Memph Bleek is...

Nothing of Age?
written by KT

“That little nigga's peeps/it's time to put him on”

By the time I reached track 10 on Jay-Z’s venerable debut album “Reasonable Doubt,” it’s safe to say that I felt that dude was nice. I mean, I had a lot of context to back up this argument. Truth be told, I hadn’t heard Reasonable Doubt until after Volume 2 came out. I wasn’t checking for meaning and a lot of thought in my hip-hop diet back then. But the evidence was clear; I had heard him on “Money, Cash, Hoes” and “Reservoir Dogs.” He’s good.

But when I got to track 10 and saw Memphis Bleek’s name printed proudly next to Jay’s on “Coming of Age,” I was a little apprehensive; all that I’d heard from him was “Memphis Bleek Is…” which didn’t impress me much. I wasn’t expecting much from him on this joint. So, as Mr. Carter proclaimed “this little nigga’s peeps/it’s time to put him on,” in the last line of the chorus, I readied myself for what I was sure would be what I like to call, the “snooze verse.” You know, that verse on a track that you just push your mind through in order to get to the best one. Well, I was a little surprised.

‘Yo, he was nice on this one, man. Nah, I didn’t really say that,’ I can recall. That’s what I get for jumping to conclusions, huh? The hunger in his voice went perfectly with the wisdom and confidence present in Jay-Z’s. Like a mentor watching a student progress and grow into his own, Jay looked on as Memph bellowed eagerly:

“I'm out here slingin bringin'' the drama, tryin' to come up
in the game and add a couple of dollar signs to my name”

He sounded real, like he had seen Jay himself and felt the draw of the lifestyle he had built for himself. The parallel in reality was clear. The flow was perfect and his wordplay witty, much like his older counterpart. And even as Jay observes from a distance, Bleek does his own research and watches Jay while he longs for the life he has. As he moves effortlessly, gracefully from each line to the next, the infatuation becomes evident:

“I'm out here servin’ disturbin’ the peace, life could be better
like my man reclined in plush leather seats
He's sellin’ weight, I'm sellin’ eight... balls
sixteen tryin’ to graduate to pushin’ quarters y'all”

His ability to conjure up a feeling of wanton desire and weave a story with his words, he sort of reminded me of Jay on “22 Twos.” So, as he and Jay collab on the final verse and spit a two-sided diatribe, the ceiling inched higher and higher for Bleek as he stood toe to toe with his mentor. If you had listened to this album from day 1, from the day it dropped, you would have been reeled in easily by his eager flow and hungry delivery. It was as if I was listening to a younger version of the man I had begun to idolize, even as a 27 year old Shawn Carter’s voice floated through my ears.

I grew to like “Memphis Bleek is” a little more after hearing “Coming of Age” and when ”The Understanding” hit in 2000, I was sorely disappointed. Though Memphis Bleek had achieved platinum status with this record, there was much to be desired. Released around the time that rap had really come into it’s own as a commercial marketing tool, “Understanding” did nothing for the senses as Bleek didn’t seem to mature at all from the 16 year old kid he was. Did I expect the subject matter to waver so much? No, not really, but his delivery did nothing to belie his immaturity. While Jay would shine, and I mean like the sun, on Bleek’s biggest hit, “Is That Your Chick,” the Memph Man didn’t really step up from the background, at all.

Memphis Bleek’s spiral into relative obscurity had always been a fascinating one to me. Having clung so tightly while under Jay-Z’s wing, in the eyes of many (my own included), he never really left the ground. Doomed to face a public perception of mediocrity, Memphis Bleek has “The Process” slated for a 2008 release and as PTM shifts to an emphasis on how hip-hop has slipped into its own collective mediocrity, I think it’s prudent to think about whether Memphis Bleek can mature his ideas and grow a little more than he has shown so far. In the back of my mind, I want him to succeed and even Jay acknowledges that “Bleek could be one hit away his whole career.” But he needs to prove not only to us and Jay, but to himself, that he’s not satisfied with just having a place in Big Homie’s will.

Jay-Z feat. Memphis Bleek - Coming Of Age