BAPE x SPOTIFY x SYNA Capsule Collection

We’ve seen business-led collaborations, and we’ve seen collaborations that feel like culture choosing its next chapter and pushing it forward. 

The BAPE x Spotify x SYNA capsule, led by Central Cee as Creative Director, falls firmly into the latter. It arrives at a moment where fashion and music overlap, feed each other, and shape the language young people use to exist in the world. 

And in the middle of that shift is Cench, an artist who has learned to build worlds long before anyone asked him to.

What makes this collection different is that it doesn’t try to imitate the past or predict the future. It sits in the present moment, literally in London, and studies how people actually live, dress, and move. Central Cee has always been particular about visuals. Anyone who has followed his rise knows: the clothes, the energy, the silhouettes… Nothing is accidental. 

He understands style. He understands atmosphere. He understands identity.

So when BAPE and Spotify brought SYNA into the room and said, “Lead it,”. Bet! Cench designed a feeling.

The entire capsule began with sound as its core. Each piece ties back to a song idea, the shape of a melody, the colour of a bassline, the pace of a drum. Some of the garments even carry subtle tags that unlock playlists, updating as the collection rolls out. The clothes don’t just look like his world, they sound like it and if you’re a fan you’d definitely not want to miss out this.

And then there’s the purple. Anyone who grew up watching rap videos, scrolling early Tumblr fashion boards, or hunting for rare fits knows the significance of the purple BAPE hoodie. It was a cultural symbol, a kind of teenage mythology. 

Cench took that memory and reworked it with restraint, making it feel like acknowledgement without nostalgia. Just someone paying respect to the piece that shaped him, then confidently rewriting it.

SYNA’s fingerprints are everywhere. Their work has always carried the mood of London’s real corners, the football cages, the estate stairwells, the late-bus glow that makes the city look cinematic even when nobody’s trying. 

Their collaboration with BAPE pushes that language further: crisp graphics, clean architecture, silhouettes that feel street but not juvenile, refined but not sterile.

The “Synning BAPE” tee is the best example, playful, self-aware, almost mischievous, the kind of piece that I believe will become a reference point years later.

BABY MILO appears in new lives, sometimes humorous, sometimes sharp, sometimes echoing the chaos and creativity of London youth culture. SYNA reimagines the character with a kind of attitude that feels instantly local, less mascot, more personality.

What’s most striking about the capsule is not even the pieces themselves. It’s the shift happening around them. Cench is not a rapper dabbling in fashion; he’s an artist stepping into creative direction with a deep level of clarity.

He knows what he wants to say, and he is not loud about it. His voice is calm, considered, rooted in the real world: friends whose opinions matter, a manager (Ybeez) who understands him, and a community that has shaped his instinct for authenticity.

“I’m lucky to have creative friends and my manager who all give me input with these things,” he says. “With their help, I felt confident I could creatively direct this three-way collab between BAPE x Spotify x SYNA. I’m looking forward to seeing people out in the world wearing the pieces.”

Spotify sees it too. “We aligned on a shared vision,” says Marc Hazan. “The result is a statement capsule.”

BAPE calls it a celebration of fearless expression, a fitting phrase, but what the capsule truly represents is a generation taking ownership of its narrative. 

When the collection drops, it won’t enter the market quietly. Expect it to enter conversations: about what fashion becomes when music leads; about how London’s new guard is shaping style globally; about artists who treat direction with as much seriousness as they treat sound.

This collaboration is earned and it happened at the right moment where three worlds; fashion, music, and culture, meet at the exact right time to create something magical.

According to Mahmoud el Salahy, CEO of BAPE; “This partnership marks an exciting new chapter for BAPE as we deepen our relationship with Spotify through this three-way co-creation with Central Cee. Together, we’re blending the worlds of music, fashion, and culture to celebrate fearless expression,”.

The BAPE x SPOTIFY x SYNA by Central Cee collection is set to drop starting November 25th at globally selected BAPE STORE locations, BAPE and SYNA online, go cop yours now!