CJ The Chemist looking for perfect formula
Record producer CJ The Chemist is looking to rise higher this year after a successful 2017 which saw him nabbing an endorsement from Bacardi Rum and Major Lazer through the Music Liberates campaign.
CJ said he feared he would have lost grip of the Jamaican fan base following his decision to migrate to the United States. But the geographic challenges were not enough to hold back his work.
“Anybody knows that dancehall and reggae are best bred from within the island. So I was worried that I would have lost my impact as a result of me being missing from the scene. However, thankfully, that has not been the case, and I have been making steady progress,” he said.
CJ has composed instrumentals for some of dancehall’s most popular acts, including Aidonia and Spice.
Independent success for CJ, whose given name is Steve Rowe, was never an easy feat. He spent his formative years composing rhythms for various production houses.
He eventually joined forces with his childhood friend Kevin ‘SK’ Smith to build their own recording studio in Manley Meadows.
The collaboration was sadly shortlived, as CJ’s migration left the duo in a state of uncertainty.
It eventually took the release of Da’Ville’s Deh Pon Mi Mind, on which he is credited as composer, to once again bring attention to his work in the music industry. “Once that song gave me a new life I just decided to start my own record label, Chemist Records, and my persistence led me to record my first Aidonia single entitled U Alone,” he said. “The song was also featured on Aidonia’s EP Project Sweat, which received an honourable mention from Billboard magazine.”
Since then, CJ has worked with several dancehall acts including Don André, Razor B, Chino McGregor, Spice, Govana, and Vanessa Bling.
“There are no boundaries to the type of music that I create. My style is a mixture of genres combined; that’s why I’m ‘The Chemist’. 2018 is definitely going to be an interesting year,” he said.