About 15 years ago, and prior to that, hip hop was regarded as a “fad” that wouldn’t last. The general perception was that this infant form of “music” was nothing more than people shouting over other peoples’ music and that in time, like disco, it would be relegated to its own grave. Between the fashion and the content, it was regarded as having no moral values and as something that only deviants could ever appreciate. What happened was the exact opposite. Hip hop became arguably the most dominant force in music and culture over the last decade. We have everything from hip hop dance classes to the President of the United States talking about brushing dirt off his shoulder. The words “diss” and “beef” have become so implanted in our daily lives that some people probably forget or don’t know at all where those words actually originated. All the while the critics are still out there, whether in the mainstream news coverage painting hip hop as still a violent evil force in the corruption of youth, or in the genre itself as countless “columnists” feel the need to attack every new thing that hip hop ventures into. While bad press is still press, this need for people to constantly hate on every little aspect of hip hop culture, FROM WITHIN THE CULTURE ITSELF, is something that has been growing over the last few years and while the worldwide access the internet has given us certainly lends its support to this phenomenon, the real reason for the self-hatred is the fact that hip hop is in its second generation, and the first generation has no idea how to grow up.
When hip hop was a baby, it was nurtured mostly by its own people. The artists were the promoters were the record labels were the magazines were the critics were the fans. Hip hop was its own little bubble, separate from the rest of the cultural world, where young artists were free to express themselves as long as they were original and fresh. No one over the age of 25 was really doing anything with hip hop and as artists got to be that age they started to fall off. Obviously there were exceptions but the majority of these groups and artists saw a short career with maybe a few highlights and then a fade to obscurity. As tiny as hip hop was in the 80s and 90s, countless albums were released by countless artists, only to be never heard from again. The artists that were big failed to maintain that status as they grew and essentially outgrew the youthfulness of the culture they helped create. KRS-One, Rakim, Public Enemy, Run-DMC, and many others, by the mid 90s, even as they still made music, failed to create the success they once had. Newer artists were seeing short-term careers with one or two albums under their belt before fading into obscurity. Groups like Black Moon and Das EFX never made it past that first hit and only a very select few artists saw their careers grow over time instead of fade. Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, Jay-Z and Nas, these artists managed to grow and develop and maintain relevancy in a game that was always about the youth. But somewhere along the way, hip hop matured and brought some people with it. It culturally matured and has attempted to shed that anti-, youthful aggressive label that it carried for so long. With that maturation process inevitably comes rebellion, something that is no stranger to hip hop. The difference being that the rebellion hip hop has always been familiar with is the rebellion of mainstream culture, not the rebellion of its own culture.
Recently Jay-Z released “The Blueprint 3”, an album which has been picked apart by every critic inside and outside of hip hop, as well as every blogger and anonymous fan. Some of the criticisms have been the beats sounding too futuristic or the lyrics being too lazy. The general consensus is still hotness but not without a heavy level of critiquing. While every album sees its fair share of love and hate, what makes this different is that hip hop is, for the first time, experiencing the views and thoughts of a 40 year old man. For real think about that for a second, a 40 year old man. When we speak of legends in rap, the Big Daddy Kane’s, the Rakim’s, the Chuck D’s, we have to remember that all these MCs released the work that we praise so highly when they were in their 20s. When we point to the greatest albums of all time, the greatest verses of all time, the greatest moments in hip hop history, we are referring to moments, albums, and verses that were crafted during those individuals 20s. Their youth, their growing and changing and developing youth. Nas released the greatest album in hip hop history at the age of 20. Every album on the top 20 lists of rap was made during the artists’ 20s, so when you have an album that is released as the artist is pushing 40, you can’t expect it to consist of the same content and structure as the 20 year old.
