Project Review: Ceebo – Blair Babies

When Tony Blair won the general election in 1997 he arrived on stage to deliver his victory speech to D:Ream’s ‘Things Can Only Get Better’. There was an air of optimism around the centre left ‘New Labour’ that substantial change was coming to the United Kingdom. However, for those born into the Blair administration, it would be fair to say that this optimism has more than subsided. From the double dip recession in the late 2000’s, to Brexit, Covid, and a cost of living crisis, there has not been much room for celebration over the last 28 years.

Ceebo aims to encapsulate this feeling of doom and helplessness on his latest project, ‘Blair Babies’. The album cover, painted by Marzdakid, interpolates a Gerald Scarfe caricature of Rupert Murdoch acting as a puppet master for previous prime ministers, with a demonic Blair replacing Murdoch and Ceebo at the mercy of his decisions. On the opening track, 1997-2007, the Lambeth artist describes what it means to be a ‘Blair Baby’, hampered by political wrongdoing whilst simultaneously fuelled by dopamine by being born into the advent of the social media age.

For someone who would be described as a ‘UK Underground’ rapper, this political dissection and ‘conscious’ outlook is somewhat incongruous to the genre. However, Ceebo navigates these themes with ease whilst still creating great music. The Dizzee Rascal sample on Captain Roscoe With A Crossbow works perfectly by paying homage to the canon of Black British music, while the gently upbeat production on Buzzball Summers offsets the cynicism of Ceebo’s verses excellently. 

This is where Blair Babies really comes into its own. It is political without being preachy, and socially conscious without being didactic. The three track run of Pentecost of Living, Where’s it @, and The Gospel (as according to Tony Blair) is a standout moment on the tape, with Ceebo demonstrating why he is one of the hottest talents in the UK right now. The children’s choir on the latter track breaks up proceedings nicely, while the artist expertly demonstrates his penchant for storytelling in the follow up.

With all of this politically and socially dense lyricism, it would be easy for the actual sonics of the album to get lost in the process. However, the likes of Chefbkay, afrosurrealist and Jim Legxacy have helped produce a tape that is as sonically interesting and diverse as it is lyrically. There are moments of light and dark throughout which mesh seamlessly with Ceebo’s bars, while the interlude, Black on Both Sides, features an absurd snippet of a Tony Blair speech likening the problems of impoverished Black communities to football hooliganism, building tension and transitioning seamlessly into the uptempo early single, Jook.

Aside from the social commentary we also have themes of faith which run through this release, as evidenced towards the back end of the album on another stand out track, How Many Training Days. We then end with Ceebo 3:16, using another biblical reference in the title and seeing the artist ask for more from his peers. This is less of an admonishment but more of a call to arms, as he implores his contemporaries to use their platform to dig deeper and go beyond the superficial in their music.

In this age of DSPs and what Scorcher described to me recently as ‘disposable music’, it is rare for a project to feel important, but Blair Babies certainly feels that way. Ceebo is still an artist in the relatively early stages of his career, but his improvement in such a short space of time looks set to make him a mainstay in the upper echelons of UK rap for many years to come. What Jim Legxacy and afrosurrealist have done this year on BBM and Buy British respectively has been matched by Blair Babies, with all three of these projects looking set to have the most long term impact out of anything released in 2025.

Star rating: 4.5/5