Music
Ceebo: “The unique thing about the Ceebo experience is that everyone is my peer.”
The South London rapper discusses his musical influences, his upcoming "Bloccstar" tour, and working with Wretch32
There are many (often fraught) conversations taking place online about the ‘UK Underground Rap Scene’ and all that it entails. What counts as underground; who is leading the new-wave charge; and what are the names we should look out for. I posit that it’s not important to rush to arbitrary categorisation, but instead, enjoy the organic and left-field creativity that the next generation of UK rappers has to offer.
And no one encapsulates that quite like Ceebo. Equal parts playful, astute, observational and fearless, the Lambeth-bred rapper meets me over Zoom on a sunny autumnal Friday to discuss all things Bloccstar – his latest album and eponymous tour. His demeanour is calm yet assertive; there’s a maturity present that has come from the learnings of his experiences since the release of his 2025 project, Blair Babies. His ambitions aren’t quelled, but rather, redirected to creating a path that’s distinctly his own.
Ahead of his UK shows in January, we discuss his influences, what a Ceebo show is like, and (hopefully) doing ad-libs for Beyoncé one day.
I want to talk about the Bloccstar intro track, ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’, which features an interlude where label executives are telling you what to do, how to feel and what kind of music to make. Why was it important for you to start off the new project with that particular interlude?
Obviously, over the course of the last year, I’ve had a lot of meetings with a lot of different people. And the general tone has just been that kind of tentative approach with people looking for success by their metrics to justify investing in what me and my team are working on. [These metrics] are not really to do with the quality of anything we make or our ambition or anything. It’s just purely another game.
And I felt like as a creative that does put you in a really weird headspace. I wanted to situate the audience in the context that kicks off the journey that I take on the project. So I feel like it was important to have it be the first thing that listeners hear, then work from there. It’s a lot easier to understand the conclusions that I draw when you hear that [track].
People tend to situate you as a conscious rapper – and you are talking about important topics on this project – but you’re also very playful. You even reference “shaku on the beat as well” on ‘Jangolova’. Was it intentional to include more of the lighthearted aspects of your personality on Bloccstar?
Yeah, 100%. I feel like my earlier works don’t they don’t include as much of my personality as I’d like. People would come up to me and assume that I take myself super seriously, but that’s not me at all. I’m a fun-loving guy and so going into this [project], I definitely wanted to show way more of that.
I think that’s also reflected in the way your fan base have been responding to you. How did the ‘friend zone’ meme come about?
I did an interview and a shoot with a magazine earlier this year. I can’t lie, I didn’t have a trim and I don’t think the shoot was the best. It was just average. But that was months ago. And then all of a sudden, someone took a screenshot of me smiling in the video and my fanbase latched onto it.
After that happened, they all went this quest to find pictures of me and turn me into memes. Then the streamer mj419er, he found that picture from that photo shoot and he just riffed on the friend zone. I was out at like a birthday party, I checked my phone and I was being spammed with “Have you seen Twitter?” And then that’s what I saw. They’re still going now.
I won’t lie to you, I have saved those photos. I’ve turned them into WhatsApp stickers.
Fully understandable. My fans are funny, init? I’ll give them that.
Sonically, this album balances a lot of genres. What are your musical influences, and what were the influences for Bloccstar?
I think it goes without saying that I’m heavily influenced by rap. But I also have quite a worldly ear in terms of the music that I take in. Things like Bongology – there’s that burgeoning wave of artists like Luzyqv, and producers like QQ Panafriqana, and unogabe.
But also just French rap in general. And I’ve also taken a lot of influence from Caribbean music like Bouyon and Soca because these are the genres that me and my people actually go out and party to. Also, Afrobeats, Amapiano, Gqom – even some deep house. We tried to cover as many bases as we could [while making this project].
You have a lyric where you compare and relate yourself to Headie One – who else do you consider peers in rap?
Oh, that’s an interesting one. I feel like the unique thing about the Ceebo experience is everyone’s my peer. There are a lot of [my] songs that if you played them, you could say ‘this sits next to a lot of different things’. Obviously people will associate me so many different names from the underground scene, but I’d like to think that if you listen to my discography, there’s a varied list of people that you could say that I’m relative to you in terms of sound.
You worked with Wretch32 on ‘Macbeth’s Soliloquy’. How did that collaboration come about and what was that experience like?
That’s someone I grew up listening to. He’s very much a huge influence on me becoming the artist I am today. So it feels super surreal.
As far as how it came about, I initially recorded the song and the final refrain of the song was the hook. We were thinking, ‘ah, it’d be best if we got someone of Jamaican descent to do it’, to really bring it to life. We were running through names and Wretch was the first name that came to mind because…it’s Wretch, you know what I mean? And one of my managers happens to work in the same building as him and they have a rapport. He played the song for Wretch and he said “I’ll get on the song, but I have to do a different hook.” We weren’t going to say no. So our A&Rs lined up the session.
Before we recorded it, like we had a long conversation where he was just picking my brain. You know what I mean, asking me all sorts of questions. And I was asking him all sorts of questions as well.
What kind of questions were you asking him?
I wanted to learn about his process and the way he sees the music, because obviously he doesn’t write. So I asked about that and how the creative process is for him at his present age?
Do you feel there are things that you’re going to adopt from that session as you moving forward in your music?
100%. He doesn’t overthink his process at all. He’s not someone that gets in the way of whatever he wants to create that day. He just lets it flow. I’ve been trying to implement the practice of seeking simplicity.
Aside from Wretch32, do you have any other collaborations you hope to do one day?
On a personal one, MIKE. When I found [his music], I feel like it expanded my thoughts on the possibilities of what rap music could be.
And then, someone who I’d think “bro, like I’ve completed life,” if I worked them? Beyoncé. But it wouldn’t even have to be a feature. I can just do like ad-libs, like Migos on ‘APESHIT’
What should fans look forward to on the Bloccstar tour in January?
One thing that my team and I always focus on is reimagining a lot of the tracks that people love. We’re going to elevate them and turn them on their head for the live show. I think people should look forward to [the show] being a full production. It’s not just going to be me on stage. We’re always going to have extra surprises that just make it a real immersive experience.
You’re from Lambeth – should we expect a hometown/neighbourhood show one day?
Honestly? My ultimate goal is the O2 Academy Brixton. But even before that, I hosted a block party around the corner from where I live. I think it’s just important to really engage with the place that you come from.
Aside from the tour, what does 2027 look like for Ceebo?
More music. I’m not stopping. We’re literally about to start pressing on the gas as far as recording something new but still within the vein of Ceebo. I’m always trying to push myself in that way. A lot of fans might like it, a lot of fans might not like it, but I’m doing it anyway. I think you should just do what feels right for you and the people who get it will get it.
Do you think you’re going to do a deep house track then?
I’m on it. I’m actually on it.
Lastly, how did you come up with your fanbase name, CBeebies?
My dear friend Demilade likes to make fun of me. So instead of calling me by my artist name, she just started calling me CBeebies years ago. And then one day in 2024, I was doing one of those questionnaires on Instagram, and someone asked “what’s the name of your fanbase?” And CBeebies just came back to me, like a That’s So Raven thing. Since then everyone’s been rolling with it, isn’t it?
Yeah, I’m locked in. I’m a proud Cbeebie.
Exactly.
Ceebo’s Bloccstar Tour kicks off in January 2027 – Find tickets.
