★★★★☆
Dave and Central Cee’s surprise collaborative EP Split Decision demonstrates the pair’s penmanship, with puns on cars, clothes, women and footballers seamlessly interspersed with an impressive blend of swagger and introspection.It’s easy to forget how young Dave is. Over four years on from Psychodrama, he’s only now turning 25, having built an extensive catalogue of music with a wisdom beyond its maker’s years. Central Cee, on the other hand, seems younger, his emergence more recent than Dave’s, and the irreverence of his viral success contrasting with the former’s gravity. Central Cee is in fact older, by a day. Split Decision was released at the midnight straddling the pair’s 25th birthdays, following on from the single ‘Sprinter’ that arrived on Friday and was expected to be the extent of this collaboration. Instead, the pair team up on a four track EP that highlights both of their known abilities, as well as showcasing a genuine chemistry between them, Central Cee holding his own when faced with this most strenuous of challenges: trading verses with Dave.

Split Decision
The opener ‘Trojan Horse’ is probably the weakest track on the EP. Dave’s line “She wants a man with decent P, Her ex is a factor, Misha B” is niche but I appreciate it; his pun “Give her the Trojan, give her the Trojan Horse, I felt like Troy” is less convincing. Still, it’s a good back-and-forth song and sets the tone for the EP, which only improves from here. ‘Sprinter’ is a hit. It’s expected to debut at number one in the charts and will likely stay there or thereabouts all summer. The two MCs are having fun, bragging about cars, clothes, women and money, yet it’s clear they’re both aware of the material nature of these pursuits, almost laughing at the young, rich, rapper stereotype while knowingly perpetuating it themselves. Central Cee changing his flow at the end of the third verse and incorporating Rick Ross’s ‘Maybach Music’ is particularly impressive, and sees the West London native reference the perception of him being “stupid”, when, it becomes ever more evident, he is in fact a clever, thoughtful bloke. Were ‘Sprinter’ to have existed by itself, it still would have marked a successful collaboration, but their chemistry is made clear on the next track, ‘Our 25th Birthday’, which proves that Dave and Central Cee are comfortable exchanging more solemn, vulnerable verses as well.
