Ceebo and Blanco Talk Creative Pressure on ‘Gets Like Dat’
Ceebo links with an early influence on ‘Gets Like Dat’, finding common ground with Blanco over the pressures that come with building a career in rap.
There is a full-circle quality to Ceebo x Blanco linking up on ‘Gets Like Dat’. Ceebo grew up listening to Blanco; now they are trading verses about something they have both experienced from inside rap: what happens when making music becomes a career, and the pressure that comes with it.
‘Gets Like Dat’ finds the pair over production that feels deliberately at odds with the energy of their performances. The beat carries a mournful edge, with hard drums cutting underneath as Ceebo and Blanco keep their flows moving. Rather than turning that energy into a straightforward flex, they use it to talk about fear, paranoia and the less comfortable parts of trying to make a living from music.
For Ceebo, getting Blanco onto the record carries some history of its own.
“Having grown up on Blanco’s music, it’s really gratifying to get on a song with him and for us to talk about experiences that are similar, given that we’re both lyricists,” Ceebo says. “It’s really exciting and humbling.”
That history could easily have become the whole selling point. Instead, the record works because Blanco has something personal to bring to the conversation. His conversational delivery sits naturally against the production, while flashes of his usual wit stop a track about career anxiety from becoming weighed down by its subject.
His verse also gives him space to address something he says has rarely made it into his music.
“I feel like I haven’t really spoken about the struggles that I’ve faced in my career as an artist, namely making the songs I actually wanted to make, but couldn’t,” Blanco explains. “A song like this gets to show the people what I actually went through, so my verse means a lot to me, the whole song means a lot.”
It makes ‘Gets Like Dat’ a smarter collaboration than simply putting an established name alongside an artist coming through. Ceebo’s connection to Blanco gives the link-up its history, but their shared experiences give it a reason to exist now.
The single also continues Ceebo’s build towards BLOCCSTAR, following ‘Parable Of A Skinnyman’ and ‘Revolut’, but the wider rollout stays in the background. ‘Gets Like Dat’ is strongest when the focus remains on two rappers at different points in their careers finding that some of the pressures around making music haven't changed much at all.
Ceebo might have started out listening to Blanco. On ‘Gets Like Dat’, he has reached the point where the two have something to compare notes on.
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