 What they gonna do with me now? I'm still a troke of the town I'm gonna assist us, I'm hooking them down People too faced now, it is an engine I'm matching Clean it dirty, it don't matter at the business What's up y'all, it's your girl Brianna Imani And you are tuned in to another Tokutown interview And today who do we have? Hey, we got CJ C-W-E-J-6-Y C-W-E-J-6-Y So why? Very curious to know why Where does the 6th come from? The 6th, basically My name is CJ, you from me So when I was like, first on social media I just wanted to be CJ, that's that But the A was taken, so I just used the 6th It was like a backwards A, okay Okay, you know, I don't think I'm a first Because usually when people use something Other than an A, they use like the B No, people be using 4s 4s too, yeah, yeah, yeah Okay, so CJ, okay, I was curious So where are you from? I'm from Boston, I was born in Boston I was in Medford Medford is another product? Okay Okay And how, what's it like there? What's it like growing up? In Massachusetts It is what it is Okay I mean, I went to the school Since kindergarten, but I graduated So it was like, I went to the same school Oh, okay, I'm like you went to school, okay Since I graduated So like, it was just mostly school But like, other than that Outside of school I felt like I decided my mom, my dad But like, we split So just my mom, eventually And then after that That's when we started moving And basically Me and my siblings, we got split up a little bit Okay We eventually got back together, but Other than that So how would you say like The way that you grew up Has like, impacted who you are now In your, does that like have to Anything to do with like what made you start Writing music, is it like an outlet for you? Yeah, I would say that So how, how would you say like Your life experiences Contributes to your creative process Well basically, you know, just thoughts and feelings And I just incorporated them into me Okay So walk me through like What your creative process is like So, it just depends on my mood But Basically, I could start off With a song Just by chilling And just writing off it Check out how you think about it Or if I find a beat that's really hitting Then And if it's, if I'm feeling the beat I could hold that down And then really lock it on that But I feel like to create the best Alright Content, whatever it is I gotta really be in the game In the right environment Okay, so what's like the perfect environment For you to like, make your best music? Sure I mean To be real When I have my beats on I feel like I can Make music anywhere but to be real When you have your beats on Like your headphones? Okay But I would say in the studio With not too many people But myself And then To be good To be good loud Okay Since I've been out here I'm not gonna lie What? It's been a night Uh-uh, hold on Cause I know you're not You're not in New York So you think you're a little Massachusetts We are better than New York? I mean I think my we Better than what I I was here so far Well you ain't been seeing the right people Respectfully I'm not gonna lie My boy just got some guys Uh-huh Loki from the right person Okay So that shit Loki made me You know Okay, so do you feel like You make your best music Like while Under the influence? I mean Recording wise There's no right answer I know, I know I mean not Too real to get my zone I feel like yeah Yeah, no that's not good I gotta get right You feel me? Yeah, absolutely And I feel like sometimes You know You need to like Let loose like you say You know A lot of things Start to come to mind Maybe things that You might Have not thought about before Okay, so like What's your favorite part Of the creative process? I say Being in the booth Uh-huh And like Taking my time Okay Cause I don't like to rush it I used to like I used to feel like I was just fresh And all that But over time I started working on my sound And like I still haven't mastered it Still like I got some everyday But damn I forgot the question Um, like What's your favorite part Of the creative process? Oh, okay, yeah So in the booth Okay So Being in the booth Oh I feel like I'm in my own world Uh-huh Like, yeah So you said that you like Have been improving your sound What was it before That you Um Heard in yourself Or what not That you felt like needed to Change? Well, shit To be honest I feel like before Like when I started Uh-huh Not too long ago Um I feel like when I was recording Most of the time I would just be talking Uh-huh And like Just be rhyming and shit Or whatever Uh-huh But Um I made this one song It had a little like melodic tune to it And my cousin was like Oh Like, we do so much more like You could be more versatile And all that And so I went to do it Oh, for one song? Or it was like you had songs already I had songs already Okay And it was getting a little better You was gassing out Just that one song It's called Doonies Okay But yeah A lot of people Um After that It's like going to a stew with me More He would be like Oh, try this Try that Uh-huh Like Try to sing a little more You could do some that or whatever And how How important do you think that is To have somebody To like