Celly Cel

Throughout an extensive recording career defined by smooth, drawling gangsta rhymes set against funky backdrops—frequently self-produced—Celly Cel has formed an essential presence in the Bay Area hip-hop community since the early 1990s. Commercial success peaked for the rapper via the understated slow jam “It’s Goin’ Down” and its accompanying album, Killa Kali (1996), his second of three Jive-distributed releases on E-40’s Sick wid’ It imprint. He has sustained activity across subsequent decades via solo projects on his own Realside label as well as full-length team-ups with Spice 1 and Jayo Felony (under the name Criminalz) and with D Enemy, Protajay, and Mac Reese (as Hillside Stranglaz).

Born Marcellus McCarver, Celly Cel was raised in the waterfront Bay Area city of Vallejo. His initial output consisted of the “Lifestyle of a Mack” single (1991) and the Funk 4 Life EP (1993), both self-produced and released on cassette. After signing with fellow Vallejo native E-40’s Sick wid’ It Records, Celly reached a national audience with Heat 4 Yo Azz (1994). The project, which included the single and 2Pac favorite “Bailin’ Thru My Hood,” climbed to number 34 on Billboard’s R&B/hip-hop chart. Additional progress arrived two years later with Killa Kali (1996), which debuted at number four on the R&B/hip-hop chart and entered the Top 30 of the Billboard 200. Following further chart activity with The G Filez (1998), Celly departed Sick wid’ It amicably—the label later compiled their partnership on The Best of Celly Cel—and revived Realside. Deep Conversation (2000) soon marked his fourth charting solo album and was promptly followed by Criminal Activity, issued under the Criminalz banner for the short-lived collective featuring Spice 1 and Jayo Felony.

Celly’s fifth solo effort, It’z Real Out Here (2005), was likewise succeeded by a full-length group project, this time as part of the all-Vallejo outfit Hillside Stranglaz. Their sole album, Bad Influence (2006), appeared the same year Celly released Slaps, Straps and Baseball Hats—his sixth solo LP—and unveiled the regionally themed compilations The Wild West and Brings the Gumbo Pot, each spotlighting contributions from Too Short, E-40, and MC Eiht alongside Devin the Dude, Juvenile, and Tech N9ne. Across the balance of the 2000s and through the 2010s, Celly, consistently active as a collaborator, appeared more frequently as a featured guest than as a lead artist, contributing to releases by Spice 1, Rappin’ 4-Tay, and E-40, among numerous others. During the later decade he added two further Realside albums, Morphine (2013) and Dirty Mind (2017), while preparing his ninth full-length, slated for 2020.