We have one of the most, if not the only, competitive genre of music in hip hop. Since day one battles have been ever present in rap whether on the street or on wax and because of this we are always looking for those young bucks to try to come up and take the place of the seasoned vet. Only difference then was that essentially everyone was a young buck and the “seasoned vets” were only 5 or 10 years in the game. Perfect example is Canibus taking on LL Cool J. Student versus teacher. The battle was one that most people remember for ending Canibus’ career but not without a vicious punch delivered in the form of “Second Round Knockout”, a record in which Canibus accused LL of only making records for women at this point in his career. At that time, insulting someone’s game was the way to beat them in a battle. More recently however, battles have almost all involved one generation of rappers hating on the previous. Soulja Boy vs. Ice-T, 50 Cent vs. GZA, Joe Budden vs. Raekwon, The Game vs. Jay-Z. Every one of these battles has involved the older artist saying “you youngin’s got no respect” and the younger artist saying “yall is too old, retire”. It’s like the argument now is not about lyrical ability but about why older artists are still trying to be a part of what most still consider a youthful game.
What we need to all realize is that like all things that withstand the test of time, growth and development is necessary. Another recent album release is a perfect example of that. Raekwon’s “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2” is the follow up to arguably one of the greatest rap albums of all time, released in 1995. Here we are 14 years later and the Chef has cooked up something that both brings us back to the time when the Wu-Tang was the strongest element of hip hop yet also is within the current state of hip hop. This isn’t Jurassic 5 trying to “bring back the old school” but it’s also not just an empty title in an attempt to sell records. It truly is a sequel to the first album. And it’s a damn good sequel because Raekwon understand that he is no longer a young street hustler and therefore portraying that would be nothing short of laughable, so instead he made a crack album for 2009 that sounded like 2009. Growth and development.
In order for hip hop to maintain a lifespan far beyond anyone who’s around now we need to both appreciate the veterans who are able to grow and mature as well as embrace the new ideas and directions that the music is taking. Someone like Kid Cudi is doing things that 10 years ago would have never been in the minds of anyone, even the revolutionary, way-ahead-of-their-time Neptunes. At the same time Jay-Z is showing us that a lifetime of hip hop cannot consist of the same thing every day, every year or else it just gets boring and unrealistic. So for the haters of “Blueprint 3”, remember that a 40 year old hip hop artist is something that no one ever thought would happen and that rather than hating on it for not being “Reasonable Doubt”, that instead it’s better to take it in and see what maturity has to offer.
Showing posts with label jay-z. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jay-z. Show all posts
Friday, September 18, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
The Blueprint for Immobility
Ever present in hip hop lyrics are tales of street dealings, mostly in drugs, sometimes in women, and sometimes pure violence. In fact tales of drugs have gone as far back as the famous “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. As rap grew, so did the stories, providing more and more detail and giving more and more insight to the world of street dreams and realities. While many songs touched on various aspects of this underworld, there were two complete albums that play through like movies, life stories, biographies, entire pictures of the drug world. Each album played the role separately, one giving the rawest description, the cook up of sorts, the drugs on the table, ready to go, and the day-to-day bullshit that goes on to move that product. The other showcased the high life, the riches, the nice clothes and cars, the upside of the hustle, the kingpin’s manual for poppin’ bottles. One album looked at it from the kitchen, the other looked at it from the club. One from the work, one from the payoff. Together these albums make for the perfect combination of the drug life, both extremes with which one involved sees. With both artists on the verge of releasing new albums, both going back to old formulas of sorts, it seems fitting to take a look at the albums that defined and influenced one of the biggest aspects of hip hop, the drug dealer. The first to do it was Raekwon the Chef from legendary group Wu-Tang Clan with “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…” in 1995. One year later up and coming Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z gave us “Reasonable Doubt”. There are many other albums that contributed to the Mafioso movement in rap, Nas’ “It Was Written”, Mobb Deep’s “The Infamous” and AZ’s “Doe or Die”, but the genre was rooted in and flawlessly done with Rae and Jay’s masterpieces.