give you those Pointers Cause I feel like You know Sometimes people don't want To step on any toes They don't want to like Give constructive criticism Whether it's in fear Of it not being received well Or Not wanting to be honest How important do you think that is To have somebody in your corner Who's like honest with you I mean to be real Yeah Everyone in my corner Got to be honest with me Like All the time Uh-huh But Cause if not like It's not going to fuck with you I'll fit But to be But then how do you know Like if somebody's really Being real with you If they just not think Cause I've witnessed firsthand And this is not saying This is about you But like I've witnessed firsthand Like people Gasinate bro's music And that shit Garbage Nah, I feel you So like How do you really know If somebody's really like Cause you said Like you can't Like you can't have anybody Around you Who's not be honest How do you know like If it's really Them being honest with them Just not You know Stop anything I mean You're trying to Manage me All that And really like Get to it But he was slacking Okay Cause I was going to say I'm not your manager So So what does your team look like My team I got a manager I got a videographer I got a photographer Okay I got beat makers Bad boy records Okay Shoot Check you out So you started So you started Making Now bad boy is A label Or Okay So we're going to get into that in a bit So you started Making music one I would say like 2017 2017 So what happened between 2017 and 2022 Because I noticed It looked like you were Dropping some music Back then And then it kind of Slowed up And now you've been Dropping consistently It looks like once a month Or so So like what happened In the meantime Alright So I'm up a lot Mm-hmm Yeah I was When I first started I was dropping Like I tried to drop Mm-hmm And And I just started Stacking Even involved And then I took a Took a little break Because My cousin, right He wasn't talking about My sound and shit Yeah He told me not to drop Man He was telling me Like Yeah Like I ended up Dropping the song For this once a month Mm-hmm I mean He's not my boy No more My song Did numbers Niggas was fucking with it But After that song I just didn't drop And then That shit was like 2019 I think 20 In 1920 I don't know And then Over the time though I was just in the stool Mm-hmm Stacking up the vault Looking at my sound And then Once I had like A few bangers in the vault I just Started dropping Okay Another thing Yeah I just started dropping How would you say another thing? Oh another thing Is I'd be really picking on the cover art The cover That is not what I was expecting you to say The cover art Yeah Cause like It really be hard To Bring it like Creative thoughts of life Okay And like Picture So how important do you think it is How important do you think the cover art is To your music Because Where do most people like Music from Is it YouTube Apple music Or what I mean I just started dropping Apple Yeah But you have a few songs on there Yeah You have like a good amount So like Where do people usually tune in To where it's like The cover art Is like a Like a big thing I mean That's just A personal Okay Are you artistic? I mean Yeah like art You like art Like you draw and stuff I mean I mix like Back in the day Like Okay And then That should end it because like My boy Oh my God Damn Now my boy His name is Fonzo Oh my God I hope it's like the same one His name is Patches No no no No no So right So this dude in my class His name is Fonzo Yeah Um Just You playing PSD and shit Back in the day And call duty zombies Whatever School and shit And His username was Patches Right So like I made a comic And I put Patches in it And I guess he got feelings over it So we told this His teacher Whatever And Came She took my photo For the promise And then No explanation She took that shit And then That was it And then I just stopped Really drawing And I forgot Anybody to music Or That was so happening I mean Got into a little sports But Okay Okay So How would you describe your sound? My sound? Yeah I mean I would say my sound is like I don't know A little bit of melodic A little bit of Bars Nobody really be And I never got asked this So I mean Yeah If you were describing your music I'd say who's your favorite artist? I was I ain't got a favorite artist But like All right Who's somebody that you listen to a lot? She I fuck with Melly Melly? Yeah Okay So If you were to see him right now He would walk through this door I mean Obviously Hypothetically speaking If he would walk through this door And you had to explain to him Like What your sound was like You didn't have no phone No computer No nothing You didn't have to explain it Bars I would not I would just Tell me I would just So You said so Should I come up with some shit Oh you would You would come up with some All right So let me hear something Man Ain't no beat playing man Ain't no beat gonna be playing When he walks through the door That's true That's true All right I won't put you on the spot like that But I will put you on the spot What do you think is like Your hardest bar that you got Cause you got bars You said it yourself So what's