Brooklyn rapper CJ Fly is only 26 years old, but he’s already a veteran nearly a decade deep in the rap game. This is due in large part to his membership in throwback hip-hop super crew Progressive Era (Pro Era for short) alongside other well-seasoned youngsters like Joey Badass, Kirk Knight, Aaron Rose, Capital STEEZ, and Powers Pleasant. While they were already an unexpected breakout success story before they were old enough to get into most nightclubs — or even buy cigarettes — it seems that they’ve all gone on to varying degrees of success, from Joey’s multimedia takeover to Kirk’s 2017 runaway hit with ASAP Ferg, “Plain Jane.”
Now, CJ seeks to join his compatriots at the next rung on the ladder after taking a long break after the release of his 2016 mixtape, Flytrap, and the death of fellow Pro Era founder, Capital STEEZ. He’s back with a new album, Rudebwoy, which is inspired by his West Indian parents, especially his Jamaican father, who emigrated to the US with little more than a dream and hustled — both legally and illegally — to make a life for his son. Oddly, CJ fell into the same sort of hustles as his father, but his extravagance meant he spent it all — another instance of symmetry between father and son. As he jokes, “We could have definitely been wealthy if we both were smarter about it.”
Rap, however, gave CJ a second chance to do it right — and make sure that this time he takes care of business. Rudebwoy is just step one in his goal of sparking a “cultural shift,” inspiring young rappers with narrative-focused, tightly-scribed rhymes and righteous respect for the iconic history of rap. That may sound stodgy, but Rudebwoy is much more than a nostalgia-driven ego trip; it’s got its modern-sounding cuts and pays as much respect to the contemporary, melody-washed sound on hip-hop, bridging the gap back to the genre’s roots as a spinoff off reggae. CJ discussed the new record with Uproxx over the phone, sharing his vision of a nostalgic future, his admiration for his dad, and his advice for sticking around as long as he has — and making sure the money lasts.
Now, I know what a rude boy is, but what is a rude boy to you?
I feel like a rude boy is a go-getter, somebody that has goals in life, who is willing to succeed by any means necessary. The album was mainly inspired by my father who came to America in… I can’t remember specifically when he came. He came to America back in the ’70s or ’80s, and his goal was to always be successful, him being one out of four brothers to come to America. His goal was always to succeed and chase that American dream. I feel like being a rude boy represents going for your dreams, actually obtaining them and making some type of results, instead of waiting on them.
This album does remind me a lot of what I grew up on, and that’s … I guess somebody my age would feel like it’s unusual for somebody your age to put out something that sounds like something I grew up with in middle school, when that wasn’t really the sound when you were coming up. Why does this old-school style resonate with you so much?
The name “old-school” is such a box. You know what happened? I feel like when somebody like a Lizzo or somebody makes… I don’t even know Lizzo’s music that well, but I feel like her music is like blues, like old-school blues. But nobody calls it “old-school,” you know?
So what we’re doing now, specifically Pro Era and myself, is we are making hip-hop modern. This is 2020 hip-hop. It’s not necessarily that I was trying to make it very vintage and nostalgic. I’m born in 1993, so I was growing up, soaking in all of that game. My most cherished memory of music as a child was hip-hop at its prime, so that’s the main reason why it resonates with me that way. I’m a ’93 baby.
“Struggling” is probably one of my favorite tracks on the album so far. It’s a hustler narrative, but it’s not your “typical” hip-hop hustler narrative. Why was it so important for you to change the perspective on that hustler narrative?
That song was the one song that I’m talking — biographically — about my father. It goes back to that rude boy topic of, “What does it take to be a rude boy?” If you came to America, you hustle, that struggle that he went through and still prevailed. That’s the whole message behind this rude boy sh*t. Nothing can stop you, you’ve got to just keep pushing forward at all times, because with all the odds that he had against him, he still made it to where he is now, to be able to even birth a son like me, doing what I’m doing.
Another favorite track of mine off there was “Block Party,” and I just really wanted to know if you had a favorite block party story.
I don’t know if I want to put that in the interview. Block parties is almost always, always infamous for craziest stories, craziest memories. You see a lot of things, you experience a lot of things, and I feel like that’s the very special part about a block party. I’ve been to block parties with a drive-by, I’ve been to block parties where it was the best time ever, it was like a movie. I’ve been at block parties where I had my first nutcracker and I was walking around the neighborhood at 15.
“Jooks” gives me so much DMX. Was that intentional? If so, why?
I feel like my biggest influence with music is reggae. My favorite artist, like the artist that used to put grunge in their voice, like Buju Banton. DMX… I wanted to try something like that. I feel like, in this day and age, a lot of artists try to sound like other new artists. There’s a lot of young people that rap just like Lil Uzi or Big Boi, Cardi, these other guys. That’s cool and all, but I want to align myself with the greats like, say, Jay, BIG, DMX, and all those people. That was me doing that kind of ode to DMX, basically.
You’ve said you didn’t really feel like rapping after Steez died. How did you find the inspiration or the motivation to keep going after that?
I will say I did want to quit after I lost my friend. But I had to definitely muster up a lot of feelings and emotions in order to keep moving forward. I feel like subconsciously, that’s why I fell back from music for a long time until I figured myself out as a human being and a man. After losing Steez, I lost my grandfather, and I was just going through growing pains, just dealing with life and trying to figure everything out. I feel like I definitely have grown from there. I’m still healing, but I’ll come to a place where I feel like I can continue to tell my stories and pushing forward and representing and making them proud.
When you look back over your whole career, you started at, what, 16, 17 years old. You’re still in the game, and so many cats don’t last that whole decade. What’s one of the biggest lessons you’ve learned, and what’s something you would want to impart to someone who was 16 years old and just starting his journey?
Oh, I would tell the youth to learn the business. When you come to the industry, people don’t really tell you the ins and outs of the business side of the game. It can definitely drain your artistic spirit if you don’t know the business. Luckily, I read and I had the right people around me, so I didn’t get into bad business situations. I just see so many people complain about their business situations, and I’m waiting for that to be the next generation of artists being like, “Damn, why’d I sign this?” So definitely learn the business, and make sure you have the right people around you. It’s not just all about the talent and the art. The business is very important.
What’s the ideal outcome for Rudebwoy? A year from now, what do you want the impact of Rudebwoy to have been?
I want it to be a cultural shift. I want people to feel like stories need to be told, and some real thought needs to be put into the art, and not just slopped together. I just feel like people are going to appreciate the effort and the art, the tradition, the details, and try to apply that to their creative process too. I just hope that Rudebwoy establishes CJ Fly in a world where people can’t sleep on him anymore.
Rudebwoy is out now on Pro Era. Get it here.
