Pro Era

Pro Era (short for Progressive Era) is an American hip hop collective from Brooklyn, New York. The collective includes, among others, rappers Joey Bada$$, CJ Fly, Kirk Knight, Nyck Caution, Aaron Rose, Dessy Hinds, Dirty Sanchez, Rokamouth, J.A.B. and Jakk the Rhymer, along with producers Chuck Strangers, Powers Pleasant, Bruce Leekix, Hans Solo and Sür Niles. The collective was formed in 2011 by Capital STEEZ and Powers Pleasant, with Joey Bada$$ and CJ Fly among its founding members.

Music career

2008–2011: The 3rd Kind and formation of Pro Era

Capital STEEZ, then known as Jay STEEZ, had started recording music around 2008. During those times STEEZ was also a part of a rap duo called The 3rd Kind along with childhood friend, Jakk the Rhymer. The 3rd Kind released their only mixtape, The Yellow Tape, in 2009.

In the spring of 2011, while still a student at Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, New York, Capital STEEZ had a performance at a cafe in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, with friends including Powers Pleasant, Joey Bada$$ and Dirty Sanchez also in attendance to show him support.^[1] On their way home from the performance, he and Powers Pleasant came up with the idea of forming a hip hop collective, which they named "Progressive Era", or "Pro Era" for short.^[2] In addition to the two co-founders, Joey Bada$$ and CJ Fly were brought into the group as founding members.^[3][4]

2012: Rise in popularity and death of Capital STEEZ

The Pro Era collective signed with the Cinematic Music Group label in 2012, shortly after Jonny Shipes became the manager of Joey Bada$$.^[5] On February 14, 2012, Pro Era released their debut mixtape entitled The Secc$ Tap.e.^[6]

The release of the AmeriKKKan Korruption (Capital STEEZ) and 1999 (Joey Badass) mixtapes increased the group's popularity in the underground scene. 1999 was listed among "Best Mixtapes of 2012" by multiple publications.^[7][8] Capital STEEZ was on the list of "Rappers to Watch For in 2013."^[9]

Pro Era performed with The Smoker's Club's One Hazy Summer Tour, a 30-date tour that began July 13, 2012.^[10] In December of that year, Pro Era released the PEEP: The aPROcalypse mixtape.^[11] From October 27 to December 1, 2012, Joey Bada$$ went on the first tour for any member of the collective, beginning in New York and ending in Virginia, with the tour also extending abroad to countries such as Switzerland, France, England and the Netherlands.^[12]

On December 23, 2012, Capital STEEZ committed suicide, jumping from the rooftop of the Cinematic Music Group headquarters in Manhattan, New York City. Earlier that evening, he sent text messages to a few of his closest friends, telling them he loved them. At 11:59 PM, Dewar posted a tweet saying, "The end."^[13] He jumped to his death later that night.^[2]

2013–14: Touring and mixtapes

CJ Fly (left) and Joey Badass (right) at the Under the Influence Tour in Toronto, Canada on August 10, 2013.

On March 21, 2013, Pro Era participated in the Beast Coastal concert tour with The Underachievers and Flatbush Zombies.^[14] The Beast Coastal concert tour performed all over the United States. The first leg of the tour covered the West coast while the second leg covered the East and Midwest, before the tour ended on April 20. Pro Era began a tour of their own on August 29, 2013 at Fort Punta Christo Pula in Croatia and they performed at a variety of venues including New Zealand, Australia and the United States. The tour went on to December 14 and this was technically the first tour in which Pro Era as a group went on tour.^[12] Later that year, Pro Era toured with the Under the Influence 2013 tour with Wiz Khalifa, ASAP Rocky, Trinidad James, Chevy Woods and Smoke DZA, among others.^[15]

On October 5, 2013, CJ Fly released his debut mixtape, Thee Way Eye See It.^[16] On December 25, 2013, the group announced that their third mixtape, The Secc$ Tap.e 2, would be released on February 14, 2014.^[17] As promised, it would be released on that day, as a part of a free-music giveaway coined "Pro Era Week".^[18] Their next project, The Shift, a free EP was released on May 27, 2014 by Scion AV.^[19][20]

