Memphis Bleek May Really Take Over New York

You know what they say, “In times of confusion, leaders are born.” Since New York “fell off” back in 2004, we’ve seen rappers like Fabolous step up to the plate to become that main rapper from New York. For a while, 50 Cent was looked at as that star, but like everyone else, his music also saw a major decline. This forced Jay-Z out of retirement and everything. But, still that didn’t quite fix things. Many hip hop fans have placed their money on Saigon, but his album is never coming out. Their secondary is Papoose, but I don’t think he’s coming out. Also emphasis has been placed on Jae Millz. Still, we’ve been waiting on Millz for two years, he’s going down the same path. Jae Millz almost had a chance a month ago when he revealed a simmering feud with Mims. If I had been Lil Wayne, I would have pimped that feud instead of giving the two time to fix the issue. Now, we’ve seen Mims return with a STREET ALBUM!!! that went Gold, and his OFFICIAL sophomore album having much hype. I do think that Mims will be a New York success story, but I just don’t think its time, but I do think that he will make major noise when his time comes. Now, one artist that I think really may take the crown is Memphis Bleek. He comes out every other year, and he always goes Gold. That’s consistent, more than some other releases. People often forget about Memphis Bleek, but he’s been around longer than Fabolous. He’s also had a few hits, but the average hip hop-er thinks that those songs belonged to Jay-Z, I did until I did some research. Now, here’s Bleek’s resume starting in June 1999. “Memphis Bleek Is…” (this song started the Nas beef), “My Mind Right (remix),” “Do My…,” “Is That Your Chick,” (his biggest hit, I originally thought it was a average hit from Jay-Z), “Round Here,” and “Like That.” He’s had many more singles, but these were his hits. I do think that Bleek will have his time, but the reason it hasn’t come sooner is because sub-concosiously, I feel that fans feel that he is spoiled. Remember when Jay-Z retired in 2003, and he kept on saying that Memphis Bleek was the next king of New York. Just handing it to him. Before I say this, I just want to mention that I have so much respect for Jay-Z, and I am a big fan of his work, but in 2003, he wasn’t even king of New York, 50 Cent was. This guy dropped two albums in one year, he had almost eight singles in 2003, compared to four by Jay-Z. Think about it 50 had 7 hits in 8 tries, Jay had 3 hits in 4 tries. So, it was very disrespectful for him to just give Bleek a title that he didn’t even hold at the time. That’s not how it works. But, back to my point, people just don’t understand how hard Memphis Bleek has worked. They felt him in the beginning because 1999 Jay-Z is like when “This Is Why I’m Hot” was really hot, that’s big. Jay-Z made stars out of Ja Rule, and Memphis Bleek. Only Ja Rule was able to be a success because he was original. No one did it like Ja, he was supposed to be that “cross” between Jay-Z and DMX, but he ended up being more successful than them at one point (2001-2002). He found a niche with those hip hop/R&B collaborations. But, Bleek was just Jay-Z Jr. All he did was make Jay-Z-type songs. So, why bump a Jay-Z rip-off when we already have Jay-Z. Now, Fabolous has taken many notes from Jay’s playbook, but he makes that hip hop/R&B music, he’s not a flashy rapper like Jay-Z, and being a rapper for the ladies sounds natural from him, more so than when DMX tried it. It just didn’t sound natural when X tried it, it sounded like Lyor and Irv forced him to. But, when Ja Rule came and did it, it sounded natural, despite his first attempt failing horribly. What I’m referring to is “Daddy’s Little Baby” with Ronald Isley, that song is one song that I extremely hate. But, it fit Ja, as he modeled his next six albums after that one song. That is also the reason 50 Cent failed with “Amusement Park,” he felt like he had to do it, that song lacked the energy of “I Get Money,” and “Back Down.” He has experienced some success with this format (”21 Questions”) but it still wasn’t natural. Now, for Memphis Bleek, he has sort of been finding his own path with his recent songs like “Round Here,” “Like That,” and “Get Ya Money Up.” He may be that ultimate party rapper, but he cannot be that flashy rapper, seeing that Mims has taken that from him. But, I believe that Memphis Bleek will be able to mix party with R&B. It turns out that my predictions have been right, Bleek has gotten on the remix to Ne-Yo’s popular song “Miss Independent,” and the song is getting airplay. This is just in time for Bleek to release his first single from The Process, “Feel So Bad” with Akon. This might be just what Memphis Bleek needs, an album that does not feature Jay-Z on every other track, and him showing what he can do. Also, since he has stepped away, people have brought to their attention that Bleek has his own crew, Get Low Records. Every one of his album have come off of this label as it operated under the Roc. See, he is a CEO, that’s the business, he has many businesses to pay attention to. This all helps him become a star in his own right. There are also rumors that Bleek may be promoted to CEO of Roc-A-Fella Records as planned. He could really market that and get his album a secure release date. I expect his album to debut in November, or June, that is my range. But, for me I always pay attention to the underdogs. Everybody placed their bets on Saigon to be hip hop’s star for at least the next five years (from 2003), I said Lil Wayne, everybody laughed, but it happened. Now, for NYC, everybody says Fabolous, but he had his time last year with Mims. So, now it will probably go to Memphis Bleek. For him to really take over, he will have to become the boss of Roc-A-Fella, or leave the label. I think that he should place his label under exclusive distribution. Maybe under Columbia Records or somewhere. That does not mean that he should just cut all ties from Roc-A-Fella, but he should become his own artist. He can get a big hit while he is signed to Get Low/Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam, and have a successful album release, then jump ship, get his artists exposed, and drop every year in the fourth quarter, like Jay-Z did in the past. Either way, I think that Memphis Bleek, seeing that he is still young, may become that new November man in rap music. Right now, the chips are in his favor, and my money is on Bleek.