Memphis Bleek Is In The Top 10

08/13/1999 4:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(8/13/99, 1 a.m. PDT) - Rapper Memphis Bleek, who first gained notice on Jay-Z's multiplatinum-selling, Grammy-winning Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life, may be following in his mentor's footsteps.

Bleek's debut album, Coming Of Age, was released last week and has cracked the top 10 of the Billboard album chart. During its first week of official release, Coming Of Age raked in more than 117,500 copies, according to SoundScan, and bowed at No. 7.

The album's first single, "Memphis Bleek Is...," has paved the way for the album. The 20-year-old rapper told LAUNCH about the song. "'Memph Bleek Is...' stands for me," he said. "You know what I mean. It's all about me, like if a person don't know me, or heard about me and never seen me, or seen me and never heard about me, right there it'll let him know all about me, from 'Memph Bleek Is...' I am the whole record. Everything I talk about is real, it's me all the way."

Coming Of Age contains tracks produced by Irv Gotti and Swizz Beats, and cameos by Jay-Z and fellow young rapper Ja Rule.

To read a Jay-Z feature, click here.

-- Karu Daniels, New York

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