West London’s Central Cee is taking the UK music scene by a storm this and last year, his ability to stay consistent, give the fans what they want, and expand all around Europe becomes unmatched. On February 25th Cench released his second mixtape 23, which made it to number one just after the first week of releasing it. With a strong team on his back, marketing this album was no different than Wild West, but Cee marketed the mixtape better this time by causing a hype in cities around Europe such as Paris, Barcelona, and Rome, as well as London, unlike his previous mixtape where he kept it intimate in his city. In addition to releasing merchandise and collaborating with top streetwear fashion brands such as Trapstar and Corteiz, we see central cee working extremely hard and wanting to go a very long way with his mixtape. “Khabib,” “Retail Therapy,” and “Obsessed With You” were all issued as singles ahead of the album’s release, and they’ve all done well and went viral on TikTok. These tracks are still among the greatest on the album. Cench gave us a taste and something to look forward to, leaving us wanting some more music from him.
Central Cee demonstrates some maturity in 23. In this mixtape, he is constantly assessing himself, making for an outspoken and honest listen. As a result, there were lots of highlights and major talent in the music but there were also several tunes that seemed dull. In the future, we want to see Cench try more experiments, particularly with his flows. Love him or hate him, he did produce good music overall. What has made him different is that he had the ‘Eurovision’, which no other artist in the UK has done. Cench collaborated with rappers just like him from the cities that visited and created the song “Eurovision”. A song that features rappers from Italy (Rondodaosa and Baby Gang), Spain (Morad and Beny Jr), and France (Freeze Coreleone and Ashe 22) on four different language drill banger. If there is a competition between the four countries, Italy will win. Rondodaosa powerful delivery that shocked everyone contrasts wonderfully well with Baby Gang’s joyful flow, even though you might not understand the native languages that they’re spitting the fire in, there is no doubt that they are spitting absolute fire. Whether it’s an artistic or financial decision, the song works very well. However, it didn’t flow on the album as well due to the other genres of the songs, it would have been better off as a single.
“Khabib” would be the greatest song on the album, he talks about his success “I been on the charts for 18 weeks”, life, and where he compares himself to UFC’S star Khabib. While Cench is not renowned for his vulnerability or being bleak, he candidly and brutally exposes the challenges he had before reaching his objectives, gravely rapping “I was dead broke, I had no hope, I sat and thought about ending my life.”
Central Cee has defiantly showcased his talent and presented himself well to those who doubted him. He showcased that he is worthy of an artist through 23 and allowed his voice to be clearer than ever. As he said on his track “Cold Shoulder” “from bush to Beverly hills”, we see Cench on a big journey to great success.
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