CJ Fly

Chaine Downer, Jr. (born July 6, 1993), better known by his stage name CJ Fly, is an American rapper from Brooklyn, New York City. He is a co-founder and oldest member of the hip-hop collective Pro Era along with Joey Bada$$, Capital STEEZ, and DJ Power Pleasant and is signed to Cinematic. Throughout 2012 and 2013, he has been featured on many of projects and at the end of the 2013, he released his critically acclaimed mixtape Thee Way Eye See It.

Early life

CJ Fly was born on July 6, 1993 in Brooklyn, New York City. He is the only child of a Bajan mother and Jamaican father. He began writing poetry by the fourth grade and by the seventh grade he began rapping. He attended Edward R. Murrow High School for communication arts where he met Joey Bada$$, Powers Pleasant and Capital STEEZ. The four of them would spend their school days cyphering in the auditorium and by 2011 they had formed Pro Era.

Music career

In 2012, Pro Era released their debut mixtape The Secc$ Tape, with other members of Pro Era. He later made a breakthrough feature on Joey Bada$$'s debut mixtape 1999, "Hardknock", "Don't Front", and "Suspect" featuring the rest of Pro Era. December 23, 2012, he and Pro Era released their second mixtape PEEP: The Aprocalypse. With production from Pro Era members Chuck Strangers, Kirk Knight, Statik Selektah and others from Brandun DeShay, Thelonious Martin and more, the mixtape received critical acclaims from fans and music critics alike. CJ, along with Joey Bada$$ and Capital STEEZ, were featured on "Swank Sinatra" by close friend and Brooklyn rapper Dyme-A-Duzin. The song was released around the of the untimely death of Pro Era cofounder, Capital STEEZ, who committed suicide on Christmas Eve of 2012.

Pro Era

Pro Era, (which stands for Progressive Era), is an American hip hop collective from Brooklyn, New York City. The collective includes, among others, rappers Capital STEEZ (deceased), Joey Bada$$, CJ Fly, Kirk Knight, Nyck Caution, Dessy Hinds, Aaron Rose, Dirty Sanchez, Rokamouth, J.A.B. along with producers Chuck Strangers, Powers Pleasant, Bruce Leekix, and HansSOLO.

Pro Era was formed around 2009 in Brooklyn, New York City and was founded by Capital STEEZ, Joey Badass, CJ Fly and Powers Pleasant. the group includes non-musical members such as D Apex, Junior B (deceased), Dee Frosted, Tony Whlgn and Kwon $wank, who act as promoters, photographers, directors and publicists, among other occupations.

Music career

2010–12: Signing to Cinematic Music

The Pro Era collective signed with the label Cinematic Music Group in 2010, shortly after Johnny Shipes became manager of the group's leader, Joey Badass. In February 2012, Pro Era released their debut mixtape entitled The Secc$ Tap.e. Starting October 27, 2012 until December 1 Joey Bada$$ went on the first tour for any member of Pro Era. The tour began New York and ended in Virginia but the tour also extended abroad to countries like Switzerland, France, England and the Netherlands.

Thee Way Eye See It

Thee Way Eye See It is the debut mixtape by American rapper CJ Fly. It was released as a free digital download on DatPiff on October 5, 2013.

Background

The mixtape features production from Statik Selektah, BrandUn DeShay, Cookin' Soul, ESTA, King Carlow (formerly known as Carnage), The Entreproducers, Chuck Strangers, Lee Bannon, Cy Fyre, Backpack, and Chef Gold. The mixtape also features guest appearances from members of Pro Era, Ab-Soul, Chelsea Reject, Buckshot, Phife Dawg, and Erick 'Arc' Elliot. Music videos have been released for "Still The Motto", "Day zZz's", "Ernee", "Eyetalian Frenchip", "Q&A", and "Sup Preme" which was hosted by Complex Magazine.

Track listing

References

Fly

True flies are insects of the order Diptera (from the Greek di = two, and ptera = wings). The most obvious distinction from other orders of insects is that a typical fly possesses a pair of flight wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax. (Some species of flies are exceptional in that they are secondarily flightless.) The only other order of insects bearing two true, functional wings plus any form of halteres are the Strepsiptera, and in contrast to the flies, the Strepsiptera bear their halteres on the mesothorax and their flight wings on the metathorax.

Taxonomy

The presence of a single pair of wings distinguishes most true flies from other insects with "fly" in their names, such as mayflies, dragonflies, damselflies, stoneflies, whiteflies, fireflies, alderflies, dobsonflies, snakeflies, sawflies, caddisflies, butterflies, or scorpionflies. However, some true flies have become secondarily wingless, for example many members of the superfamily Hippoboscoidea and some species that are inquilines in social insect colonies.

Cinematic Music Group

Cinematic Music Group (CMG) is an independent record label, management, publishing & touring company founded in 2007 by Jonny Shipes. Their roster as of 2016 consists of Joey Bada$$,Pro Era, Smoke DZA, Va$htie, Mick Jenkins, G Herbo, Caveman, Public Access TV, and others.

History

Cinematic Music Group made one of its earliest signings in 2007 with Harlem’s Smoke DZA. That same year, Cinematic signed Sean Kingston whose self-titled debut album included two #1 Billboard singles, including the double platinum "Beautiful Girls." The album sold in excess of 1,000,000 units. Cinematic’s next signee, West Coast MC Nipsey Hussle, signed to the company in 2010 and was included on XXL’s Annual Freshman List

In 2010, Shipes signed Big K.R.I.T, who that same year released his mixtape "Krit Wuz Here" KRIT followed up this success with his “Returnof4eva” mixtape in March 2011. K.R.I.T debuted the #1 hip hop album on the billboard charts with his debut album Live from the Underground.