The “Day In The Life” crooner, Central Cee became a prominent act in the year 2020, after the release of two singles, “Day in The Life” and “Loading”. Since then, he has been making waves with trap music and UK drill as he penetrated other music scenes across the globe. After the release of his sophomore album, ‘23’, he broke more records with “Doja” and “Sprinter”, featuring Dave.
On the 21st of June, 2024, Nigerian musician, Asake featured Central Cee on a song titled, “Wave” –making it Central Cee’s first Top 10 entry on the official singles chart in Nigeria. The song has over 4.3 million on-demand streams and debuted at No. 2 on the Official Nigeria Top 100 charts. Aside from this feat, “BAND4BAND” is also certified silver, has 4 million + on-demand streams, and peaked at No. 23 on the Official Nigeria Top 100 chart.
To acknowledge the success of the songs, Central Cee’s manager, Bello, also known as YB is TurnTable Charts’ Executive of the Week. In this feature, Bello shares his undying devotion to the music business, how he started working with Central Cee, and their accomplishments so far. This detailed interview gives an insight into Central Cee’s interest and success story in the Nigerian music industry and Africa as a whole.
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TTC: Kindly introduce yourself to us. How did you venture into artiste management?
BELLO: My name’s Bello, I also go by YB. I’ve always had a love for music and creative flair, once upon a time I even had a go at being an artiste. Thankfully, I’ve also been blessed with a great business mind. One day my love for music and this business mind of mine brought me to the belief that I’d be well suited to be a music manager. I started off managing an old friend and soon after I stumbled across Central Cee.
TTC: Can you explain how you came to your role as Central Cee’s manager? How has the experience been?
BELLO: The experience has been great. I love what I do, it gives me a lot of freedom and allows me to exercise my creativity. It’s very rewarding to be able to help shape a young person's life for the better, both inside and outside of music. I wish I had a YB for myself, I needed one.
Late 2019, a track Central Cee had recorded, his first attempt at drill, was being played on the Instagram story of a producer/engineer I’d been in the studio with the day prior. Cench actually recorded the track on the same day I was in the studio, but we didn’t cross paths. What is creepy is that if I had watched that producer's IG story ten minutes later than I did, the part with Cench’s track playing would have already expired and none of this would have ever happened.
At the time, I was aware of how big drill music was becoming and how popular it was with so many fans, many of whom existed outside of the crazy world depicted through the lyrics. I couldn’t make sense of why normal civilians loved it, but I took away the idea that drill must just be really infectious. It was the same tempo as Grime which was born in the UK and massive for the culture here, but it was also very different to Grime. It was also a variant of a style that started somewhere else but developed its own very unique identity, and for the first time, UK rap was inspiring rappers all around the globe.
I concluded that if this sound gets refined in a way that's acceptable for a much wider audience, artistes in this field could have a good chance at being global rap stars. And that had never really happened for UK rappers before, at least not how we see it now. When I heard Cench rapping on that IG story that day, I knew straight away that he was the guy for the job.
I’m so rarely impressed by rappers, but what I heard in that short clip was so unique and refreshing yet still somehow reminiscent and comparable to a few of the UK’s most technically gifted and lyrically stylish rappers. Cench’s clarity and cadence to this day is unrivalled. To add to my surprise, when I clicked his page I was met by the image of somebody who I knew was made for stardom. I shot my shot in his DM, but he didn’t reply at first. In later years, he revealed to me that a friend of his who he’d told I DM’d him and who happened to also follow me on social media, was responsible for him replying. She’d mentioned to him that I was smart and would always post motivational things and helpful advice and that maybe it’d be worth him hearing me out. He replied soon after and the rest is history. Around 7 months later we put out “Day in the Life”, what some would say is his breakout record. It has been a journey and a blessing ever since.
TTC: You're Executive of the Week because the hit collaboration “Wave” by Asake and Central Cee debuted at No.2 on the Official Nigeria Top 100 Chart and “BAND4BAND” reached the Top 40. This is remarkable and “Wave” will be Central Cee’s first Top 10 entry on the official singles chart in Nigeria. What led to the collaboration between both artistes? Can you run through the production process?
BELLO: It’s simple, I’m a huge fan of Afro-beats and a big fan of Asake especially, he’s a very unique and talented artiste. Cench is also a fan of the genre and an admirer of Asake’s work.
I’ll take you back to an important trip I took to New York back in 2018. The first record I heard whilst stepping out of the airport and almost everywhere else I went that week, was “Joanna” by Afro B. Hearing it everywhere was so surprising and unexpected, but it helped open my eyes and reminded me that we Africans are everywhere in this world and how infectious our genre/ music is. The feel-good element in our music is undeniable, it can be enjoyed by any and everybody. That trip and song were responsible for making me believe that it was only a matter of time before Afrobeats took real precedence globally.
