We’ve been touting the potential that West London’s Central Cee has in making UK drill rap a fixture across Stateside for a minute. The dude is pure flow and attacks the mic like his life depends on it. It’s evident throughout his new album, 23, and especially on his latest one-off single, “Doja.” Cench will have a chance to show us in person when he embarks on his first ever US tour in October, but he’s already spending time in California to generate buzz. Yesterday, he hopped on Power 106 to drop an official LA Leakers freestyle and hoowee! Cench didn’t come to play.
Hosts Justin Credible and DJ Sourmilk introduced him as “our brother from across the pond,” and no sooner after the beat dropped did Central Cee get to work. Wrapped in a blue Brazilian soccer jersey and his diamond-studded 23 necklace, there was no “check, check,” there was no “yo yo, yo, yo…” the beat dropped and he went in.
For most of the three-minute maelstrom, he freestyled about different slang in America vs. in England. The further he went in on the flow, the more complex the lyrics got. “We say, ‘cash, P’s, racks, G’s, we don’t really call them bands / In LA it’s Escalades, in the Ends it’s Mercedes vans.” The more it went on, the more it felt like nothing short of if Big L had dropped “Ebonics” as a freestyle.
Check out Central Cee’s LA Leakers freestyle above.