Fourth and final studio album by Malik "Memphis Bleek" Cox, rapper from Brooklyn, New York. More precisely from Marcy, the record was named after the building number of the housing project in which he grew up. Production is handled by Just Blaze, Swizz Beatz, Bink, Irv Gotti, Demi-Doc, Chad Hamilton, Ryan Press, LeQawn Bell, 9th Wonder, Coptic and Shea Taylor. Guests include Rihanna, Boxie, Livin Proof, MOP, Young Gunz, Denim and Jay-Z.
Just Blaze musically introduces Memphis Bleek in his fourth and final album. The title track opens this album: excellent essential jazz rhythm, tight and triumphant, solid production by Just Blaze that makes a solid beat, scratched hook and a decent Bleek delivery. A short and splendid interlude of Just Blaze follows, it launches the next cut with a magical sample, Lisa Koch's "Summer Song". The third track on the album is "Dear Summer": compared to the other tracks present in Bleek's fourth effort, this is clearly superior and is considered a classic. The sound painting is designed by the expert hands of Just Blaze: this rhythm is timeless and although the name may tell you otherwise, the boy has done few in his career, especially when he's away from Jay-Z / Roc songs.
Boom bap jazzy soulful, with chipmunk soul sample taken from Weldon Irvine's "Morning Sunrise", a late seventies gem that cements this guy as one of the best producers ever in the music tagged as "chipmunk soul". He really is. The sample is as simple as it is brilliant. The track is a solo by Jay-Z. The emcee takes a break from his (brief) retirement and returns to leave a nostalgic pearl: “Dear Summer” is an ode to the rap game and his own career, and at the same time it's his return to the game, because he hasn't released a solo cut since 2003.
Single verse with flawless flow, Jay delivers with a clean, velvet, shiny, dope style, ethereal over this masterful, heavenly musical landscape created by Blaze. The cut is short, melancholic and fantastic, intense and precious, an absolute masterpiece where Jay-Z shines in one of the most iconic productions of chipmunk soul. The final part of the song is spectacular with a sensational outro by Carter over a celestial bridge. It's the strongest tune on the album and the best in Memphis Bleek's catalogue, which isn't even there with half a verse. The song, which later ended up in the charts, attracts comparisons with "Anything", another solo cut by Jay-Z which is included as a bonus track on Beanie Sigel's debut album "The Truth" (2000). Additionally, Memphis Bleek in turn has a solo cut on Hova's album "Vol. 2" (1998).
Swizz Beatz is tasked with making a banger for the club and he does so on "Like That", with a tight and annoying production, bouncy and sparse for this sudden and unexpected solo from Bleek, here rather worthily in a piece for the club. Choice number five is a ballad produced by Demi-Doc and Irv Gotti, simple and bouncy rhythm with sample soulful looped tight, good hook by Boxie, Bleek rap is average. Rihanna makes her debut in the recording industry on this Memphis Bleek album on track number six, "The One": mainstream pop beat by Bink, triumphant, simple, essential, tight, excellent soul pop hook by Rihanna, good rap from the boy from Brooklyn in this sensational ballad. These are the two most commercial extracts of the album.
LeQawn Bell offers a decent melodic beat for the seventh choice, with The MOP as guests: boom bap funky simplistic and annoying based on a heavy synthesizer, jazzy triumphant scratched intro, well executed and solid bridge, then the original beat returns and is ignorantly ravaged by the guests. The boys of M.O.P. are calmer than usual and equally overshadow the house rapper. Livin Proof, already a guest on Bleek's previous album, also returns here on a production created by Chad Hamilton and Ryan Press: hasty and tense jazz beat, simplistic and a little annoying, bouncy, the two guys spit bars with below average style. State Property continue to appear on Bleek records, this time it's Young Gunz's turn to join Carter's protégé's effort on "Oh Baby": Bink presents himself with his typical exaggerated, disturbing and simplistic rhythm, a confused rocking boom bap with chipmunk soul sample looped too tightly, the rhythm is practically inaccessible and immediately hinders Bleek's delivery, stopping even the mediocre one of the guests.
The first cut of 9th Wonder arrives significantly late: lively jazz rhythm, simple and skeletal, nice and vibrant, with soulful haunting samples in the background, nice work. The guest Denim delivers a great hook and Bleek sounds inspired, comfortable and fit in this track, good rapping, even if his chorus is dull. "Hater Free" has the least accessible beat on this album: Shea Taylor makes deeply annoying jazz boom bap, with numerous synth lines scattered throughout, cheesy, complex, heavy, the beat is shabbily synthesized. On this musical carpet, Memph isn't able to give the right depth and space to his bars. 9th Wonder returns to show the overwhelming musical incoherence of this work, in "Alright": triumphant, simple, essential, modern soul jazz rhythm, fantastic, with excellent samples, perfect drum. Bleek offers smoothness with silky delivery and flies on this beat, great rap, simple hook, you can't go wrong on such a musical carpet.
After this commendable effort, the album settles into "All About Me": Coptic throws in some country guitar licks over a skeletal and simple jazz rhythm, honest and bouncy, simple hook, the author delivers in a concentrated way, although he still doesn't sound good. The album ends with "Straight Path": splendid, beautiful production by Just Blaze, one of his finest. Light, essential, soulful, heavenly jazz rhythm, left to breathe calmly in a deep and slightly dark way, with soul samples looping in the background, chipmunk soul samples, perfect female sample, impeccable drum, untouchable rhythm, Memphis Bleek in shape offers his best and if it weren't for the fact that his narration is incredibly banal, it would also be a tight cut.
Memphis Bleek's fourth CD coincides with Roc-A-Fella's first release since friend Jay-Z became president of Def Jam Recordings and relaunched his own label. The album is published by Roc-A-Fella, Memph label Get Low Records and Between Friends with Universal distribution. The effort is received mixed by music critics, who appreciates the choice of music while criticizing the rapper's performance and the writing of his lyrics, especially praising Jay-Z's solo piece that overshadows everything else on the album. The album is eleventh on the Billboard 200, third among hip-hop releases, first in the rap chart for the fourth time out of four CDs
Rating: 5.8/10.
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