We love new music Fridays here at Wonderland. And, while there are many new drops today, there is one that we are particularly excited about, and it’s Central Cee‘s “23”.

Dropping the highly-anticipated mixtape, the 23-year-old west London-born rapper has welcomed his fans into the next step of his musical evolution, and that involves 15 energising cuts. Having teased eager listeners for weeks on end now with releases of hits-in-the-making such as “Retail Therapy” and “Cold Shoulder”, it became clear that “23” would be one of those projects in which the skip button would be rendered useless. And, thanks to the jazz sensibilities and Cee’s shout outs to his roots and day ones that we have come to love from him, tracks such as “No Pain”, “Ungrateful” and “Terminal 5” situate themselves amongst the now-iconic “Obsessed With You” as defining sounds of his career.

While his signature brazen and punchy attitude ripples throughout many cuts synonymous with his infectiously aggressive sound, Cee has also ensured that range and musical maturity presented themselves in the project. With track “Mrs” – a personal favourite of ours – not only standing as the artist’s singing debut but also as a very rare soul-baring confession from him, it becomes clear that the rapper is ready to get more intimate with his fans – an unexpected yet warmly received move, we might add. When it comes to rounding off the project, track 15, “End of the Beginning”, is a poignant reminder that while the come up has been beautiful, Central Cee is ready to enter his next era, and what an era it is shaping up to be.

A stellar body of work from arguably the UK’s fastest rising artist in the scene, “23” is proof that 2022 is Central Cee’s for the taking.

Head below to listen to “23”…