U.K. rapper Central Cee has announced the release date for his long-awaited debut album, Can’t Rush Greatness. The LP is slated for release on January 24, 2025 via Columbia Records and will be the first full body of work since his 2023 mixtape 23.
The 26-year-old shared the news on his social media feeds alongside the artwork, which you can see below. Pre-orders are now open on Cench’s website.
No tracklist has been released for the album so far, but it has been confirmed that his new song “One By One,” which was recorded in a Colors session, would not feature on the record.
A press release also confirmed that the album was recorded in multiple locations over the last year, and it will feature guest producers as well as an appearance from fellow U.K. rapper Dave. The pair collaborated on the single “Sprinter” in 2023, which topped the U.K.’s Official Singles Charts for nine weeks and landed at No.10 on the Billboard Global 200.
2024 has seen a number of singles from the west London artist. In May, he teamed up with Lil Baby for “BAND4BAND” which landed at No.18 on the Billboard Hot 100, and at No.3 on the Official Singles Chart in the U.K. The song was the highest-charting U.K. rap single on the charts in Hot 100 history.
Elsewhere there was an appearance on Ice Spice’s debut Y2K, a team-up with Afrobeats star Asake on single “Wave” and most recently with RAYE on the single “Moi” in September.
Speaking to Dazed, Central Cee elaborated on the process of the making of Can’t Rush Greatness. “With the mixtapes, I was living in [the same] house I grew up in,” he said. “Now we’ve elevated, we’re actually musicians. There were times it was hard to say man’s a musician. I was just a guy that [went into the] studio [sometimes]. Now, I’m an artist.”
Last week, Central Cee was named as an additional headliner for Spain’s Primavera Sound Festival in June 2025, topping the bill alongside Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan.
