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Memphis Bleek

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Malik Thuston Cox (born on June 23, 1978), better known by his rap persona of Memphis Bleek, is a New York rapper who regularly came in contact with rap legends such as The Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z. After his childhood, he has collaborated with artists such as Beanie Sigel, Ja Rule and Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, among others. "Memphis" is a bacronym for Making Easy Money Pimping Hoes In Style.

Biography

Early years

Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in the infamous Marcy Projects in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Memphis Bleek's first mainstream rap vocals appeared on the Clark Kent produced song "Coming of Age", featured on Jay-Z's debut LP Reasonable Doubt. Shortly after, Bleek became the first artist signed to Roc-A-Fella Records.

"Coming of Age" also became the title of Memphis's debut LP, which failed to create massive records sales and chart-topping singles as his labelmate and peers' albums had. The same was the case of his second LP, "The Understanding", and third, "M.A.D.E", though the latter spawned his largest amount of sales yet.

Get Low label and rivalries

In the time between the releases of his second and third albums, Memphis Bleek started his own label, Get Low, which in turn led to the signing of former Junior MAFIA member Lil' Cease. The name of the label has sparked a hip-hop rivalry, or beef, between Memphis Bleek, JT tha Bigga Figga & The Game, the former of which built an independent record label with the same title.

Memphis Bleek was also caught in the middle of the epic Jay-Z and Nas battle, in which Bleek gained a few enemies, most notably Nas and Mobb Deep. Despite boosting Jay-Z and Nas's careers, the beef did little to help Bleek gain any more popularity than he had already attained. He also has beef with the Diplomats. J.R. Writer, a member of the Diplomats, dissed him several times on his mixtape Writer's Block Pt 3. He recently dissed Dipset on a track with Tru-Life (another Roc-a-Fella artist that has beef with the Diplomats).

Later years

Remaining one hit away, on May 17, 2005, Bleek released his fourth album titled "534" , in reference to the building he & mentor Jay-Z grew up in, located in the Marcy housing projects of Brooklyn. However, like many of Bleeks previous releases the album suffered in sales, despite decent exposure of the popular Swizz Beatz produced single 'Like That'.

In fall 2005, Memphis Bleek told MTV.com that he is recording an album that should be released in early 2006 featuring such artists as upcoming R&B singer Coya. He is thinking of naming his next album 'The Inauguration', and this would effectively be a make or break album. In an interview for MTV he said: "I want to do an album that's through the roof," he said about his next project, which he's thinking about naming The Inauguration. "I want to do a classic album. I feel that if this album I'm not recording is a classic, I'm not even gonna put it out. I have to do it bigger than anybody has ever done it. I have to make a good record this time, not just talking-junk records. It has to be deep. I want people to pick my album up and learn something." The interview also said that Diddy and singer Gerald Levart both have hits for the rapper. [1]

Recently rumors are emerging that Bleek has signed a joint venture deal with The Inc. and Rocafella.

Albums

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