Cee specialises in expressive streams of consciousness that contain a matrix of paradoxes – romantic and realist, hard and unguarded, nostalgic and present – and, crucially, he’s boyband-pretty. The London rapper’s first two mixtapes – Wild West, from 2021, and 23, from 2022 – debuted at No 2 and No 1 in the UK, and he was nominated for British artist of the year at this year’s Brits alongside Harry Styles and Stormzy.
A writhing mass of arms and torsos, armed with cameraphones and the occasional vape, surge towards Central Cee as he takes on one of American hip-hop’s rites of passage: a show in New York City’s Irving Plaza.
