Tag: Pro Era

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: A Cinematic Tour of Brooklyn with Rising Emcee CJ Fly

Born Chaine St. Aubin Downer Jr., the only child of a Bajan mother and a Jamaican father, the rising Brooklyn-born and based emcee CJ Fly was born and raised in Flatbush until his teens, when he moved to Bedford Stuyvesant. Although he grew up in a music loving home, as a child, the rising Brooklyn-born and-based emcee wasn’t familiar with much hip-hop, as a result of his parents mainly listening to the music of their homelands — reggae, soca and other genres and styles. But he shared their love of music and always wanted to be a musician of some sort. 

As a seventh grader, Downer started writing poetry but the moment he discoveredA Tribe Called Quest changed his life — from that point on, he fell in love with hip-hop and wanted to rap. In high school, he met the founding members of the Pro Era crew and began pursuing a music career: throughout 2012 and 2013, he was featured on the many of the collective’s projects and by the end of 2013, he released his critically acclaimed debut mixtape Thee Way Eye See It. 2016 saw the release of his sophomore mixtape FLYTRAP.

Since the release of FLYTRAP, CJ Fly has been busy: he contributed prominent verses on hip-hop supergroup Beast Coast’s Escape From New York and as a result, he made his national TV debut appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last summer. After touring as a member of Beast Coast, alongside Joey Bada$$, Flatbush Zombies, The Underachievers and various members of the Pro Era crew, he’s been gearing up to release his highly-anticipated Statik Selektah-produced full-length debut RUDEBWOY, which is slated for a March 6, 2020 release through Pro Era Records. 

“Show You,” RUDEBWOY’s third and latest single is a high-energy, golden era hip-hop-like track built around driving boom-bap beats and a Roy Ayers-like sample centered around shimmering Rhodes arpeggios and a soulful horn line. Seemingly indebted to The Low End Theory-era Tribe, the song finds the rising Brooklyn-born and-based emcee spitting personal, autobiographical rhymes discussing his struggles — from poverty to bouncing between his mother’s and father’s homes and different neighborhoods, and moving towards the present day. But the song is also partly love song to his home borough, proudly shouting out the neighborhoods he lived in and loved, the parks he played in, hung out and dreamt in, where family and friends got shot and died, essentially showing listeners where it’s nice and where it ain’t. 

“‘Show You’ is a high energy boom bap classic that was created to take listeners on a journey through Brooklyn from my birth to present,” CJ Fly explains in press notes. “It’s a preview into my life and almost biographical. I reel things that some of my closest friends or fans may not have even known about myself and my father.” 

Directed by David Janoff, and CJ Fly the recently released video for “Show You” stars CJ Fly and his girlfriend Emilia Ortiz in a cinematically shot tour of his home borough that includes stops to see his father and his mother, the neighborhoods he lived in, hangs out in and loves. It’s a loving look at a diverse and complex borough, revealing the inherent beauty of its rough and tumble neighborhoods, as well as its more famously known neighborhoods — but it’s also an intimate look into the artist’s life. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Gritty Sounds and Visuals of Frank B’s Collaboration with Heltah Skeltah’s Rock “Brooklyn Vs. All”

Up-and-coming Brooklyn-born emcee Frank B first emerged into the national scene with an appearance on Missy Elliott’s UPN series, The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott , which resulted with him landing a record deal with Elliott’s imprint Gold Mine Records; however, the Brooklyn-based emcee is now doing things on his own with his own imprint Nobel House — and with his new imprint, the Brooklyn-based emcee hopes to enter 2018 in a big way with the release of his forthcoming album Let Me Be Frank, which will feature guest spots from Pro Era’s Nyck Caution, Onyx’s Sticky Fingaz, Heltah Skeltah and Boot Camp Clik’s Rock and a lengthy list of others. 

Let Me Be Frank’s latest single, the GIT Beats-produced”Brooklyn Vs. All” finds the up-and-coming Brooklyn-born-and-based emcee teaming up with renowned, fellow Brooklynite, Rock. Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the course of its almost eight year history, you’d know that if I usually prefer my hip-hop to be rough, rugged and raw street shit — and “Brooklyn Vs. All” fits that mold, as the GIT Beats production consists of tweeter and woofer rocking beats and ominous instrumentation over which both emcees spit about their hometown with dexterous word play and complex rhyme schemes lovingly and realistically describing the starkness and beauty of their home borough. 

Directed by Mike D. Visuals, the noir-ish visuals manage to emphasize the grittiness and desperation of the song — featuring footage shot in bleak back alleys, basements and industrial areas during dreary Northeastern fall days and nights. But it also nods to the fact that there really ain’t anyplace on Earth like Brooklyn.