{"id":71857,"date":"2026-02-09T20:59:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T15:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinaurdu.com\/eng\/?p=71857"},"modified":"2026-02-09T20:59:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T15:59:07","slug":"british-rapper-central-c-embraces-islam-changes-name-to-aqeel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinaurdu.com\/eng\/?p=71857","title":{"rendered":"British rapper Central C embraces Islam, changes name to Aqeel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>British rapper and singer Oakley Neil Caesar-So, professionally known as Central C, has embraced Islam, confirming the decision during a live streaming session where he also announced his name change.<\/p>\n<p>During the live stream, the 27-year-old artist declared, \u201cI have just changed my name and recited the Shahada. I am now a Muslim.\u201d He revealed that his new name is Aqeel, replacing his birth name, Oakley. Friends present during the session congratulated him, though he did not elaborate further on his spiritual journey.<\/p>\n<p>Central C rose to international prominence for his unique music style and lyrics grounded in everyday life. Born on June 4, 1998, in London, he began his musical career in 2014 and quickly established himself as one of the leading figures in UK drill and rap music.<\/p>\n<p>His career highlights include the 2020 breakthrough with solo tracks Day in a Life and Loading, the 2021 UK charts runner-up mixtape Wild West, and the 2022 UK Albums Chart-topping album 23. In 2023, his collaboration with British rapper Dave on Sprinter dominated the charts for ten consecutive weeks. In 2025, he became the first British rapper to debut directly in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, cementing his superstar status globally.<\/p>\n<p>Fans had previously speculated about his interest in Islam after noticing Arabic captions in some of his social media posts, though this marks the first time Central C has openly spoken about his faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British rapper and singer Oakley Neil Caesar-So, professionally known as Central C, has embraced Islam, confirming the decision during a live streaming session where he also announced his name change. During the live stream, the 27-year-old artist declared, \u201cI have just changed my name and recited the Shahada. I am now a Muslim.\u201d He revealed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":71858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,30],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[213],"class_list":{"0":"post-71857","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"category-latest"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>British rapper Central C embraces Islam, changes name to Aqeel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chinaurdu.com\/eng\/?p=71857\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"British rapper Central C embraces Islam, changes name to Aqeel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"British rapper and singer Oakley Neil Caesar-So, professionally known as Central C, has embraced Islam, confirming the decision during a live streaming session where he also announced his name change. During the live stream, the 27-year-old artist declared, \u201cI have just changed my name and recited the Shahada. I am now a Muslim.\u201d He revealed [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/chinaurdu.com\/eng\/?p=71857\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"China Urdu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-09T15:59:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/chinaurdu.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/rapper-Oakley-Neil-Caesar.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"LORD\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"LORD\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" 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