Memphis Bleek has once again reflected on the collapse of Roc-A-Fella Records, this time recalling watching JAY-Z predict its abrupt ending.
In a brief snippet of his forthcoming interview with Drink Champs, the former Roc-A-Fella signee spoke about how Hov tried to warn those around him that the legendary label’s days were numbered, but his caution largely fell on deaf ears.
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“I told n-ggas, ‘Listen, y’all bugging! This shit ’bout to be over!” Bleek said. “Y’all wanna separate it? Okay! I’m tryna keep this shit together, baby! Like, the big homie over here telling me, ‘The scissors, they coming.’ It’s like, nobody wanted to listen.”
He added: “Now, it’s over and everybody listening — get the fuck outta here!”
In addition totaking a trip down memory lane, Memphis Bleek is still hoping to do a joint album with JAY-Z, despite his longtime friend and collaborator continually brushing him off.
During a brief interview with TMZ at LAX in August, the Brooklyn native revealed he’s still plugging away at trying to persuade Hov to record a project with him, even though it’s been years since they last released music together.
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“I’m on that boat too. I wish!” he said when asked about the prospect of a Memphis Bleek and JAY-Z project, which gained traction on social media earlier this year.
Memphis Bleek admitted that the chances of it actually happening are slim, saying: “I don’t think so. Hov too far gone, man! I was supposed to try this when he had $100 million, not a billion. When you got a billion, it’s hard to get you in the booth. Only his wife can do it.”
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However, he then quickly changed his tune by telling fans they should hold their breath as he believes his persistence will one day pay off — and when that day comes, listeners won’t be disappointed.
“Hold it ’cause I’m trying. I still send him joints, I get shot down like a clay pigeon,” he joked. “But something gon’ stick one day, ya know? But if we could drop an EP together, that would be — c’mon, that would close off the whole trilogy of the ‘Coming of Age’ story. [Fans] need something classic.”
Childhood acquaintances who both grew up in Brooklyn’s Marcy Projects, JAY-Z and Memphis Bleek first connected on “Coming of Age” from Hov’s 1996 debut album Reasonable Doubt.
The Clark Kent-produced song established their relationship as master and apprentice, with Jigga lyrically schooling Bleek about how to hustle while trading rhymes with his teenage understudy.
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“I collared him and said, ‘Look, I’m making an album and you can be on it, but you have to learn this song in 24 hours. You don’t learn it, then you’re not on it,’” Jay recalled in his 2010 book Decoded.
“He took the paper I handed him and looked it over. I’d written the verse down for him in some chicken scratch… He came to my apartment the next day and spit the whole thing like he’d been doing it his whole life.”
