A collaborator on many of
Jay-Z's albums (and a fellow native of Brooklyn's Marcy Projects),
Memphis Bleek debuted his own solo career with the album
Coming of Age, released on his mentor's Roc-A-Fella label, a subsidiary of Def Jam.
Bleek's rapping style is a bit more street-level than
Jay-Z's, making for a distinctive album that comes as a bit of a surprise given the large amount of samey records that often come from the same hip-hop labels. Besides the obvious cameos -- from
Jay-Z, fellow Roc-A-Fella rappers
Ja Rule and
Beanie Sigel, plus Noreaga and
Da Ranjahz --
Memphis Bleek sounds good throughout. For the spotlight single "Memphis Bleek Is...," the rapper recruited
Swizz Beatz, the hottest production team in hip-hop. The move pays off too, as the track is a solid
DMX-style shouter, with the obvious catch phrase in the title. Many of the productions were recorded by Roc-A-Fella comrades, and the highlights ("What Do You Think of That," "Murda 4 Life," "You a Thug Nigga") have the same emphasis on bruising urban-funk as most
Jay-Z material. Still,
Coming of Age is a fine debut that shows
Memphis Bleek already leaps and bounds ahead of most rappers. [The album was also released in a clean version, with all vulgarities removed.] ~ Keith Farley