On Friday (Jan. 24), Central Cee unveiled his debut LP, Can’t Rush Greatness, a 17-song body of work with assists from Young Miko, 21 Savage, Dave, Lil Durk, Skepta and Lil Baby. The project was led by the well-received singles “BAND4BAND,” “Gen Z Luv” and “GBP.”

A day prior to the album's arrival, the West London star liberated a visual for “Limitless,” an Einer Bankz, Gabe Lucas and Fraxille-produced effort that saw him opening up about emotional scars from past traumas. “How do I put this pain into words? Like a bullet from a gun, it burns/ Slept on the bando sofa, and I woke up with spots on my face from germs/ I feel betrayed by my girl, you were ungrateful when I gave you the Merc’/ Even though I'm a man, I should hide it, I swallow my pride and say that it hurts,” he admitted on wax.

The past five years have seen Cench go from a budding star to Hip Hop frontrunner. Following more obscure drops, he began making serious waves with mixtapes like 2021’s Wild West and 2022’s 23, the latter of which earned the artist a No. 1 placement on the U.K. Albums Chart. In 2023, he linked with Dave for the EP Split Decision. The biggest single from the four-song effort, “Sprinter,” earned universal acclaim and broke into Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs at No. 29. It also earned a platinum certification in the United States.

In an interview with Dazed, Central Cee recalled when he began falling out of love with music early in his career. “I took my foot off the gas,” he admitted. “My whole life I’d been in this mad delusional state trying to blow, and I wasn’t seeing the world for what it was.”

He found himself leaning back into the art form following drill music’s global renaissance. “I started to become less delusional in them times,” he explained. “Before, I was almost pissing in the wind. Now I had proper aim, I could see the target. It seemed like it was gonna happen. I knew what to do now. Whereas before it was more just a hope ting, a faith ting.”