Cee Major and his debut five track EP Humble Beginnings is a breath of fresh air for the UK Hip Hop scene right now. This EP has been long awaited as Cee Major has built up his fan base executing freestyles for SBTV, JDZ Media and Charlie Sloth’s Fire in the Streets. Yet what really has proven Cee Major’s lyrical skill and credibility has been his performances rap battling for Don’t Flop. However his appropriately named debut EP has allowed Cee Major to join the ranks of former battle rappers Lunar C, Shotty Horroh and Blizzard in making the transition from battle rapper into a fully-fledged musician.
The EP opens up with a track sharing its name ‘Humble Beginnings’ and is a brilliantly constructed introduction into the unpretentious mind state of Cee Major, with the hook stating “So before you judge me based on looks, hold your judgements take a look, coz I came from the bare necessities of life, the boy from the jungle I came with books”. This defiantly personifies Cee Major as an artist as although he may not look like you’re typical rapper, he has a story to tell which resonates far more with the average working class man than many of these rappers who glamorise and front about selling drugs and wearing chains. Also of note is the fact that Cee Major produced this song himself. The second track ‘Family Business’ is a truly positive and motivational little gem, with the hook once again killing it: “Nothing comes from nothing so I’m a work until it works, and I’m a grind till I’m done yeah. But f*ck it, it’s still family first even if the money doesn’t come in, we’ve seen tragedies worse.” This is alongside the calm and encouraging instrumental produced by Phocus Beats and Cee Major makes this track a favourite of ours here at HTF, pushing the ethic to work harder but at same time remember that it’s our loved ones that come first.
The halfway point of Humble Beginnings is a track titled ‘East London 2’, with the clue in the name its builds upon Cee Major’s finest song previous to this EP ‘East London’ and it has to be said is objectively probably the best track on the EP. Representing his area, but not through glamorising gang culture, Cee Major’s lyrics dwell on the hardships and the defining features felt by the youth and himself growing up in the all so musical but also relative poverty stricken areas of East London. Once again Cee Major produced this banger himself, and the song finishes with the hook from the original ‘East London’ track and see’s Cee Major harmonising incredibly well, proving his more than just a rapper. “They want that fast money zooming in their cars money, buy a couple stones try stunting like they hard money, but it’s all a false sonny, coz you see them man are a blind you don’t know how much you can see until you look past money”. Track four and five are titled ‘Lost Souls Pt. 1’ and ‘Lost Souls Pt. 2’ respectively and represent a softer and a more upbeat grittier version of the same theme of balancing the aspirations of being a rapper whilst also acknowledging the adversities of growing up in an area which has failed its youth leading to a generation of lost souls. “Sitting watching children staying children while their time flies.” ‘Lost Souls Pt. 2’ uses Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Do I Wanna Know’ beat and is the only track on the EP not produced by Cee Major. “My eyes water coz my mind’s tortured” is just a snippet of the consistent high level of lyricism Cee Major demonstrates.
We here at HTF highly recommend this EP to anyone, Cee Major’s thought provoking and unmaterialistic intentions through his conscious and politically aware lyrics prove his defiantly one of the best up and coming rappers in the UK. Alongside this the other outstanding features of Humble Beginnings is the consistent production quality and how sick the instrumentals are, especially considering when this is a debut EP. This combined with Cee Major’s singing on the hooks shows the independence and multifaceted qualities he possesses. The only negative about this EP is that it isn’t longer, but never fear Cee Major will be dropping his second EP titled The Format next month, how’s that for work rate! Download Humble Beginnings for free here.
