8Ball & MJG

1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001...these are the years that 8 Ball and MJG have released albums. Pretty much consecutively. Undeniably consistently. Not many rappers can claim that they are about to release their 9th album in a decade, which makes 8 Ball and MJG's forthcoming album, Living Legends (Bad Boy Records), a rarity and the title all the more fitting.

8 Ball and MJG are rap giants and if the South were it's own country, they would be national treasures. For starters, they were the first rap act from Memphis to go platinum and one of the first in the region to attain nationwide success. In their hometown of Memphis, TN, they have successfully accelerated the pace at which rap fans breathe, injecting their faces and trademark style into the veins of America's heartland. The magnitude of their sound is so far reaching it has rocked the block in cities as far North as Brooklyn, NY and as far West as Compton, CA making artists like Mobb Deep and DJ Quick, Nelly and Ludacris fans for life. In fact, if you ask the average rapper or the average fan, most of them will tell you the same thing: The first Southern rap records that captivated them and changed their lives forever were 8 Ball and MJG. To put it blunt, 8 Ball and MJG are your favorite rap group's favorite rap group.

8 Ball puts it this way, "The difference between us and the other groups people would compare us with is that those groups grew up on us," After signing the legends, an Executive at Bad Boy explained, "8 Ball and MJG are to down South what Biggie was to New York and what Tupac was to the West Coast." Indeed, Living Legends marks the merging of two powerhouses in the industry: Bad Boy Records and 8 Ball and MJG. Both highly visible, both highly respected and both highly imitated in their parts of the world. Living Legends, is simply, a landmark album.

Listening to the album you'll quickly understand that there are Southern anthems and then there's an 8 Ball and MJG anthem. The first single, "You Don't Want Drama." Is one of them. It's a rambunctious, throw your hands up, party starter with a hook the country will have memorized come springtime. No matter what dance you do in your part of the country, you will want to do it with all your might when doing it to this track. As MJG put it, "It's a get crunk, get buck, elbows, shoulder to shoulder, crowding the dance floor, pushing song...even P. Diddy got rowdy on the record." 8 Ball laughs as he recalls the first time Diddy heard the beat. "He was dancing off some South s**t. It was a sight to see." Living Legends "space age 4 eva" digital flourish make the songs sound otherworldly, but still remains firmly planted in Southern soil thanks to premier producers like Lil' Jon, Jazze Pha, David Banner and Bad Boy beat-maker Stevie J., as well as guest rappers like Ludacris and UGK's Bun B.

Just as Memphis birthed the Blues, thanks to the foundation that 8 Ball and MJG laid, it is also the birthplace of much of Southern-style hip-hop as we know it today. It was 8 Ball and MJG who painted the blues on hip-hop, or hip-hop on the blues, and you can hear it in the moody tracks like "Memphis City Blues," 8 Ball's favorite song on this album. Struggle is the driving force in any ghetto in America, and even though their success has allowed them to transcend this to some degree, the aggression and the aggravation is still apparent in their unified voice. And, although the South is mostly known for its hospitality, "Don't Make" is nothing short of haunting, menacing even, but still enjoyable and excitable. It is a beast of a song with a monster track.

The mix of 8 Ball and MJG's individual voices has made their sound one of the most sought-after in hip-hop. They both approach rapping the same: they hear the music, inhabit the mood, and then construct their rhymes. MJG describes it mystically, "The lyrics are born from the music. We let the spirit motivate the pen." as evident in "Hold What You Got," where they wrote off the Baptist gospel soul sound and flipped into a song that MJG describes as "pimping goes to church."

On their previous solo endeavors 8 Ball and MJG made their individuality known. MJG revealed he was the more political member on his 1997 album No More Glory (the album cover featured a burning confederate flag). 8 Ball uncovered his preference for personal, confessional rhymes on his 2001 CD Almost Famous. Through these releases and a few label changes, their union remains unbroken hence the album title.

Together, 8 Ball and MJG are the necessary symmetry of two eyes, two arms--a unit born of the same hood. "We grew up in a few blocks from each other. That weighs more than anything that could come between us. The friendship will be first," 8 Ball explains. "At the end of the day if I ain't got nothing in the world but my underwear I know that's my friend...that's what keeps us together, where we come from."

