Random link ups are everywhere in rap these days — and the latest one sees Lil Baby flying across the pond to connect with London’s Central Cee for the song “BAND4BAND.” The UK drill beat — produced by Ghana Beats and Geenaro — is a certified trunk rattler with both Cench and Baby, as the title suggests, going band for band.
Directed by Wowa, the video shows their respective teams riding through London in back-to-back Lamborghini Urus’ in different colors looking very presidential. Central Cee sets things off and quickly loses his mind spitting, “I’m not in the mood ’cause my flight delayed/ So I jumped on a private jet and I’m askin’ the pilot the ETA/ Lambo’ parked on the landin’ strip, everyone in my gang and my DJ paid/ Why’s my man talkin’ ’bout Insha’Allah? These times, he don’t even pray.”
Then, Lil Baby comes through to calm things down in his signature style of rapping like he’s never lied about anything a day in his life. “Bro’ll do it for some shoes and some clothes, you’ll see what he’ll do for a necklace/ ‘Rari truck, it look like a spider, it’s crawlin’ a dollar on just accessories (Damn)/She made me wanna go harder, I like her whole aura, I think I’m obsessed with her,” he spits like a character of an Iceberg Slim novel.
It’s always dope when unexpected collabs turn out to be bangers. Play this in the whip this Memorial Day weekend and make the trunk rattle on that reasonably priced sedan while going back and forth like Cench and the Hero.
While Baby has been relatively quiet this year, Central Cee has been active. He dropped the R&B-leaning “I Will” back in February and recently dissed old foe Digga D on “CC Freestyle.”
Maybe all this activity means he’s gearing up to drop the rumored Can’t Rush Greatness album this year. We sure hope so.