In 1995 hip hop was sufficiently blunted. The west coast G-funk was still blazing but New York grittiness was making its way back to the top, arguably resurrected two years prior with the Wu-Tang Clan’s debut album “Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers”. The 10 man group was headed by RZA and his vision for a 5 year, 7 album plan was in the midst of manifesting. Solo albums from Method Man and GZA were pounding in every whip and next up was the Chef Raekwon with an album co-hosted by Wu’s most stylistic MC, Ghostface Killah. What was delivered was an album so dirty, so raw, so gutter that it set the blueprint for a style of hip hop that has been imitated time and time again, the gangster/drug dealing kingpin. The intro alone, with Rae and Ghost boasting of the high life while discussing the work they do sets in motion the whirlwind that follows with broken pyrex bottles, kitchen counter top wrap ups, money stashes in couches, shootouts in living rooms and a whole shit ton of cocaine being blown. To come out of that album without a white nose and a drip is basically impossible. They broke it all down. The production was heavy and grimy, the lyrics were shouted through voices caked in dust and liquor and the hooks (when there were any) were some of the most awkward if not genius things hip hop had ever seen. Every Wu general contributed to the album and each brought with him an alias specific to the crime family ideal. “Wu-Gambinos” they were called, each becoming a mafia don in the process of lacing their drug fueled darts. Songs like “Ice Water”, “Wisdom Body” and “Rainy Dayz” pierce the listener’s ears with sound so clashing it shouldn’t even work but magically along with the equally fucked up lyrics the tracks work to form an album that requires a shower following a listen. Even the one “female” track oozed with griminess even while invoking one of the sweetest things, ice cream. Never before had someone make listing the flavors of ice cream sound so rugged. They even supplied the high that everyone was chasing in the form of “Guillotine (Swordz)”, a track that began with a sample few believed would amount to an actual track after being hinted at before only to be quickly tucked away. “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…” was the closest thing to the Scarface fantasy so prevalent in hip hop. It gave us all insight to the world of a cocaine dealer, at least as close as you could sonically get.
New York was the hip hop champ once again and Brooklyn was at center stage with Notorious B.I.G.’s chart topping album “Ready to Die”. On the success of “Juicy”, “Big Poppa” and “One More Chance”, Biggie had won over the hearts of millions of fans and provided the mainstream was swagger and flow along with lyrics filled with not only clever wordplay but substance and depth. His storytelling was unlike no other and he did it while still maintaining to throw punchlines out left and right. Around the same time fellow Brooklyn native and friend of Biggie, Jay-Z was on the come up after spending years working with legends like Big Daddy Kane and Jaz-O trying to find his niche in the hip hop world. Jay brought the swagger in a way different from that of close friend Notorious B.I.G. Biggie was known as a Heavy D of sorts, an overweight lover. The man loved his Gucci and Versace but played more on the lines of “let me chill and get money and fuck bitches”. Jay-Z stepped it up in telling us how rich he was and why he could afford all that nice shit. Jay seemed to focus on not just the hustle, but the results of the hustle, the fruits of labor. While Biggie liked to lay back and chill Jay-Z went out on the town wearing the most expensive suits, driving the most expensive cars, ordering the most expensive drinks, and getting the most expensive girls. Jay-Z’s life was on top of the world, looking down at everyone who wanted to be up there with him. Don’t get it twisted though, Jay certainly didn’t hold back from the risks it takes to earn such a high life. From “Friend or Foe” and “Dead Presidents” it’s clear that work had to be put in to get where he was. But this was certainly someone who had been on top and could educate those below him on how hard it was to get there. “Regrets” and “Can I Live” brilliantly showcase how one’s rise to the top is never easy and how it takes a strong man to survive. He also displayed his knowledge by giving life lessons to young’ns looking for their entrance to the life of crime on “Coming of Age” where he teaches an aspiring rapper/dealer how to make it in the world where he is king.
In the end you have two works of art so similar yet so different in their descriptions of essentially the same thing, the world of drug dealing. The reality is that there are very few kingpins of the drug world and most of them will inevitably meet their demise through either arrest or assassination. It is ridiculous to idolize such ideals when they result in nothing but heartache and struggle and usually much worse, but as any true great author can make the reader actually feel as though they are a part of the story, Jay-Z and Raekwon have given the listener the ultimate experience of the drug dealing lifestyle. And they have done it from completely different viewpoints. Raekwon has given us the training camps and the two-a-days and the pre-season and even the playoffs, Jay-Z has given us the Finals, the Super Bowl, the World Series, and the Tonight Show appearances following all those. Each artist holds nothing back in their accounts of one of the toughest professions for even the hardest of men, and yet each has a completely different vision of the world they live in. The lavish dining room with the bottle service and $50 plates of food doesn’t come without the hectic kitchen with sweltering heat and hunched over chefs busily working round the clock creating the delicacies. These records will give anyone who is interested the ability to see the two sides of the hustle, the ups and downs, the joy and pain, the struggle and the success. With both artists dropping new albums soon, Raekwon’s being titled “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2” and Jay-Z returning to his “Blueprint” label, this is a good time to remember how perfectly these two individuals presented us with something that most of us will never see up and close and personal but that all of us, through these albums, can feel like we at least got a peek in the door while being lucky enough to never have to walk in.
