On the heels of a stellar Summer Jam performance featuring Farruko, El Alfa, Wu-Tang’s Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, and DreamDoll for the first ever Latin Hip Hop performance at the iconic show, Staten Island’s rap firebrand CJ links up with Dominican Republic’s dembow global star, El Alfa, for their glamorous and witty new single “Replica” via Warner Records. The boisterous, club-ready anthem finds the duo navigating the space between real and fake women, clothes, and jewelry. The music video plays off the theme, as the pair deal with doppelgangers trying to sneak their way into their show. The track showcases CJ’s sonic versatility and prowess, solidifying that he is poised to be a global star.
“Replica” was produced by Grammy nominated and multi-platinum Dominican producer Chael Produciendo who also produced El Alfa’s biggest global smash to date “La Mamá de la Mamá featuring CJ which has over +150 million streams across DSPs and +95 million YouTube views. The visuals show the dynamic duo keeping their eyes out for attractive females whether their bodies are natural or have undergone surgical enhancements. Championing body positivity CJ raps, “I know that it’s fake but it’s still gonna shake.” It’s the kind of hilarious visual you can only get from a duo with such a deep connection and natural chemistry.
On his own, CJ is an anomaly who in a year’s time has accomplished the unthinkable. His meteoric rise began with his 2020 breakout single, “Whoopty,” which accumulated hundreds of millions of streams, landed on Spotify’s coveted RapCaviar playlist, and hit #10 on the Billboard Hot 100. CJ put out the deluxe version of his Loyalty Over Royalty EP in April 2021, sharing vibrant remixes of “Whoopty” with artists ranging from Rowdy Rebel and French Montana to Anuel AA and Ozuna. It was a further extension of the charisma and style that’s already made fans out of peers and tastemakers. He has cosigns from a slew of big names including Cardi B and Wiz Khalifa, and publications like Complex and New York Times named “Whoopty” among the best songs of the year. As time passes, he’s only adding new depth and color to his sound. “Replica” continues CJ’s growth into one of rap’s most engaging new stars.
ABOUT CJ:
CJ is the future of rap. In the summer of 2020, his infectious and booming double-platinum “Whoopty” rose from Staten Island obscurity to national spotlight in weeks, and with good reason. Rapped in CJ’s lean, percussive style, the track is undeniably great and wildly catchy, as threatening as it is stylish, gritty but full of promise—all qualities embodied by the MC himself, who’s since grown a huge international following and been named Billboard’s #1 Emerging Artist. The fact that CJ, who is 100 percent Puerto Rican and was raised by a single mother, hails from a borough that hasn’t produced a major rap act since the Wu makes his rise an even greater testament to his skill and charisma. CJ wrote his first bars at 7 and started recording as a teen, digging up beats online, crossing the city to hit different studios, and rapping about the anxieties that haunted him as an ambitious youth (see “On Me”). In 2018, his remix of Gunna’s “Toast Up” earned him more ears, but CJ really came into his own during 2020 quarantine. With studios shut down and drill blaring from nearby windows, he put pen to paper, writing song after song. After all that honing, “Whoopty” burst out the next time he got in front of a mic. The song was equal parts delirious, fun, and street, thick with New York slang and sprinkled with Spanish. Now double-platinum, “Whoopty” also racked up over 331 million views on YouTube and over 1.2 million videos TikTok, where it sparked two dance challenges. CJ’s hustle earned him a deal with Warner Records, too, and now with a slate of singles on deck, he plans to show just how versatile he is while proudly putting Staten on his back.