One of the pioneers of Southern rap, 8Ball & MJG emerged from Memphis, TN, in the early '90s and, aligned with the Houston, TX-based independent label Suave Records, quickly garnered a tremendous regional following while proving highly influential to a generation of aspiring, independent-minded rap artists and entrepreneurs. The pioneering duo enjoyed increasing recognition as the years passed, releasing a couple albums, namely Comin' Out Hard (1994) and In Our Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1999), that would become Southern rap milestones, along with classic singles like "Space Age Pimpin'." 8Ball & MJG eventually left Suave for a major label, JCOR/Interscope, in 2000, and then were signed by Diddy to Bad Boy Records, resulting in their most commercially successful album to date, Living Legends (2004). In addition, 8Ball & MJG recorded individually, the former by far the more prolific of the two. Despite never crossing over into the mainstream -- none of their singles ever broke into the Billboard Hot 100, for example, not even once they signed to Bad Boy -- and despite occasionally infrequent output, 8Ball & MJG persevered over the decades. There were no acrimonious incidents, no run-ins with the law, no "retirements," no hangups whatsoever -- if anything, 8Ball & MJG were respectably reliable over the course of their career, always comin' out hard and always representing the South.

8Ball (born Premro Smith) and MJG (Marlon Jermaine Goodwin) grew up in the rough Orange Mound area of Memphis and met at Ridgeway Junior High in 1984. They shared a passion for hip-hop, which hadn't yet made a strong impact in the South, and formed their own rap duo, 8Ball & MJG. They made their recording debut in 1991 with a three-track single, Listen to the Lyrics, released on cassette and 12" vinyl by On the Strength Records, an independent label. (These early recordings for On the Strength would later be reissued in 1997 as Lyrics of a Pimp and also in 2000 as Memphis Under World.) 8Ball & MJG subsequently signed a deal with Suave Records (aka Suave House), a Houston, TX-based label run by Tony Draper. 8Ball & MJG's debut full-length, Comin' Out Hard (1993), produced partly by MJG, was the inaugural release by Suave, which would grow to become one of the premier Southern rap labels of the decade. Now considered a milestone, Comin' Out Hard was among the first Southern rap albums to get widespread recognition, opening the door for other pioneers such as Three 6 Mafia, Master P, and Cash Money Records.

8Ball & MJG recorded a few additional albums for Tony Draper throughout the remainder of the decade -- On the Outside Looking In (1994), On Top of the World (1995), In Our Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1999) -- and did much to foster the growth of Suave, regularly being featured as guests on the label's other releases. Plus, 8Ball and MJG each branched out for solo projects, Lost (1998) and No More Glory (1997), respectively, both released by Suave. In 2000, 8Ball & MJG left Suave and switched to JCOR Entertainment, a short-lived rap label founded by Jay Faires, for the release of Space Age 4 Eva. The album, which notably featured production by Swizz Beatz and DJ Quik, was a departure for 8Ball & MJG, who heretofore had worked more or less exclusively with regional producers. The album spawned a pair of minor hits, "Pimp Hard" and "Buck Bounce," the duo's first to first to get national, opposed to regional, airplay. In 2001, JCOR released a pair of 8Ball albums -- The Slab, a various-artists compilation, and Almost Famous, a proper solo album -- but the label then ran into trouble and went out of business, leaving 8Ball & MJG without a recording contract. Meanwhile, Tony Draper released Lay It Down (2001), a compilation of Suave-era leftovers featuring 8Ball.

After a couple years in limbo, Bad Boy Records, helmed by Diddy, picked up 8Ball & MJG and released Living Legends (2004), the duo's most star-studded album to date. "You Don't Want Drama," the lead single, became 8Ball & MJG's biggest hit ever, reaching number 30 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart, while Living Legends itself likewise became the duo's best-selling, debuting at number three on the Top 200 album chart and topping 500,000 in sales. 8Ball & MJG's second Bad Boy album, Ridin High (2007), was less successful, though, despite debuting well at number eight and spawning a strong lead single, "Relax and Take Notes." In addition to these Bad Boy albums, 8Ball revived 8 Ways Entertainment -- a vanity label of his which had lain dormant since its 2001 debut on The Slab, an aforementioned various-artists compilation showcasing the talent assembled around the label -- and secured a distribution deal with Navarre. A series of 8Ball-associated releases resulted, beginning with a 2006 re-release of The Slab, and subsequently including Montana Trax: The Boy Somethin' Great (2006), Light Up the Bomb (2006), and The Vet & the Rookie. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide