Just two mixtapes in as many years is all it took to change everything for Central Cee. In keeping with a long list of fast-rising rappers of the past, the Londoner’s emergence has been shaped by the anxious years spent on the sidelines beforehand. On No More Leaks, he presents a plain picture of what’s fueling his fire: an undying need for complete and utter revenge for being overlooked. When the premature exposure of 2022 single “Doja” threatened to slow his charge, Cench gave out the goods (just as he did in 2021 with the PinkPantheress-sampling “Obsessed With You”). And the brief snippet blossomed, becoming a viral, 90-second single that propelled him to worldwide acclaim. Here, Cench gets ahead of the game again with a rhyme-laden course of triumphant recollection and fantasy—declaring, as this EP’s title suggests, an end to the era of leaks.
Admittedly, there’s nothing as explicitly shaped for the masses, and the EP’s four tracks don’t fit as neatly in the catchy, lip-sync stratosphere of his previous efforts. Somehow, the MC creates a new avenue for the impressive focus and clarity of thought he needs to scale the next step. “Remember the rap game didn’t accept me/Now you see the reception,” he declares on DJ Snake-sampling opener “Chapters,” followed by recollections of his sofa-surfing past on “Bumpy Johnson.” Just where Central Cee is taking his momentous run remains to be seen. But—having endured a series of false starts since beginning his career as a teen in 2017, as stated on “Crypto Price”—he’s more than prepared for the ups and downs.