In 1995 hip hop was sufficiently blunted. The west coast G-funk was still blazing but New York grittiness was making its way back to the top, arguably resurrected two years prior with the Wu-Tang Clan’s debut album “Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers”. The 10 man group was headed by RZA and his vision for a 5 year, 7 album plan was in the midst of manifesting. Solo albums from Method Man and GZA were pounding in every whip and next up was the Chef Raekwon with an album co-hosted by Wu’s most stylistic MC, Ghostface Killah. What was delivered was an album so dirty, so raw, so gutter that it set the blueprint for a style of hip hop that has been imitated time and time again, the gangster/drug dealing kingpin. The intro alone, with Rae and Ghost boasting of the high life while discussing the work they do sets in motion the whirlwind that follows with broken pyrex bottles, kitchen counter top wrap ups, money stashes in couches, shootouts in living rooms and a whole shit ton of cocaine being blown. To come out of that album without a white nose and a drip is basically impossible. They broke it all down. The production was heavy and grimy, the lyrics were shouted through voices caked in dust and liquor and the hooks (when there were any) were some of the most awkward if not genius things hip hop had ever seen. Every Wu general contributed to the album and each brought with him an alias specific to the crime family ideal. “Wu-Gambinos” they were called, each becoming a mafia don in the process of lacing their drug fueled darts. Songs like “Ice Water”, “Wisdom Body” and “Rainy Dayz” pierce the listener’s ears with sound so clashing it shouldn’t even work but magically along with the equally fucked up lyrics the tracks work to form an album that requires a shower following a listen. Even the one “female” track oozed with griminess even while invoking one of the sweetest things, ice cream. Never before had someone make listing the flavors of ice cream sound so rugged. They even supplied the high that everyone was chasing in the form of “Guillotine (Swordz)”, a track that began with a sample few believed would amount to an actual track after being hinted at before only to be quickly tucked away. “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…” was the closest thing to the Scarface fantasy so prevalent in hip hop. It gave us all insight to the world of a cocaine dealer, at least as close as you could sonically get.
New York was the hip hop champ once again and Brooklyn was at center stage with Notorious B.I.G.’s chart topping album “Ready to Die”. On the success of “Juicy”, “Big Poppa” and “One More Chance”, Biggie had won over the hearts of millions of fans and provided the mainstream was swagger and flow along with lyrics filled with not only clever wordplay but substance and depth. His storytelling was unlike no other and he did it while still maintaining to throw punchlines out left and right. Around the same time fellow Brooklyn native and friend of Biggie, Jay-Z was on the come up after spending years working with legends like Big Daddy Kane and Jaz-O trying to find his niche in the hip hop world. Jay brought the swagger in a way different from that of close friend Notorious B.I.G. Biggie was known as a Heavy D of sorts, an overweight lover. The man loved his Gucci and Versace but played more on the lines of “let me chill and get money and fuck bitches”. Jay-Z stepped it up in telling us how rich he was and why he could afford all that nice shit. Jay seemed to focus on not just the hustle, but the results of the hustle, the fruits of labor. While Biggie liked to lay back and chill Jay-Z went out on the town wearing the most expensive suits, driving the most expensive cars, ordering the most expensive drinks, and getting the most expensive girls. Jay-Z’s life was on top of the world, looking down at everyone who wanted to be up there with him. Don’t get it twisted though, Jay certainly didn’t hold back from the risks it takes to earn such a high life. From “Friend or Foe” and “Dead Presidents” it’s clear that work had to be put in to get where he was. But this was certainly someone who had been on top and could educate those below him on how hard it was to get there. “Regrets” and “Can I Live” brilliantly showcase how one’s rise to the top is never easy and how it takes a strong man to survive. He also displayed his knowledge by giving life lessons to young’ns looking for their entrance to the life of crime on “Coming of Age” where he teaches an aspiring rapper/dealer how to make it in the world where he is king.
