Ascent, was due for release on April 1 via Warner Records, but the rapper released it himself last night through filesharing service Sendspace.

Writing on Twitter Wiley said: "I am leaking my album at 7... Americans do it so I am doing it... If iTunes don't do what I say I am leaking the album at 7 and I am not joking... I made a mistake on the album I need to make a change if iTunes cannot change the mistake I will leak it......... today...."

He added, "I hate being an idiot but sometime people only listen when you ar being an idiot."

True to his word, Wiley did indeed release the record through Sendspace last night (March 19). The file has now been removed, but is already being spread across torrent sites.

FACT magazine suggests the dispute with iTunes could be concerning a tracklist edit as the leaked version is missing one track. Wiley recently told MTV that he plans to retire from music after the album after The Ascent, saying that he wants to exit on a high.

He scored his first Number One in 2012 with 'Heatwave'.

Wiley says he's ready to retire after the next album

"Even though getting to the top of the charts is a big deal, people forget that I;ve been doing music for 15 years now and, yeah, I could keep releasing music and chasing another hit, but I want my next project after The Ascent album to be my last - I'm planning on retiring around the end of 2014 or 2015.

"I just want to Alex Furguson it and just leave things there!" he continued. "By then things might have changed in the industry; I really can't predict the future, but I know that me and Warner [Records] have got our last album to do and it's in writing. I'll be around 38-years-old so that's cool - I'll just be stretched out chilling by the time I'm 39."

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