the Streets

Week 9: Central Cee- 23

~ honestopinions19 ~ Leave a comment
First and foremost, I am not a great lover of Drill. Yes, I saw the Noisey documentary from 2019 with Mike Skinner from the Streets and didn’t like what I heard. However, I heard about Drill in 2019 through an associate who was mad about it. I didn’t like the bullshit lyrics I heard about wetting a man up in a club or jooking man on road. I know about these sorts of bars, and I am guilty of writing them for clashes during the early years of Grime, which now make me recoil in horror. I still have the bars in one of my many Bibles, but I will look to amend them for my venture into Spoken Word. Drill is like the underground and darker version of Grime. People used to bitch and moan about what the Grime artists would say. Some have resulted in killings, like Esco Barz, the younger brother of retired footballer Jermain Defoe. I was never a fan of these MC battles, and when Esco was killed, it turned me off them completely. Drill has seen many artists from that genre serving time for murder, attempted murder, assault and other forms of crime. The genre pretty much encourages it. 


I remember showing a 22-year-old man my poems; the subject was current affairs. He responded, “You got bars still, but we youngsters don’t want to hear that. We want to hear about man getting jooked up.” This horrified me, but at the same time, I thought, “That’s bollocks”, and I am going to tell you why just shortly, but first…Central Cee is a young Drill artist hailing from Shepheard’s Bush, which is a stone’s throw away from QPR in White City. Central Cee, or Cench, has been around longer than you would assume. It is also unusual to see a mixtape become No.1 on the album chart. So this West Londoner started first to get noticed last year, and it is easy to understand why Central Cee isn’t your run-of-the-mill Drill artist; he goes deep on the subjects and doesn’t bang on about wetting or jooking man up. His topics are diverse. I first heard ‘Obsessed with You’ in February, and it opened my eyes to the fact not all Drill glorifies violence. I was listening to a Grime artist until it was pointed out that Cench is Drill. I was stunned.


“23” opens with ‘Khabib’, which I enjoyed. It then went into ‘Ungrateful’, where Cench says, ‘God, I don’t wanna seem ungrateful, but I don’t wanna live’—quite a big statement for a young man to express. The song talks about his trials and tribulations in life and his frustrations. Already, he had my attention because this seemed out of the norm from other Drill artists I had heard before. The record is short, with many of the 15 songs lasting a few minutes, including four staying under two. I don’t know why that is. Is all this getting songs viral via videos on TikTok the reason? He packs in as much information and hard-hitting messages despite the disappointing track lengths as possible. I will use a track, a prime example, ‘Obsessed with You,’ a track I have heard in its original guise, and a Drum n Bass remix by Hedex (I think.). This track is also proving popular among his fans and the mainstream. ‘Obsessed with You’ features PinkPantheress, who is well-known for her short viral songs on TikTok. It is a shame she is reduced to sounding like a Chipmunk. You can tell she can sing, but the vocal effect mars her talent. It is about Cench calling out to a former lover and what he did wrong. You don’t usually hear anything like this in Drill. 


Cench is more Grime-headed for me. His potential is yet to shine through, but it is undoubtedly there. He is at the forefront of steering Drill into a new direction and changing the opinion of those who look down on it for its glorification of violence.


However, my favourite track is ‘Lil Bro’, which features Lil Bro. They converse with Lil Bro, playing the role of Cench’s Lil Bro, where he says to Cench he wants to be a drug dealer. Cench tells him about the pitfalls of going into that and how it would hurt his mother, even though Lil Bro has no choice. Cench tells him there are better alternatives. He says to lil Bro, ‘It’s London City/not Compton’. He also discusses the trials and tribulations of fame, the misconceptions of gang culture, and the dangers of becoming a drug dealer. It is an eye-opening track; hopefully, the majority will take away a lot from it. Again, Drill artist? Are you sure? In the final track, ‘End of the Beginning, ‘ Cench uses many voice notes from his close friends, encouraging him to move with the music and giving him sound advice littered with motivational quotes with Cench rapping over a Trap beat.


“23” will undoubtedly change your perception of Drill. Cench has brought a realness to a scene known for its violent episodes. I have enjoyed listening to Cench since that moment earlier this year. He is one to watch in 2022 where he plans to improve his game. His mixtape getting to No.1 will already have A&R personnel scouting him at venues. 


As for the young man telling me that youngsters don’t want to hear life stories and me thinking it’s bollocks, Cench proves that it is indeed bollocks. Look at what he has spoken about across this record. It isn’t about “Wetting man up” or “Jooking man up”; it is much deeper and touches on life stories. There is finally room for it in Drill, and it is welcomed. Hopefully, it opens the eyes of those who are into Drill.