In the end you have two works of art so similar yet so different in their descriptions of essentially the same thing, the world of drug dealing. The reality is that there are very few kingpins of the drug world and most of them will inevitably meet their demise through either arrest or assassination. It is ridiculous to idolize such ideals when they result in nothing but heartache and struggle and usually much worse, but as any true great author can make the reader actually feel as though they are a part of the story, Jay-Z and Raekwon have given the listener the ultimate experience of the drug dealing lifestyle. And they have done it from completely different viewpoints. Raekwon has given us the training camps and the two-a-days and the pre-season and even the playoffs, Jay-Z has given us the Finals, the Super Bowl, the World Series, and the Tonight Show appearances following all those. Each artist holds nothing back in their accounts of one of the toughest professions for even the hardest of men, and yet each has a completely different vision of the world they live in. The lavish dining room with the bottle service and $50 plates of food doesn’t come without the hectic kitchen with sweltering heat and hunched over chefs busily working round the clock creating the delicacies. These records will give anyone who is interested the ability to see the two sides of the hustle, the ups and downs, the joy and pain, the struggle and the success. With both artists dropping new albums soon, Raekwon’s being titled “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2” and Jay-Z returning to his “Blueprint” label, this is a good time to remember how perfectly these two individuals presented us with something that most of us will never see up and close and personal but that all of us, through these albums, can feel like we at least got a peek in the door while being lucky enough to never have to walk in.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
What the hell happened to Memphis Bleek?
“a G? i’ll ride wit chu for free, i want the long term riches and bitches”
We all remember little Memphis Bleek riding shotgun with Jay-Z back on “Reasonable Doubt”, then setting off “Hard Knock Life” over some sick DJ Premier production, releasing a solo album, and subsequently, well, fading away. Why did the right hand man of the arguably the best rapper of the last decade fall so hard and could it be that Jay-Z himself is actually to blame?
With probably the best entrance to the rap game one could ask for, Memphis Bleek was featured on Jay-Z’s first album “Reasonable Doubt” as the corner boy Hov was mentoring on the classic track “Coming of Age”. He proved back then that he had the flow and the swag (before swag existed) to carry himself alongside one of the future greats of rap (even though most assume that Jay wrote his verse). While he was noticeably absent from Jay’s second album, he reappeared on the multi-platinum “Vol. 2…Hard Knock Life” to wake everyone the fuck up on the album’s intro. Along with another couple guest spots on the same album, it was clear that Memphis Bleek had the ability to build a legitimate career in rap, but could he ever step out of the shadow of Jay-Z and in doing so would he ever be accepted as anything more than a sidekick to the greatest rapper of our time?
Following the release of Jay-Z’s highest selling album to date “Hard Knock Life”, Bleek’s debut album was nothing short of a disappointment. So often in hip hop a top notch MC tries to put on his boys (we saw Nelly do this with the St. Lunatics) and so often that weed carrier is nowhere near as good as his mentor, that’s why he’s the weed carrier. “Coming of Age” (the album, strategically named after the song that introduced little Malik Cox to the world) was no different in the eyes of most fans. In fact the only singles that ever gained any ground were featuring other Roc-A-Fella artists, most notably Jay-Z as well as Beanie Sigel. Poor promotion, lazy work, and other factors may have been involved but at the end of the day no one was running to the store looking to scoop up the first Bleek solo album. It did go gold but this was at a time when the economy was booming and just about every rap album would sell at least 250,000 so gold was almost looked at as a failure. Luckily for Bleek he didn’t need solo success since he had the Roc-A-Fella label and Jay to hold him down but one can only imagine that it was difficult being next to the giant and not even coming close to measuring up.