the hardest one that you got In your career I got a lot of them Oh You got a lot of them Okay so why are you thinking Keep thinking about it Cause I'm gonna circle back to it What do you think is like Your most underrated song That you have out I have out right now I mean There's just so many to choose from Yeah I would say I would say I would say tears Tears So why do you think Why do you think it's underrated You think Like People didn't really Feel it the way you wanted them to No people was fucking with it People was fucking with it I just don't know Like I don't really care about the numbers But when I go on SoundCloud That shit got a lot of numbers But like Since I just started Started jopping on Apple and shit That shit Got like You know what I mean Like it's in The Hunters But like SoundCloud is still in The Hunters too But shit I mean it takes some time Like do you feel like You have any songs that you drop That is like The one Or like could be the one Because you know I feel like people make music And it's like Okay you know this sounds good But then they have that song That's like oh yeah This is gonna be the one To make you pop You don't think you have that one yet Is it in The Vault Or it just hasn't been me yet I don't think it's been me yet Okay I mean Maybe it's in The Vault Because you know To that right ear It could be that one But you never know So how do you determine What songs you're gonna drop What songs you're gonna keep Like you know Tucked away I mean True I be playing around Shorty sometimes My boys And like I see what they think Not really though Because like Mostly I be playing My unreleased around the Shorties And they're like But And my niggas be fucking with it too Okay And then There's a lot But Personally I just keep the favorites Under like One list And then I just keep A list to the side Okay And like There's some ones that I've Made before That I don't really rock with But like One of my boys rock with Every And like Stay in The Vault I don't know Okay That makes sense Okay cool So Who's on your playlist Right now Like I know you said You listen to his music But like In terms of like Upcoming artists Who you listen to Coming Mm-hmm I fuck with No-Cat Lilo Okay Coming I mean I would say they Up I be fucking with Like Future Okay Well definitely not Upcoming Yeah And so Who will be like Your top five Like dream collides I would say I ain't got no dream collides All right Like who would you want to Collab with Who don't want to Collab with Okay I don't want to Collab with Melody It's cause I really fuck with Okay Different Um Drake It's cause Drake I mean it's Drake Yeah Um All right I'm gonna say three We don't gotta do five I bet And What are you trying to switch it up? There's someone Yeah yeah got you And I'ma just say Uzi I feel like that's Uzi Okay Yeah he He's not gonna live up So like Have you performed at all Like Yeah And how do you like Performing It's like natural Oh is it? Yeah Okay Like Where did you perform Who's day The first time I performed It was um It was like So this girl at school She had like A bucket fight And like I had this one I had a few songs I was actually I had a couple songs That people was Fucking with And I think this was like In technical aid but Yeah We was like This hall or whatever There was a stage They asked me to perform And I just got on stage Just felt me I asked the DJs like Yo Fuck me in or whatever And they like A few songs Also like an impromptu performance Yeah Okay It was fucking with Nice Okay so like Where would you like to perform Like what would be like The dream Performance stage for you Like where would you like To see yourself I performed by a few venues But I would say I mean Shit That's something in Boston TD Garden Okay I'm sorry I'm gonna apologize Because I feel like I didn't make I didn't make the question clear When I say like Where would you like to perform Like Would your dream performance Be like a rolling loud A VMA Where would you like to see yourself A broccoli fest I know Governing's ball Where would you like To perform Like what's your dream Performance I mean I would say we're on live Because Everybody Talk about we're on live I'd be on live And I like we're on live So On live Okay Understand Okay You said everybody We talk about we're on live Like you not tuned in I mean I'd be out there I wouldn't be on social media Like that I'd be out there mixed I'd just be You don't be out Okay so do you Do you feel like At a certain point You have to be on social media To like You know Yeah But like I really just Okay All right So What do you have coming up Like what things Can we look forward to seeing From you Wait I don't So right now You're in a video With a song called Stars We're about to drop next month Okay Yeah And what's that You say you're about to shoot a video Like do you have an idea Like do you come up with a treatment Before you record your videos Or Um Something like that Yeah And do you come up with The idea for it Or Collaborate Okay My boy dream Mm-hmm Be direct Okay so do we have a vision For what Stars is going to look like Um Shoot Like you don't keep it low key Okay So you can All right