It looks like Ice Spice and Central Cee have stirred up some drama with their latest single. They just dropped a new song together called “Did It First,” and before the release, Ice Spice was seen hanging out with Central Cee, sparking rumors that they might be dating.
Interestingly, Central Cee’s ex-girlfriend, Melina Argy, revealed that he was seeing Ice Spice behind her back. Imagine breaking up with your boyfriend one night, and the next day, he’s spotted with Ice Spice and Chrome Hearts. Melina shared that she didn’t even get to properly break up with him before he was with someone else. She said he gave her less than 12 hours’ notice before being filmed with Ice Spice. This all happened just four days before her birthday. She was furious when she saw him commenting on Ice Spice’s post, even considering sharing a screenshot of his message to Ice Spice. He had written, “Come home. I still love you. You should caption your next post the same as Ice’s,” though the rest of the message was cut off. It was clear he was trying to calm Melina down after she saw his comment under Ice Spice’s post.
Melina was surprised when she got a call from Central Cee’s team, with a girl on the other end saying, “First and foremost, I’m a girl’s girl.” They tried to convince her to have a conversation with him, explaining that he had no control over the situation. Melina expressed her frustration, emphasizing that it didn’t matter if he had control or not; the issue was the short notice she received. She felt like she was going insane seeing comments like, “How could she condone this? This is so embarrassing for her. Why would she let her man act like this?” She wanted everyone to know that she never agreed to any of this and was left in the dark just as much as everyone else.
Now that we’ve got the logistics out of the way, I have to laugh. When I got sent this story a thousand times, my friends and I couldn’t stop laughing. We joked that Ice Spice must have found out he played me and gave him a beating. That’s the only reason we could think of for why he had one shoe on and then ran off, leading to his “You only live twice” comment. Then he posts on his channel, “No maiden shall be isolated.” Who’s he talking to? Who?
To me, this all seems like one big publicity stunt. I think Ice Spice and Central Cee’s relationship is just for show. Melina even said that Central Cee likes to play PR games. When they were dating, he tried to start dating rumors with another girl. So yeah, Central Cee is a mess, and I think all these antics are just to promote his new single with Ice Spice called “Did It First.” Ice Spice is obviously in on it too. She probably feels the need to create a little drama since she’s about to release her album Y2K and wants to stir up some buzz. So, in my opinion, this whole thing is just a publicity stunt.
Now, moving on, I want to talk about Normani. I mentioned before that I’d discuss some interviews where she talked about her old management, and I’ll get into that later. She released her debut album, “Dopamine,” which I really like, but it hasn’t gotten the love it deserves. Her label, RCA, has completely mishandled her rollout. They haven’t put any effort into promoting her. They didn’t even let her release her music videos yet, even though she’s already recorded several for the album. The label’s holding the videos hostage for some reason. I don’t get it because those videos could have really helped her. I personally think RCA just isn’t invested. I had a feeling they weren’t when Normani revealed she had to pay $1 million out of her own pocket to fund her video for “Wild Side” because the label didn’t believe in the song.
“I’m not going to lie; there’s a lot that I had to… I had to… You had to put up some money, invest my own.”
“That’s right. Invest. Oh wow, alone? But I… I believe in…”
“A million-dollar budget, huh? That’s crazy.”
“Definitely.”
“Wow, wow.”
It’s clear that the label isn’t giving Normani a big budget, and they likely won’t start prioritizing her until her music starts trending. Right now, it seems like they’re not very invested, which is unfortunate. Normani deserves better, but I understand that the music industry is tough. If an artist doesn’t follow the label’s directions, produce the music they want, and achieve the desired performance, the label will pull back their support. I really like her album and think people will eventually appreciate it, but the songs will have to gain popularity on their own since the label isn’t pushing them, so it’s up to the fans.
Another thing I want to discuss is some of Normani’s recent interviews, which I found quite interesting. She had interviews with Terrell (shout out to Terrell) and Zach Sang, where she talked about her weak rollout and mentioned that her previous management caused many of her setbacks.
Interview Excerpt:
Interviewer: “Would you say for your debut album that the promotional pieces and everything came together exactly how you want it?”
Normani: “Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Absolutely not.”
Interviewer: “What would you have done differently?”