In 2000, shortly after the compilation album “The Dynasty” was released by Jay-Z, Bleek’s next solo album surfaced, “The Understanding”. There could be any number of reasons for this but it doesn’t seem smart to try to jump start someone’s career by piggy backing their release on top of yours (as the Pharrell assisted “I Just Wanna Love U” was topping every chart in the industry and therefore would make Bleek’s album nothing short of completely missed). Few people noticed the growth from the debut and while the album again went gold, it’s assumed that it sold mostly based on Jay-Z’s guest appearances and the Roc-A-Fella label alone. Once again standing next to the giant proved to be a downfall.
A few years went by and Jay-Z released two Blueprints on the hip hop community, featuring all together one verse from Memphis Bleek. It seemed as though Jay was moving further and further away from his protégé, but without setting him up for any real success of his own. The year 2003 would be one of the most important years in rap as we saw Jay-Z retire from rap with his swan song, “The Black Album”. Released one month after was “M.A.D.E.”, the third album from the man who would be king. This was the first truly classic Bleek album. Featuring production from Just Blaze at the height of his game (and Kanye West) and a guest list that most rappers could only dream about (Jay-Z, T.I., Nate Dogg, Trick Daddy, M.O.P., Beanie Sigel and Freeway) the album could easily have been the torch passing from teacher to student if not for being completely overshadowed by the teacher himself. Again it’s hard to understand why Jay would follow up what was clearly going to be a huge record in “The Black Album” only a month later with this Bleek release, and even though there were references to the little man taking the place of the big man, it was as overlooked as any other Bleek album simply because he had already been labeled as nothing more than a weed carrier. It did sell a record 150,000 copies in its first week but never picked up any steam with the various singles and has since been forgotten by most. This was essentially the moment when it was undeniable that Memphis Bleek would never achieve the notoriety and success he deserved.
Two years later we were given “534”, a lazy and wasted album thrown together in the midst of the Roc-A-Fella split between Jay-Z and Dame Dash. In all honesty the only good track on the entire album was actually a Jay-Z solo called “Dear Summer”. From here we’ve seen Bleek fall into obscurity and while he continues to try to push forward on his own with Get Low Records, making mixtapes and signing artists, seeing him in a Garnier commercial just about sealed the deal for him to become milk carton status in XXL.
What we can take from this man’s career is the fact that no one is good simply because they are co-signed by a legend. At the same time, a legend’s weed carrier isn’t necessarily bad, but getting out of the shadow of the legend is extremely difficult and the artist usually suffers because of it. Would Memphis Bleek have even made a splash if not for Jay-Z extensively promoting him? That’s a question we will never be able to answer but at the end of the day there is no doubt that no one will forget the young dealer on “Coming of Age” and hopefully we never forget how he grew into the beast that slaughtered “Hand it Down”. Go pick up M.A.D.E. and put yourself in that Black Album mindstate again, and enjoy one more Roc-A-Fella masterpiece, and next time you see the name Memphis Bleek on something, an album, a mixtape, a single, don’t just brush it off but instead check it out and see how some sidekicks truly can make great music.
We all remember little Memphis Bleek riding shotgun with Jay-Z back on “Reasonable Doubt”, then setting off “Hard Knock Life” over some sick DJ Premier production, releasing a solo album, and subsequently, well, fading away. Why did the right hand man of the arguably the best rapper of the last decade fall so hard and could it be that Jay-Z himself is actually to blame?
With probably the best entrance to the rap game one could ask for, Memphis Bleek was featured on Jay-Z’s first album “Reasonable Doubt” as the corner boy Hov was mentoring on the classic track “Coming of Age”. He proved back then that he had the flow and the swag (before swag existed) to carry himself alongside one of the future greats of rap (even though most assume that Jay wrote his verse). While he was noticeably absent from Jay’s second album, he reappeared on the multi-platinum “Vol. 2…Hard Knock Life” to wake everyone the fuck up on the album’s intro. Along with another couple guest spots on the same album, it was clear that Memphis Bleek had the ability to build a legitimate career in rap, but could he ever step out of the shadow of Jay-Z and in doing so would he ever be accepted as anything more than a sidekick to the greatest rapper of our time?
