ALC #14 - Wild West by Central Cee

[Skinny]

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Wild West by Central Cee

Unashamedly clean and poppy drill. I just think this kid has something special. The beats come straight from the Craig David school of immediately hummable Vauxhall Nova anthems. This matches UK drill's wobbly, hyperkinetic basslines to the sorts of melodic acoustic guitar flourishes that used to enhance the poppier side of UK garage, and Cee meshes a dry sense of humour and genuine star-quality with drill's unapologetically nihilist urges and tales of drug-dealing. It's fidgety and bouncy, but still inherently street. His charisma will carry him far; the kid's a natural.

(I was never really here.)
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2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.

[EyeKanFly]

I was looking forward to your album pick, and this didn't disappoint.

Totally agree on the beats and backing instrumentals (while I don't get the references, I do agree that they're "immediately hummable"). Agree about the humor.

Gotta say I haven't listened to too many rap/hip-hop albums this year so this was a welcome change from what I've mostly been listening to. It wasn't my favorite but I agree that this is a really solid debut album (or mixtape) and I'll definitely be looking forward to any future releases from Cee.
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51 Washington, D.C. albums!

[Hayden]

Another one for the queue


Must admit, these first few months of 2021 have felt unusually dry for hip-hop albums. Think I've only heard maybe six, and half fell flat. Hoping it picks up.

[LedZep]

This is a cool one. Didn't really love it, but the beats were really fun, the acoustic fills in the background and UK bass elements were both great additions. And Cee is a decent rapper with a flow that fits perfectly with the polished but still hard trap beats. It's also more than manageable at 39 minutes.
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Finally updated the overall chart

2020s
90s

[kokkinos]

I’ve been coming back to this on a semi regular basis since it came out, I have to admit it’s highly addictive. How so, you may ask. What immediately strikes me here is the contrast between production/rapping and lyrics. The production doesn’t go super hard at any point, it comfortably lies on the poppier end of the spectrum. (When it does go the extra mile, for example in Loading, I can’t say I loved it that much to be honest). The rapping follows a similar direction, his flow is shiny and digestible, a bit cool/distant too, it’s as if he tries to avoid emotional involvement, giving the impression of being a mere narrator rather than the protagonist. If you found the aforementioned departments underwhelming or lacking a punch, that’s where the lyrics come into play and we get to see the whole picture. The most plausible explanation for their safe approach is that it’s more accessible/friendly to the masses, plus they might feel that it plays to his strengths and allows him to shine the brightest, another factor that is worth mentioning and points to the same idea is that there is not a single guest, but I ‘d like to think it goes beyond that and this polarity so to speak is a deliberate decision to further emphasise the lyrical content. Anyway, back to the lyrics. Rough and gloomy, yet driven and confident, the themes he deals with are rather common, but he puts his stamp on it, not to mention he can really tell a story. One thing that I find slightly puzzling is that, despite not being particularly diverse, it feels more like a collection of songs than a “proper” album, it’s hardly anything more than the sum of its parts. But then again, I can’t complain too much, as those parts are great, 6 for 6 is a song of the year candidate.
To sum it up, this belongs in the “extremely promising but not quite there yet" category - not to diminish the enjoyability of this one, but it's clear he has the potential to improve. An artist to watch out for.
On a side note, I guess it's somewhat expected, since it's not exactly BEA's favourite genre, but I wish this received a bit more attention round these parts.

[KitchenSink]

it's good! a bit bouncier and more airy than a lot of drill I've heard, not exactly "bright" but definitely not as murky as something like 67. dude has a real charisma and a knack for personalizing what could otherwise have been more generic content in less skilled hands. he has a very slick and easy way of going about fairly complex rhyme patterns such that it feels totally smooth and effortless, really gives off the sense this is just natural to him, almost reminds me (and this might sound like a stretch but bear with me) of Offset to some extent in the way he goes about navigating both rhyme schemes and syllable placement/spacing, always knowing the best way to make use of whatever space a bar has available, letting shit breathe when necessary. There's a real ease to the whole thing, not that he's exactly "laid back" per se but he's not really flashy and again he just makes this all sound so effortless to the point that it's easy to miss the technical skill, and obv it helps that said technical skill is actually in service to genuinely good songwriting and isn't just a means to its own end. Oh yeah and I thought eventually I would get weary of those sorts of strings on every track but they were implemented with enough variety to keep things fairly fresh while still working within a specific formula. Really my only big complaint is some of these hooks just go on way too long lol, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this. Threw a couple tracks on a shortlist for a thing I'm DJing for on the saturday, let's see if the crowd digs it haha
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A Variety of Artists