Memphis Bleek: Coming Of Age

Being closely associated with a big star can be both a blessing and a curse. Obviously, Memphis Bleek should be grateful for the attention he's received as Jay-Z's protege and would-be successor, but his association is also likely to bring about a whole lot of unfavorable comparisons to his multiplatinum mentor. The Memphis Bleek/Jay-Z connection has been in place since the beginning of Z's career, with plenty of space on each of the latter's records devoted to trumpeting Bleek as his heir apparent and boasting of a potential Z/Bleek Reich lasting thousands of years. Sadly, though, Bleek's debut album Coming Of Age plays like the sort of album Jay-Z would have made if he weren't a particularly good rapper. Shamelessly reveling in the gangsta-rap cliches Jay-Z has thankfully managed for the most part to transcend, Coming Of Age sounds like the work of an artist who's terrified to address any subject matter that doesn't involve selling drugs, killing enemies, fucking groupies, or waving gigantic piles of money in the faces of his foes. Bleek's flow is confident and appropriately forceful, and the production is about as state-of-the-art as that of Jay-Z's Hard Knock Life, but none of that can cover up the fact that Bleek has nothing to say, no matter how urgently he says it or how polished it sounds.