To be announced To be announced Okay so we have the video For Stars coming out Anything else Like What else is going on In the life of CJ In the life of CJ Probably going to drop the EP Oh okay Again At the end of the Recorded like Maybe like September I don't know TBA To be announced Over in 2023 Okay Maybe like I don't know how many tracks there Are we switching it up Or are we keeping the same melodic Oh no It's going to be very versatile Okay Yeah That's not like I'm trying to be versatile Nice nice nice Okay So do you have any inspirations Like people that you look up to In your music Like when you're like You say you coming out with another EP Coming out with an album Coming out with a With a music video Is there anybody like That you use as like inspiration When you're Coming up with these things Just CJ Yeah just you Okay Cool So what advice Would you give to someone Or rather You know what I'll ask you this What advice do you Wish that you would have gotten Coming up In this industry That maybe you've experienced so far That you didn't really have a heads up on yet I would say If you're about to work with someone Like Let's say for example a videographer Some of you make videos I would say Get shit on paper Like a contract So like People don't be in no fuck shit Yeah Gazing and shit Yeah Are you speaking from experience Yeah Really what happened I mean shoot You don't got to say no names My story short Had this videographer Video I forgot what it was for Oh man in the mirror I said it was hard too Like we recorded and all that Yeah And I was like Yeah bro I should have this to you And like My story short Make it one in ghost Oh damn Yeah It wasn't just me He did this to you So I was like see that's on you Cause you didn't do your research Nah cause the thing is I shot videos with him before Oh So it's just like Some weird shit Okay Yeah So have everything on paper work Know who you're working with Yeah Okay Okay Is there anything else That you would like to talk about Anything else that you feel Like we didn't touch on Nah Sure People to bubble choose Alright Well what else are you What else you got planned For while you were in New York Um It's about to shoot again Tomorrow Shoot a video Yeah I've been shooting all week Ah what What do you mean So you didn't ask that What's coming up You said you about to do a shot So what have you been shooting What have you been shooting In New York Um So we got here I think we got here Sunday night Okay And we started shooting on Monday Alright What are you shooting What are you working on Oh I thought you said How to start shooting We've been shooting Okay okay okay okay Oh got you Okay now that makes sense I'm thinking it's coming Like you about to start shooting Okay so we can expect for Okay so we can expect for it to drop Cause it's already in a word So you're in New York for the video Yes Oh that's dope That's dope that's dope that's dope Okay So um Then to the years You going to the years For the same video Or for something different Nah A little something like What's that What's that about Some chill vibes My goal Wait you just going for On like a personal set Or you going for like For music I mean it's music It's mainly music but I'm just be chillin' Okay sorry I don't mean to Miami yet Okay well it's definitely a vibe But if you going for music Don't get too caught up out there And don't get distracted Are you so you say you going for music But you going to collab With somebody You going to a certain studio Like what's going on You just see the vibe up there Okay My boy I'm going with my boy We're doing We're talking Oh Yeah It's pretty fire with that shit That's nice He got something lined up When we go About to About to pop out there He got something lined up In terms of like Performance wise Or a studio It's probably going to Do some coverage with people And so you just going to be Oh I'm going to do one too Okay I was going to say Like so Yeah Okay so Alright So um Plug your social media in So that you know The people know where to find you Alright y'all My social media C E E J6Y On everything Except Snapchat Y'all got to add me on that though Yeah Are you on TikTok? I'm on TikTok Always CJ I'm on TikTok Do you like Post your music On TikTok Or do you Use it for like Like Just to like Look at you No I mean Like cause you know Some like People are on TikTok But they use it Just to do like You know Little voice overs And stuff I mean I just started posting on TikTok A little more You feel me And is it your music? It's like See you was making it sound Little You was making me seem Like I was crazy No it isn't Asking That's why I was asking Like you know You got to start posting your music In there Get the way out I don't really understand TikTok Well you got a whole team That That could get you there Sure 100 Yeah So you didn't understand TikTok But now you about to be on TikTok You got the video dropping You about to go to Miami You got the content right there No Alright well Thank you for stopping by Definitely good Speaking with you Good to have you here Talking to town And we're looking forward to Seeing all the things That you do in the future