Central Cee has called out naysayers who speculate that his rise to fame wasn’t authentic, demanding that they “give the soul-selling talk a rest”.
Yesterday (November 17), the BRIT Award-nominated rapper uploaded various posts to his Instagram stories – including one where he met the Jennifer Lopez on a trip to the United States.
In another upload, Cee also made a statement, telling people to “Give the soul-selling talk a rest pls.” He continued: “I’m a God-fearing, hard-working man. Allow me.”
The comment comes after years of speculation about the authenticity of the west Londoner’s meteoric rise.
He burst into the mainstream back in 2020 with his breakthrough viral hits, ‘Loading’ and ‘Day In The Life’, then dropped his debut mixtape ‘Wild West’ – which hit Number Two on the UK albums charts. He has since become one of the biggest UK rappers in the world, garnering over 26million monthly listeners on Spotify and collaborating with huge international acts such as Lil Baby, Asake and Jungkook. This trajectory caused many to believe Cee – also known as Cench – is an industry plant.
Beneath TheShadeBorough‘s post, grime godfather Wiley said that he believed the rapper “sold his soul a long time ago” – echoing the sentiment of many Reddit users who have discussed whether Cench has done so.
Another theory stated that, while promoting ‘Wild West’, the 26-year-old showed his solidarity with the Illuminati. In the promotional pictures and videos, he can be seen covering one of his eyes – which is rumoured to be a signal that the celebrity is a part of the notorious elite group – and, in a shared snippet, he rapped: “Triple six, but I’m feelin’ holy / Think Illuminati want a ceremony.”
Cee commented on people questioning his route to success on the song ‘Cold Shoulder’ from his second mixtape, 2022’s ’23’, rapping: “I can’t get rid of my demons, all of my feelings, I kept inside / I’d never sell my soul or switch on bro in desperate times.”
The multi-platinum-selling star has also publicly converted to Islam, which he alluded to by calling himself “God-fearing”.
In other news, Cench is gearing up to release his debut album ‘Can’t Rush Greatness’ on January 24, 2025 via Columbia Records. There isn’t much information on the tracklist, but it is said that the rapper will team up with ‘Sprinter‘ collaborator Dave again on the record. Fans can pre-order and pre-save the record here.