2014–present: B4.DA.$$, Late Knight Special and Disguise the Limit

Due to the coming release of his debut studio album, Joey Bada$$ began a long world tour alongside Pro Era. The tour started on August 8, 2014 in Norway before they went on to tour the U.S. for weeks until reaching their Europe leg of the tour which began in England on November 18 making stops in countries like France, the Netherlands, Australia, Denmark, Belgium, Croatia, Switzerland, and Germany.^[21] Joey Bada$$ and Pro Era decided to cut the tour short while in Australia due to the death of member, and cousin of Joey Bada$$, Junior B.^[22]

After Bada$$' debut album was released, he stated in an interview that Kirk Knight, Nyck Caution, and CJ Fly will be releasing new music in 2015. He also announced an upcoming Pro Era album as well as a Capital STEEZ posthumous album. Pro Era producer and rapper Kirk Knight began his first tour with fellow Cinematic Music Group artist, Chicago rapper Mick Jenkins, without any other musical artists within Pro Era, on February 13, 2015 and will continue to February 27. They will tour the United States and make stops throughout the country. Joey Badass released his debut album, B4.Da.$$ on January 20, 2015. He went along to promote it on his "World Domination Tour". In June 2015, Powers Pleasant released his debut project, The Powers Pleasant Experience, while Kirk Knight also released his debut project, Late Knight Special, on October 30, 2015.^[23]

The "47" symbol associated with Pro Era

On February 2, 2016, Swankmaster RAW announced that he had left Pro Era. He wrote, "Respectively, want to let to whom it may concern know, I'm no longer a part of the Era. Many blessings to all my brothers." On February 3, 2016, Joey Bada$$ reported on Twitter that another member, Dyemond Lewis, had an amicable split with the group. He wrote, "Dyemond Lewis is no longer a part of PROERA... That's my brother to the death but we had to come to this conclusion unfortunately."^[24] On February 29, 2016, Nyck Caution released his debut project, Disguise the Limit.

47 logo controversy

The design of one of Pro Era's logos has sparked controversy due to its similarity to the Nazi flag. Like the Nazi flag, the sticker has a red field with a solid white circle. Instead of a swastika, the circular white field of the sticker contains a wolfsangel which is also associated with Nazism and Neo-Nazism and bears resemblance to the swastika. Stickers of the logo and graffiti of the symbol appear in numerous locations in Midwood, Brooklyn. The symbol is actually the number 47 with its digits joined together.^[25]

According to local news station News 12 Brooklyn, the group has explained that the logo was designed the way it was to draw attention, and that the symbol resembles peace, love and balance, as with the swastika's significance in various religions. They say that it is supposed to be a spiritual symbol and not an offensive one. The symbol has been planted around Brooklyn in honor of Capital STEEZ.

Pro Era Records

Pro Era Records is an American independent record label founded by the group in 2015.^[26]

Artists

Current acts

• Aaron Rose
• Chuck Strangers
• CJ Fly
• Dessy Hinds
• Dirty Sanchez
• J.A.B.
• Jakk the Rhymer
• Joey Bada$$
• Kirk Knight
• Nyck Caution
• Powers Pleasant
• Rokamouth

Former acts

• Capital STEEZ (deceased)
• Dyemond Lewis
• SwankMaster RAW
• T'nah Apex

Record producers

• Bruce Leekix
• Chuck Strangers
• Hans Solo
• Kirk Knight
• Powers Pleasant
• Sür Niles

Discography

Collective discography

Mixtapes

• The Secc$ Tap.e (2012)
• PEEP: The aPROcalypse (2012)
• The Secc$ Tap.e 2 (2014)
• The Shift (2014)

Individual discography

Aaron Rose

• Elixir (TBA)

Capital STEEZ

• The Yellow Tape (with Jakk the Rhymer) (2009)
• AmeriKKKan Korruption (2012)
• King Capital (TBA)

Chuck Strangers

• Consumers Park (TBA)

CJ Fly

• Thee Way Eye See It (2013)
• FlyTrap (TBA)

J.A.B.

• Black Gold (2015)

Joey Bada$$

• 1999 (2012)
• Summer Knights (2013)
• B4.Da.$$ (2015)

Kirk Knight

• Late Knight Special (2015)
• Black Noise (TBA)

Nyck Caution

• The Pursuit, Vol. 1 (2011)
• Disguise the Limit (2016)

Powers Pleasant

• The Powers Pleasant Experience (2015)

References

Notes

Citations

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pro Era.

• Official website
• Pro Era's channel on YouTube
• 47 Lifestyle – Official website