If at this moment, you are thinking that “The How Fly Boys” are a new rap group hailing from one of the various cities of the Southern United States, then you probably won’t find much information in this piece that will entice you. To set the playing field however, The How Fly Boys is a proposed collective artistic gathering (or ‘group’ for a lack of better terminology) comprised of the hip-hop acts in Wiz Khalifa, Curren$y, and Big Sean.

Before proposing an answer to the question about the necessity of their “existence”, its important to look at the paths they traveled to reach this point. Wiz Khalifa has released many mixtapes and albums at a decent interval stemming from his 2006 release Show and Prove. That year, he was declared an “artist to watch” that year in Rolling Stone magazine, and signed to Warner Bros. Records shortly after, producing little buzz for himself while having friends like Chevy Woods (then known as Kev Tha Hustla) being his main source of features. He returned to the spotlight in 2010 after appearing in XXL’s annual Top 10 Freshman list, released a studio album, and has become a rockstar in his own respect.

Wiz Khalifa – Great to Be The (Burn After Rolling Mixtape)

In 2002, Curren$y signed to Master P’s No Limit Records, before signing with Cash Money Records in 2004. His most prominent song at the time was “Where Da Cash At” which featured another budding act in Lil’ Wayne. Due to several push backs and lack of promotion, Curren$y decided to leave the label and venture off into the artistic wilderness. Since then, he has gone on to create a slew of projects, including four complete offerings in 2011 alone.

Curren$y – She Dont Want A Man (Weekend At Burnie’s)

Big Sean got his break in 2005 when he rushed himself over to a local radio station that hip-hop artist Kanye West was currently being interviewed on. A reluctant Kanye allowed Big Sean to spit a few freestlyes and leave a demo tape. The official signing in 2007 to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D Music imprint label. During this time, Big Sean’s discography contained many mixtape projects under the name Finally Famous 1, 2, and 3, with various features from hip-hop middleweights such as Bun B, Chip tha Ripper, Curren$y, SAYITAINTTONE, Tyga, Drake, Mike Posner, Suai, Chuck Inglish, Asher Roth, Dom Kennedy, Boldy James, and Chiddy Bang while receiving co-signs from Hype Williams and Don Cannon, all before releasing his only studio album.

Big Sean ft. Dusty McFly – Iraq (Finally Famous Vol 2: UKNOWBIGSEAN)

The relationship shared by Wiz Khalifa, and Curren$y plus the new found star power of Big Sean make them a perfect hip-hop trio. The prospect of uniting the three fan bases (while they certainly have a considerable overlap) is enough to leave music company executives and public relations master minds drooling. The tour dates, the merchandise, the internet only tv shows? The sky is virtually the limit if they were to combine their artistic abilities like The Big Three down in South Beach, but do we really need them together? Wouldn’t it be more exciting to see each artists try to reach Kanye or Jay-Z status on their own terms? Isn’t the one man show, “I do things my way” charisma what Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y have built their careers on thus far? I definitely think so. They have had many opportunities to ride presidential-esque coattails like Big Sean has (I’m sorry, but its true), however they both chose the road less traveled to pursue success on their own terms and so far it’s been paying dividends.

Curren$y and McKenzie Eddy – Muscle Car Chronicles Episiode 6.

There might be more at stake with this merger than just ego’s and hard earned respect. There is also the threat of changing the music that we’ve grown accustomed to, and (for some of us) grown up to. While it is fascinating to see conflicting ideas in a studio somehow mesh together and produce a new sound, you are ultimately tinkering with calculated formulas of success. Curren$y for example has found his grove in crafting concept heavy projects that are near to him and feature the production of one particular engineer (such as Alchemist’s work on Covert Coup). Big Sean however has taken a much more broad approach to music, where his topics greatly vary from line to line, let alone from the intro until the outro. In fact, from the three early leaks, it has become evident that the theme of the project will be based around 1970s style living, including the old grainy film, scratchy voice vibe seen in home videos from an era gone by. This is a time zone that, once again, seems to be a comfort zone for Curren$y (as showcased in his various Muscle Car Chronicles episodes). The possibility of the trio falling into a monotonous “group-think” mind set is a very real concern that all fans of these artists, and hip-hop fans in general should take into account before they beg for the imminent release of this .zip file.

Wiz Khalifa x Curren$y x Big Sean – Weed Brownies

As I alluded to earlier, the trio could very well become the hip-hop equivalent of Miami’s Big Three, and possibly ignite a musical revolution. Critics on the outside will be quick to point to one artist, and exclaim that they aren’t carrying their own weight due to sub-par lyrics or overly lazy delivery. When an artists is putting out their own music, they have nobody else to blame for experiments that fall short of their standard of work. A collective of artists that aren’t under steady watch could allow for lackluster material to be released to the masses without a complete and clear understanding of exactly where the problem needs to be fixed. Do friends make good partners when their own livelihood is at stake? Where do you turn when their needs to be an adjustment? Do you blame management? Do you blame marketing? Do you blame all of the stars simultaneously to foster the sense of unity, or do you throw one of the three under the bus and keep it moving? While hip-hop super groups are nothing new, the prospective of three of the hottest artists in the struggling rap game culminating together amidst a day and age where information travels at the speed of which our nubby fingers can type, there is plenty that could go well, or terribly wrong. I’m rooting for you guys.

- Edward