Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel: Memphis Bleek (rap vocals); Denim, Jay-Z, Livin' Proof, M.O.P., Young Gunz (rap vocals); Boxie (background vocals); Rihanna (vocals). | | Audio Mixers: Doug Wilson; Milwaukee "Protools King" Buck; Gimel Keaton. | | Recording information: Baseline Studios II, New York, NY; C.H. Studios, New York, NY; Guru Crates Studios, New York, NY; Monza Studios, New York, NY; The Loft, Bronxville, NY. | | Photographer: Jonathan Mannion. | | For all its action-packed Frank Stallone bombast, the opening track of Memphis Bleek's fourth album, 534, opens the door with a key instead of a battering ram. Things then get flat-out bizarre: a brief interlude lifted from an obscure folk artist (Lisa Koch, known for a song titled "Beaver Cleaver Fever") sets up "Dear Summer" -- a (decent) Jay-Z feature with no other MCs present. The Swizz Beatz-produced "Like That" is T.I.'s rallying "Bring 'Em Out" at half power; "Infatuated" is the obligatory track for the ladies, containing the phrase "You complete me" in the hook. The album improves in its latter half, although it's usually the production work -- from the likes of 9th Wonder, Just Blaze, and Bink -- that attracts the attention. ~ Andy Kellman | | Nobody expects Memphis Bleek to uncork a masterpiece. 534, his fourth album, is true to form, starting off like one of the shakiest Roc-a-Fella releases. In fact, the low expectations are nearly dashed within ten minutes. The opening track, for all its action-packed Frank Stallone bombast, opens the door with a key instead of a battering ram. Things then get flat-out bizarre: a brief interlude, lifted from an obscure folk artist (Lisa Koch, known for a song titled "Beaver Cleaver Fever"), sets up "Dear Summer" -- a (decent) Jay-Z feature with no other MCs present. And then the album shifts from odd to merely mediocre: the Swizz Beatz-produced "Like That" is T.I.'s rallying "Bring 'Em Out" at half power; "Infatuated" is the obligatory track for the ladies, containing the phrase "You complete me" in the hook; "The One" is even flimsier. Somewhere around the latter half of the album, Bleek manages to get back on track, and it winds up just a little beneath his three previous full-lengths. Even in its best moments, however, it's usually the production work -- from the likes of 9th Wonder, Just Blaze, and Bink -- that attracts the attention, not Bleek. Now four albums into a career that hasn't shown a great amount of progress, it seems that the MC will never escape the shadows of Jay-Z and some of his labelmates. ~ Andy Kellman | | Memphis Bleek's fourth record, 534, released in the spring of 2005, opens with an appropriate spirit of excitement and endless possibility. Like his mentor Jay-Z, Memphis Bleek balances a strong persona with an easygoing, fun-loving vitality, and 534 starts off with a breezy-yet-direct feel, keeping an even flow throughout. | | The production lends an inspirational note to 534, throwing in everything from bombastic sports themes to neo-folk to the Dixie Hummingbirds into the mix. Bleek, of course, is no slouch with the mic, as the clever title track, which extols the glory of the mixtape underground, reveals. A lively R&B appeal abounds on 534, from the relationship-gone-astray 1970s soul vibe on "Dear Summer" (featuring Jay-Z) to the mid-tempo bounce of "Like That." Bleek closes 534 by philosophizing Nas-style on the smooth ballad "Straight Path," a fittingly reflective ending to a well-executed album. |
Producer: Just Blaze; Swizz Beatz; Demi-Doc; Irv Gotti; Bink!; Ryan Press; LeQwan Bell; Coptic; Chad Wes Hamilton; 9th Wonder; Soul G; Just Blaze; Swizz Beatz; Demi-Doc; Irv Gotti; Bink! |
Engineer: David Brown; Milwaukee "Protools King" Buck; Gimel Keaton; Al Hemberger |
Musical Guests | | Jay-Z | | M.O.P. | | Young Gunz |
|
CD
