Song of The Year-Sadderdaze by CJ Fly featuring Ab-Soul produced by BrandUn DeShay

by Dan-O

If you told me at the beginning of the year that CJ Fly would put out a mixtape (Thee Way Eye See It) so considerably better than the one Joey Bad@$$ would put out (Summer Knights) that it would feel like the difference between winning and losing…I would have believed it. The first thing I did when Joey dropped 1999 (https://freemusicempire.com/2012/09/15/joey-bada-1999/) was listen to as much of the Pro Era crew as I could get a hold of. In my mind the order went Joey, Capital Steez, and then CJ Fly.

Sadderdaze and really the whole of Thee Way Eye See It proves CJ Fly is the #2(R.I.P. Capital Steez that dude was fantastic). The tape has an impressive production list including: Statik Selektah, Cookin’ Soul, Cy Fyre, and of course BrandUn DeShay who is having a fantastic year. He’s getting to that stage where you realize it’s his beat and you give a deep satisfied sigh. This track makes glorious usage of elements from Jay’s Friend or Foe off of Reasonable Doubt.

CJ is more naturally melodic than Joey and utilizes that skill fully while doing a great job of carrying that laid back Pro Era cool. At the same time he smashes the track. For his part Ab-Soul slips from instagram to Zimmerman talk working Friend of Foe lines into his verse, this is the high level of lyricism we saw from Soul last year.

Sadderdaze feels really important every time I hear it and that might be because it brings you back to hearing Friend or Foe the first time but more than that it proves how deeply talented this roster is. No matter who believes in them or doesn’t the Pro Era is here and we should all take a seat.