Manchester-based rapper Aitch has fired back at Central Cee after the latter dissed him on his recently-released album Can’t Rush Greatness (Jan. 24).
On the LP’s “5 Star,” Central Cee (real name Oakley Neil Caesar-Su) came for Aitch in a line that referenced the latter winning a BRIT Award over him at the 2023 ceremony. Aitch triumphed in the hip-hop/grime/rap category over Central Cee, Dave, Loyle Carner and Stormzy. Central Cee has been nominated for the award a number of times and has yet to grab the prize
“I felt like a p—k when I went to the BRITs and they gave the award to a guy called Aitch/ I had my acceptance speech prepared like, ‘Long live F’s,’ I’m goin’ insane,” he said. The latter line references Central Cee’s close friend Fernando “FDot Johnson” who was murdered in January 2023.
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Later that afternoon (Jan. 24), the Manchester rapper responded to the diss with a track “A Guy Called?” which was uploaded directly to his Instagram with the caption “leave me alone” alongside a picture of his BRITs trophy. On the track’s opening line Aitch claims that Central Cee is an “influencer” and that he will “jump in the booth for something to do.”
Further references in the track allude to Cench’s BRITs barb, saying: “Little boy is just there to be spun, gettin’ mad at the BRITs, there’s bare to be won.” Later in the track, Aitch adds: “Bringin’ the BRITs up two years later, f— my life, you should go live yours.”
Elsewhere Aitch alleges that Central Cee employs ghostwriters (“All your songs get wrote by Clint, in the booth, one mic, two c—s”) and makes reference to Central Cee’s ethnicity (“Clint was p—d ’cause Cench got beat by a white MC, Cench is as white as me”). Speaking to British Vogue in 2024, Central Cee said that he was born to an English mother and a father of Guyanese and Chinese ancestry.
A number of their U.K. rap contemporaries including Kairo Keyz, ArrDee and M1llionz have commented on Aitch’s Instagram post. Central Cee responded to the track by commenting “fair enough” alongside a flame and laughing face emoji. Listen to the track below.
Aitch released his debut album Close to Home in 2022 and which reached No. 2 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart.
Central Cee is nominated once again in the hip-hop/grime/rap category at the 2025 BRITs which take place March 1, where he will go up against Dave, Ghetts, Little Simz and Stormzy for the prize.
