Malik Thuston Cox (born on June 23, 1978), better known by his rap persona of Memphis Bleek, is a New York rapper who regularly came in contact with rap legends such as The Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z. After his childhood, he has collaborated with artists such as Beanie Sigel, Ja Rule and Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, among others. "Memphis" is an acronym for either Making Easy Money Pimping Hoes Is Serious or Making Easy Money Pimping Hoes In Style."Bleek" comes from his younger sister mispronouncing his first name as a toddler.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in the Marcy Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Memphis Bleek's first mainstream rap vocals appeared on the Clark Kent produced song "Coming of Age", featured on Jay-Z's debut LP Reasonable Doubt. the first artist signed to Roc-A-Fella Records. He was also the second artist to release an album on that label.
The Coming of Age became the title of Memphis's debut album. The album peaked at #7 on The Billboard 200 and #1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Bleek's second album, The Understanding peaked at #16 on The Billboard 200 and #1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Memphis Bleek's third album M.A.D.E. again had a strong chart showing, peaking at #11 on The Billboard 200 and at #1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. This album became his third consecutive #1 album on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Although, none of his albums have sent his music into the world of overexposure, the latter spawned his largest amount of sales yet.
In the time between the releases of his second and third albums, Memphis Bleek started his own label, Get Low, which in turn led to the signing of former Junior MAFIA member Lil' Cease. The name of the label has sparked a hip-hop rivalry, or beef, between Memphis Bleek, JT tha Bigga Figga & The Game, the former of which built an independent record label with the same title.
Memphis Bleek was also caught in the middle of the epic Jay-Z and Nas battle, in which Bleek gained a few enemies, most notably Nas and Mobb Deep. Despite boosting Jay-Z and Nas's careers, the beef did little to help Bleek gain any more popularity than he had already attained. He also has beef with the Diplomats. J.R. Writer, a member of the Diplomats, dissed him several times on his mixtape Writer's Block Pt 3. He recently dissed Dipset on a track with Tru-Life (a Roc-La-Familia artist that has beef with the Diplomats).
Remaining one hit away, on May 17, 2005, Bleek released his fourth album titled 534 , in reference to the building he and mentor Jay-Z grew up in, located in the Marcy housing projects of Brooklyn. However, like many of Bleek's previous releases, the album suffered in sales despite decent exposure of the popular Swizz Beatz produced single "Like That". The album, 534 peaked at #11 on The Billboard 200 and at #3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
In fall 2005, Memphis Bleek told MTV.com that he was recording an album that should be released in early 2006 featuring such artists as upcoming R&B singer Coya. He is thinking of naming his next album 'The Inauguration', and this would effectively be a make or break album. In an interview for MTV he said: "I want to do an album that's through the roof," he said about his next project. "I want to do a classic album. I feel that if this album I'm not recording is a classic, I'm not even gonna put it out. I have to do it bigger than anybody has ever done it. I have to make a good record this time, not just talking-junk records. It has to be deep. I want people to pick my album up and learn something." The interview also said that Diddy and singer Gerald Levart both have hits for the rapper.
Memphis Bleek's upcoming album is titled The Big Apple which is expected to be released in the summer of 2007.
