CJ’s Loyalty Over Royalty – EP Review

The death of an artist can send shockwaves throughout the entire music industry. Casual listeners rush to their music, while A&R’s rush to sign similar artists. After the premature death of Brooklyn drill superstar Pop Smoke, Staten Island’s own CJ has quickly risen to prominence. He set the internet on fire last summer with his electrifying single “WHOOPTY,” a raucous drill song that managed to find an audience despite drill flooding the hip-hop industry. But while “WHOOPTY” did break through all the noise, his new EP, “Loyalty Over Royalty,” struggles to deliver those same highs, and ultimately left me disappointed. 

I will say that this project wasn’t exactly what I expected it to be, but I’m not sure if that’s for better or worse. I went in expecting decent drill music, and I did get that. But CJ saw fit to split this project into a more drill-heavy half while the other was more melodic, both with their own highs and lows. The drill half is clearly where CJ is in his element. On the intro track “Politics,” he flows effortlessly over some pitched-up vocals and a standard, floor-shaking drill beat. His voice is husky, his delivery is forceful, he’s got a lot of confidence and has no problem showing it. The only issue is that he already did that on “WHOOPTY” and no track on this project progresses past that. He even reuses the same sample from “WHOOPTY” on the song “Set.” All in all, the drill portion of this EP is decent, but he doesn’t come close to the bar he set with his initial single, and it left me feeling unfulfilled.

The melodic portion of the album hits even lower lows. Executive producer, French Montana features on the song “I’m Lit,” but unfortunately he is the song’s main focus, where his awkward flows and basic writing are in full effect. While CJ’s deep voice and slick flows ensure that he should steal the show, he only raps for 25 seconds out of the 2-minute song; a painfully underwhelming performance that could’ve been more fleshed out. “Goin’ Up” has a decent structure, but the shoddy use of autotune makes the track hard to listen to. Thankfully, CJ does stick the landing on the last two tracks. On “Real One,” he makes great use of the deep husk of his voice in a way that sounds relaxing. Paired with a dark piano, sensual lyrics and a spacy, moody atmosphere it gives you the best melodic track on the entire project. Putting a sentimental song like “Blessings” as the outro is a tried and true play that will never fail, and CJ’s performance brings it home. He does stumble over himself at the beginning of his verse, but it’s barely noticeable and doesn’t take away from the grateful tone of the song.

I’m disheartened to say that this project wound up being pretty mediocre. However, this isn’t something I’ll lose sleep over, because most debut EPs only show a fraction of an artist’s potential. But if CJ wants to progress, he needs to create stronger material for his next project. When he’s singing, he could tap into the deeper side of his voice more, like how he did on “Real One,” instead of the higher pitch he used on “Goin’ Up.” As for the drill side, it would serve him well to try and vary his flow more. “Set” takes the cake for the worst song on the project, and that’s because of the stilted, bullet-point flow he raps with. The flows on “Whoopty,” “Bop,” and “Politics” all have a natural groove to them, something “Set” sorely lacks. If he works on writing stronger drill songs and utilizing his singing voice better, CJ can flesh out a project of back-to-back heat, but sadly that just doesn’t happen here. 

Favorite Tracks: “Politics,” “WHOOPTY,” “Bop,” “Real One”

Rating: 5/10

Article By: Bradley Kramer