Central Cee’s “Now We’re Strangers” sees the British rapper asserting that he wants to “leave the bullshit in the past,” all while speaking candidly about a relationship gone wrong.
From the jump, the track, off Cee’s studio debut Can’t Rush Greatness, finds the 26-year-old artist in a reflective state of mind about a former lover whose number he can still recite “by heart.” This person, which many listeners have speculated to be Cee’s ex Madeline Argy, is described in the first verse as being in a state of “partyin’ and hoein’” since their split.
From there, Cee raps that he painted “a perfect picture” of himself, conceding that this image was, in fact, “a lie.”
Broke my baby's heart, and now she's partyin' and hoein'
If I had a pound for every time I made her cry
Over couple years, then I could probably buy a Boeing
Paint a perfect picture of myself, it was a lie
She put my business on the net and now my true colors showin'
Later, Cee digs into this regretful tone, rapping of having attempted to buy this ex’s “love,” only for them to respond by confirming that they knew their true “worth.” Cee also praises this person’s maturity while taking a somewhat fatalistic view with regards to his mistakes (“I’ll never learn”) before admitting that he’s “feeling sad” and “really numb inside” despite how full of happiness his public life may appear to fans.
Last July, Argy took to TikTok to accuse Cee of infidelity. More specifically, she alleged that he had cheated with Ice Spice, with the ensuing social media controversy (allegedly) part of a larger “marketing scheme.”
On Can’t Rush Greatness opener “No Introduction,” Cee tucks in a clear nod to Spice in the second verse with the line, “Think you’re the shit, bitch? Turn on your whip, does your engine fart?” Spice, of course, had a track on her Y2K album from last year titled “Think U the Shit (Fart),” later highlighted by Jaylen Brown on an episode of Complex’s GOAT Talk as a “worst song of all time” contender.