Technically, they're both UK rappers. 21 Savage has been repping Atlanta for his entire career, and that's the city where he grew up. But Savage was born in London and moved to Atlanta when he was a kid, as we all learned when ICE arrested him and tried to deport him a few years ago. (Savage has his green card now. He's good.) Central Cee is from London, and he sounds like it. He's headlining festivals all over the world, and he's reached levels of US prominence that have eluded all of his proper UK rap peers. Now, they've got a new song together.
In one week, Central Cee will release his long-awaited album Can't Rush Greatness. (He's got a few commercial mixtapes, but this is one of those situations where the album is announced as a debut even though it doesn't feel that way.) I have heard Can't Rush Greatness, and I love it. Cench raps with a lot of speed and style, and it's a lot of fun to hear the way his voice tumbles over the style of crisp, propulsive production that he favors. It's also fun to hear American rap stars keep up with him. Cench and Lil Baby got into a great back-and-forth on last year's "Band4Band," and he and 21 Savage do something similar on the new song "GBP."
Central Cee and 21 Savage have extremely different rap styles, but they sound really good together as their voices bounce back and forth across this beat. Cole Bennett directed the "GBP" video, and it was filmed in Atlanta even though it's full of British signifiers. The video is full of guns and swords and stunt-driving, and it's fun to watch. You can do that below.
Can't Rush Greatness is out 1/24 on Columbia.
