CJ Fly

CJ Fly
CJ Fly (left) with Joey Badass at the Under the Influence Tour in Toronto, Canada on August 10, 2013
Background information
Birth name	Chaine Downer, Jr.[1]
Also known as	The Storyteller The Painter Rap Game Tarantino Master Roshe
Born	(1993-07-06) July 6, 1993 Bedford–Stuyvesant, New York, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop
Occupation(s)	Rapper
Years active	2011–present
Labels	Cinematic
Associated acts	Pro Era Ab-Soul A$AP Mob Chance the Rapper Flatbush Zombies Mick Jenkins Statik Selektah The Underachievers Chelsea Reject

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.^[2] 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.^[3]

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.^[4][5][6][7]

In 2013, CJ went on the Beast Coastal Tour with fellow Pro Era members, along with Flatbush Zombies and The Underachievers. He, along with the rest of Pro Era, Wiz Khalifa's Under The Influence Tour 2013 with A$AP Rocky, Trinidad James, Chevy Woods, Smoke DZA, and more. He later made an appearance on Joey's second mixtape Summer Knights along with the rest of Pro Era on the song "Sorry Bonita" produced by Oddisee. On October 5, 2013, he released his debut mixtape, Thee Way Eye See It. With features from various Pro Era members, Buckshot, Ab-Soul, Phife Dawg and production from Chuck Strangers, Statik Selektah, Brandun DeShay, and more, the mixtape has received critical acclaims and made him a candidate for XXL's 2014 and 2015 Freshman List.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Influences

CJ is influenced by Notorious B.I.G., Nas, Jay-Z, A Tribe Called Quest, and MF DOOM.

Discography

Solo discography

• Thee Way Eye See It (2013)
• Flytrap (2016)

Pro Era discography

• The Secc$ TaP.E. (2012)
• P.E.E.P: The aPROcalypse (2012)
• The Secc$ TaP.E. 2 (2014)
• The Shift (2014)

References