Stormzy said Central Cee should have won rap artist of the year at the Brits – he’s right

At this year’s Brit Awards, the annual showcase for the UK music industry, there were five nominees in the British hip-hop, grime and rap act category: Central Cee, Dave, Ghetts, Little Simz and Stormzy. It’s an award voted for by the general public, rather than the 1,200 music industry figures who make up the Brits’ voting academy.

When Stormzy was announced as the winner, he took to the stage to claim the award should instead have gone to Central Cee (real name Oakley Caesar-Su). It was a move reminiscent of Adele’s 2017 Grammy’s acceptance speech. Adele won the album of the year award for her record, 30, but said the gong should have gone to the “artist of my life” Beyoncé, for Lemonade.

Music genres, whether used by musicians, writers keen to describe an exciting new sound or marketing departments promoting a song, have movable boundaries. Award ceremonies (and the public response to them) frequently showcase the struggle to categorise music by genre. This was exemplified by the decoupling of the best act for pop and RnB at the Brits after a public debate around the 2023 awards.

Stormzy has transcended the boundaries of the grime genre that he came up through. He now has international profile and can sell out arenas around the globe. Last August, his feature collaboration with Chase and Status, Backbone, provided the veteran jungle drum and bass duo with their first number one single. It was Stormzy’s fifth.

The song was Stormzy’s only release of 2024 and, sonically, it belongs more to the Brits’ dance category than hip-hop, grime or rap. So it’s easy to see why Stormzy would seek to champion rising star Central Cee, who released two singles that firmly belong in the category in 2024. I Will climbed to number 19 in the UK national charts, and BAND4BAND, featuring American rapper Lil Baby, peaked at number four.

For those immersed in the Black music scenes which include hip hop, grime, rap and UK drill, Central Cee has been one of the most prolific artists of the last year. Last month at the Mobo (Music Of Black Origin) awards, the artist matched Stormzy’s record as the most decorated rapper in the award’s 29-year history.

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Central Cee also became the first artist to win the Mobos’ best male act three times. After two successful mix tapes, his album Can’t Rush Greatness was released on January 31 2025 and went straight to number one in the UK and multiple charts overseas. As such it would qualify for next year’s Brit Awards in the album category.

Breaking America

The very recent success of Can’t Rush Greatness inevitably makes Stormzy’s award feel dated. His shout out to Central Cee as the more deserving rap artist of the year, and acknowledgement that award shows can sometimes deny people their “moments”, was very much on brand for a rap artist known for his compassionate and reflective spirit.

It is also perhaps an acknowledgement that Can’t Rush Greatness has penetrated the US market, debuting at number nine on the Billboard 200 album chart. Central Cee seems poised to have a level of success overseas that has previously eluded Stormzy. (Although other UK artists such as Monie Love, Cookie Crew, M.I.A., Skepta, London Posse and the London-born but Atlanta-raised 21 Savage, have achieved crossover success.)

Central Cee has managed to take the sound of UK drill (a style of rap built on lyrics about the artist’s day-to-day existence that is mostly narrated by Britain’s Black and institutionally underprivileged youth) to a mainstream audience. His music features tight production, alternating ear-worm and emotive lyrics and – like Stormzy – a charismatic persona that screams global pop star.

Questioning Cee’s success

At this level of success, popular music stars are positioned and made. Anyone versed in the abject anti-Black racism of the UK music industry could legitimately query why this particular rapper is being given a multi-million pound marketing push from major label Columbia Records.

Any suggestion that Central Cee is an “industry plant” can be swatted away with video evidence that he has been honing his craft since secondary school. But the issue of colourism is harder to get away from. Central Cee has a light skin tone, from his white English and mixed Guyanese and Chinese parentage. This could be seen by the record industry as making him more marketable to white majority audiences in Europe and North America than his darker skinned peers.

Additionally, I would argue that the music industry’s obsession of rallying behind one individual from each scene at any one time damages the health of all music. Focusing on the most popular artist of each moment is not a true reflection of the strength of music in the UK.

There are so many artists releasing incredible projects and singles in the genre, such as Bashy, Jordy, Chy Cartier and BXKS. They would really benefit from the platforms like the Brits who typically only champion the most popular artists.

All that said, one look at Central Cee’s TikTok account shows the outstanding work rate, discography, a commitment to developing a community across Europe, creativity, and ambition of this talented young man from Ladbroke Grove.

As usual, Stormzy’s considered thoughts are spot on.