Armed with this belief of mine and Cench’s love for Afrobeats, from day one I always wondered how or if ever Cench could have an opportunity to grace an Afrobeats record and pay homage to the culture, the people, and the continent.
In September 2023, I found myself in New York again with Central Cee. Keep in mind the last time I was in NYC in 2018, I had no clue Central Cee or Asake existed, Asake hadn’t even released a song yet. Anyway, a group of my friends happened to also be in NYC and mentioned they were going to an Asake concert at the Barclays Center, last time we were there it was because Drake had sold it out. I personally wanted Asake and Cench to work together from the very first moment I discovered Asake’s music so I knew I had to help make something happen. They share so many similarities, their unique characters, approach to music, creative design, meteoric rise and so on. Asake literally sold out the same size arena as Drizzy that early in his career, what!
Don’t get it confused, opportunities to work with Afrobeat artistes had been presented to Cench over and over again prior, but this was THE opportunity. Irene Agbontaen, an inspiring British-born Nigerian entrepreneur who we are blessed to work with, was with us in NYC and helped to get us backstage last minute. After the show, it was there that Cench and Asake met for the first time. Asake was also an admirer of Central Cee and his music, everything was so natural. The following day, they met again at Quad Studios in Times Square. Asake had a chorus laid down already. As for the beat, it wasn't always Amapiano, however, it’s still very similar to the version that’s been released, even though it took a bit of convincing for us to accept the changes.
At first, the beat was a challenge for Central Cee to write to and he almost gave up, but I encouraged him to keep going. Maybe it wasn’t writing the lyrics that was challenging, maybe the challenge was in creating a good flow for a genre and tempo he’d never rapped to, whilst having the eyes and pressure of his and Asake's team waiting to hear something special. Keep in mind, his preference is to write and record alone. Twenty minutes later, he stepped into the booth and delivered his verse. “Wave” is around 30 beats per minute slower than his usual records and somehow he managed to find grooves and patterns within the beat that make it sound almost as if he’s still rapping at 140bpm. He honoured his own style and still managed to elegantly grace the beat. Well done.
In June 2024, we found ourselves in Nigeria for the purpose of creating “Wave” music video. On day 1, we refined the track at the studio and added an additional part from Central Cee at the end of the record before heading out to shoot the video. Along the way, I contributed musically where needed. I’m even on the song, the Asake style gang vocals in Central Cee’s verse is my voice accompanied by the voice of Clint (owner of the streetwear brand CRTZ) and Kayode, his manager. In the weeks leading up to finalising the record, I found myself in the creative driving seat more often than I usually would be. We all contributed, we all compromised. and it all worked out in the end. “Wave” is a standout moment in my career personally, and I’m really proud of it.
TTC: “BAND4BAND” is popular both here and in the UK. It has peaked at No. 23 on the Official Nigeria Top 100 chart and has spent 5 weeks on the chart. Was the success of the song anticipated?
BELLO: I’m not sure if we anticipated “BAND4BAND” would do as well as it did globally. We questioned things about it, but we went for it and like with any of our records, we prepped it as best we could and it went crazy.
The success of “BAND4BAND” in Nigeria did not surprise me at all because I know how locked in we are there. We first went to Nigeria in 2022, Cench was billed to perform at the Homecoming Festival and it was back then that Nigeria surprised us. We couldn’t believe the reception Central got whilst on stage and the love he received in the streets. It made sense though, from early days and prior to ever touching the ground, Nigeria has always been present in our top ten Markets on Apple Music. Social media also made it obvious to us that they loved Central Cee there. However, talking from experience, I can confidently say that those stats and social media could have never helped us imagine what we met in Nigeria. The internet is of zero use in helping anybody anticipate the energy of Nigerian people, you just need to be there. It’s not every day or every celeb that goes there, but we go and we show real love and that’s why we’re locked in, so no surprises for us.
TTC: This wasn’t the first time, Central Cee has been in Nigeria. Is Africa important to him as an artiste?
BELLO: It wasn’t his first time and yes, Africa is really important to us. We always tell our live agent we need to tour Africa. They tell me not all African markets are profitable, we tell them it’s not all about profit. Regardless, we’ll continue to make the effort to tour or visit wherever we can. I know Cench is looking forward to visiting as many places in Africa as possible, especially the places that present themselves in our top markets, there are too many. He’s also always on about South Africa, which is another top ten market on Apple Music for us. All in due time, I guess.
TTC: Are there other plans to do more in the Nigerian music scene? Any collaboration, tour date, or future release? And also the wider African music space?
BELLO: Yes for sure, we’ll let “Wave” with Asake do its thing for now and as time passes I’m sure new opportunities will arise, Cench will pick the ones that are right to do. Thank you.