Song recommendations: ‘Lil Bro’, ‘Ungrateful’, ‘Obsessed with You’




9/10

Week 8: Slowthai- Tyron

~ honestopinions19 ~ Leave a comment

What is there to say about the lad from Northampton? He’s a ball of energy that rubs people up the wrong way, and his antics have landed him in trouble, most notably at the NME awards, where he later made a statement saying it was all in good nature rather than malicious. They should have known what to expect from him after the release of his debut album “Nothing Great About Britain”. Even the title would upset those flag-waving loon balls. It had the spirit of Punk in it and has been described as an updated version of the Streets’ classic debut “Original Pirate Material”.

It’s worth noting I am not a fan of Slowthai’s music, but I respect his lyrics and his persona in general, so I will try my best to give a decent review on “Tyron”. Since the first album, he has been out on the road with Liam Gallagher supporting “Why Me. Why Not”, which has garnered him more fans, but enough of that. The record is extremely short, considering it’s a double-disc at 35 minutes or thereabouts with seven tracks on each disc. For most of the first disc, Slowthai is consistent with what we saw on the first album and most of the tracks he collaborated on. There’s still that punk spirit and aggressive attitude blended with hard-hitting bars. However, “I Tried” is inspired by West Coast American rap from the 1990s. Even for a relatively short song, clocking at just over two minutes, it gets his message across, and the production compliments it.

I should have stylised the song as mentioned earlier as “I TRIED” because Slowthai defines the two discs by capital-lettered tracks on the first and lower-case lettered tracks on the second. It doesn’t reflect his mood in any way, as he still keeps up the levels on both. 

Unfortunately for Slowthai, it could also be interpreted as the caps side is, well…shit and the lowercase side is an improvement from the first half. I would describe the album as schizophrenic in that regard. I’m sorry, but I am, by and large, not a fan of most rap out of America at the moment, and that’s precisely what the first disc sounds like. I don’t think he wanted that. Instead, it was forced upon him because that is what sells now. It ruins “CANCELLED” because it doesn’t fit into his flow and delivery. It needed to be harder and have a grime or drill instrumentation. I want to hear that from rappers on this side of the pond. For me, it makes it more authentic. I don’t want to fucking hear Drake-style production over here. The only time this works is when Slowthai collaborates with an American rapper. For instance, A$AP Rocky on “MAZZA” because he is used to rapping over those beats, and it works, but Slowthai’s flow seems unsuited to it. I mean, there’s a track early doors he does with Skepta, and it’s just fucking awful because the wrong production was chosen. Again, it should have been a grime or drill beat.

Of course, then you have tracks like “WOT”, which is Slowthai in his original form at his very best. No shitty American beats ruining the listen. Although the aggression and the attitude are still up, because of the use of the American rap commercial beats, a lot of the Slowthai temper is nullified, and therefore it doesn’t add to his sound. Overall, the first half of the album is very disappointing. However, in the second half, the American beats are at a premium, and we get to see Slowthai being sincere yet laid back, a change from the angry side we are used to seeing. The bars are even more thought-provoking.

I especially liked “Push”, which featured Deb Never, as Slowthai brings some conscious bars over soft beats throughout the second disc. Deb Never is one of the most unlikely collaborations you would think of to be on the record, but as Slowthai gets more relaxed, the collaboration fits quite nicely. On more of his aggy material, it would look entirely out of place. 

However, with it being such a short record, you need to remember what you heard on the first disc, so you have to listen again to recall what happened. You have to commend him for an original approach, even though he does fall victim to the shitty commercial American rap and RnB beats that never saw the light of day on his debut. It’s great that he has evolved and is forward-thinking, but that aggression has yet to be lost here by the watered-down beats. I enjoyed the second disc more than I enjoyed the first. The more relaxed and serene side is great to listen to; if only the songs were at least four minutes long, he has plenty to say, and it’s great hearing his many fables of the struggles of life and his social commentary. As I said earlier, he isn’t my cup of chai, but I respect him for what he says and does; he is very much like the late Joe Strummer with his outlandish comments and unapologetic attack on the establishment. It’s apt that he supported Liam Gallagher when you come to think of it. Both of them have the same outlook and energy. It will be interesting to see what Slowthai does with his third album because he has shown that he dares to change it up and keep the listener interested. The best body of work I have seen by Slowthai is on Mura Masa’s “Deal wiv It”. Give that one a listen.

Song recommendations: “push”, “adhd”, “WOT”

6/10