Following the release of Jay-Z’s highest selling album to date “Hard Knock Life”, Bleek’s debut album was nothing short of a disappointment. So often in hip hop a top notch MC tries to put on his boys (we saw Nelly do this with the St. Lunatics) and so often that weed carrier is nowhere near as good as his mentor, that’s why he’s the weed carrier. “Coming of Age” (the album, strategically named after the song that introduced little Malik Cox to the world) was no different in the eyes of most fans. In fact the only singles that ever gained any ground were featuring other Roc-A-Fella artists, most notably Jay-Z as well as Beanie Sigel. Poor promotion, lazy work, and other factors may have been involved but at the end of the day no one was running to the store looking to scoop up the first Bleek solo album. It did go gold but this was at a time when the economy was booming and just about every rap album would sell at least 250,000 so gold was almost looked at as a failure. Luckily for Bleek he didn’t need solo success since he had the Roc-A-Fella label and Jay to hold him down but one can only imagine that it was difficult being next to the giant and not even coming close to measuring up.
In 2000, shortly after the compilation album “The Dynasty” was released by Jay-Z, Bleek’s next solo album surfaced, “The Understanding”. There could be any number of reasons for this but it doesn’t seem smart to try to jump start someone’s career by piggy backing their release on top of yours (as the Pharrell assisted “I Just Wanna Love U” was topping every chart in the industry and therefore would make Bleek’s album nothing short of completely missed). Few people noticed the growth from the debut and while the album again went gold, it’s assumed that it sold mostly based on Jay-Z’s guest appearances and the Roc-A-Fella label alone. Once again standing next to the giant proved to be a downfall.
A few years went by and Jay-Z released two Blueprints on the hip hop community, featuring all together one verse from Memphis Bleek. It seemed as though Jay was moving further and further away from his protégé, but without setting him up for any real success of his own. The year 2003 would be one of the most important years in rap as we saw Jay-Z retire from rap with his swan song, “The Black Album”. Released one month after was “M.A.D.E.”, the third album from the man who would be king. This was the first truly classic Bleek album. Featuring production from Just Blaze at the height of his game (and Kanye West) and a guest list that most rappers could only dream about (Jay-Z, T.I., Nate Dogg, Trick Daddy, M.O.P., Beanie Sigel and Freeway) the album could easily have been the torch passing from teacher to student if not for being completely overshadowed by the teacher himself. Again it’s hard to understand why Jay would follow up what was clearly going to be a huge record in “The Black Album” only a month later with this Bleek release, and even though there were references to the little man taking the place of the big man, it was as overlooked as any other Bleek album simply because he had already been labeled as nothing more than a weed carrier. It did sell a record 150,000 copies in its first week but never picked up any steam with the various singles and has since been forgotten by most. This was essentially the moment when it was undeniable that Memphis Bleek would never achieve the notoriety and success he deserved.
Two years later we were given “534”, a lazy and wasted album thrown together in the midst of the Roc-A-Fella split between Jay-Z and Dame Dash. In all honesty the only good track on the entire album was actually a Jay-Z solo called “Dear Summer”. From here we’ve seen Bleek fall into obscurity and while he continues to try to push forward on his own with Get Low Records, making mixtapes and signing artists, seeing him in a Garnier commercial just about sealed the deal for him to become milk carton status in XXL.
What we can take from this man’s career is the fact that no one is good simply because they are co-signed by a legend. At the same time, a legend’s weed carrier isn’t necessarily bad, but getting out of the shadow of the legend is extremely difficult and the artist usually suffers because of it. Would Memphis Bleek have even made a splash if not for Jay-Z extensively promoting him? That’s a question we will never be able to answer but at the end of the day there is no doubt that no one will forget the young dealer on “Coming of Age” and hopefully we never forget how he grew into the beast that slaughtered “Hand it Down”. Go pick up M.A.D.E. and put yourself in that Black Album mindstate again, and enjoy one more Roc-A-Fella masterpiece, and next time you see the name Memphis Bleek on something, an album, a mixtape, a single, don’t just brush it off but instead check it out and see how some sidekicks truly can make great music.
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