Normani: “It’s hard to answer that question only because there’s been so much that happened even before the rollout, affecting the outcome and the result. I think we did the best we could with the cards we were dealt and what was given. A lot has changed from the beginning of the process for this album up until now in terms of business. On my part, things could have been handled more responsibly.”
Interviewer: “That’s honest.”
Normani: “And then there were inevitable things, like my team switching, which was ultimately for the better, but in real-time, it didn’t feel great, especially while trying to put this album out, feeling like yet another roadblock. There has been so much resistance in this process for me, making this moment even sweeter and more meaningful because of everything I’ve had to endure. A lot of life, adult stuff, and family issues. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and then the following year, my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer. A lot of things changed. My team changed a lot. So I can’t say that the journey looked like what I envisioned, but I’m grateful for it because I’ve learned so much. Finally getting this project out, there were plenty of times I didn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. Like, is this going to happen?”
Interviewer: “You didn’t think it was going to come out?”
Normani: “There were a lot of factors, yeah. A lot of factors.”
Interviewer: “Like what?”
Normani: “A lot of logistics and things behind the scenes. Management was a huge part of that for me, right in the middle of everything happening. So that also felt like another setback, but in hindsight, it was the best thing that could have happened to me.”
One thing Normani mentioned that really stood out to me was her switch in management teams. For those who don’t know, Normani was previously managed by Brandon Silverstein, the head of S10, a management label partnered with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. Silverstein is still doing business with Jay-Z; he was in Japan a few months ago working with him. So, he’s quite connected and was Normani’s manager for a time.
However, Silverstein didn’t manage Normani effectively. She missed out on numerous performance opportunities and had a deal with Tommy Hilfiger fall through. There were many things that didn’t go right under his management.
While I don’t know all the details, Normani’s producer, Tommy Brown, tweeted, “Let’s be honest, some managers kill careers.” Many people responded, suggesting he was referring to Brandon Silverstein. It’s believed that Silverstein mismanaged Normani’s career for a long time. I found some disturbing information about him: Industry Blackout called him out for cussing out and berating one of his young black clients.
“You, bro. I have tens of millions of dollars. I’ll sue you. I’ll sue your artist. I’ll sue your artist’s father. I’ll sue everyone. I’ll sue the label you signed to. I’ll sue the fing publisher you signed to. So shut the f up. Shut up, you little f. Shut the f up.”
Can you believe how unhinged this guy sounds? I mean, imagine what he must have been doing behind the scenes and how he must have been handling Normani’s career if he’s acting like this in public. Industry Blackout gave more details about his rant in a long post and mentioned that he was cussing out a teenage artist. Tiffany Red, the songwriter, actually spoke to the artist’s team and also called out Brandon Silverstein.
“This is giving unhinged vibes. This is giving ‘maybe you should invest in some anger management’ vibes. This is giving ‘I think I’m a mafia mobster’ vibes. He thinks he can negotiate by making threats to 23-year-olds and 16-year-olds, trying to crush their dreams if they don’t comply. I just got off the phone with the manager he yelled at. The manager is 23, managing a 16-year-old artist. Two young Black men from London. Now, the kid doesn’t even know if he wants to do music anymore because of how Brandon treated him. The manager was just trying to negotiate for his unhappy client, and this is how Brandon responded.
“Don’t put your page on private now, Brandon. F*** you, bro. I have tens of millions of dollars. I’ll sue you. I’ll sue your artist. I’ll sue your artist’s father.”
This guy was managing Normani, and now it makes sense why it took so long for her to release an album and why her career seemed so chaotic. He was in charge of her career, and it really makes you question Jay-Z for still working with him. The video about him was really disturbing and says a lot about Brandon Silverstein’s character. He seems to have a lot of connections, so it makes you wonder if he messed up Normani’s career behind the scenes. Did he damage her relationship with RCA or hurt her reputation? With his kind of temperament, anything could have happened.
I’m really glad Normani left him. Now, she’s being managed by Lydia Asrat, who has helped Doja Cat and Coco Jones, and Brandon Creed, who manages Charli XCX, Troye Sivan, and Ariana Grande. She signed with this new team just last year, and already, they’ve helped her get her album out. That shows they’ve done more for her in one year than her old manager did in five.
Normani has gone through a lot. She still isn’t in the best place with RCA, but she and her team will need to work hard, almost like they’re starting over. They’ll need to rebuild from the ground up. It’s going to be tough, but I believe it will pay off.
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