Coming of Age is the debut studio album by American rapper Memphis Bleek. It was released via The Island Def Jam Music Group, Def Jam Recordings and Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records on August 3, 1999. The album spawned the hit single "Memphis Bleek Is...".
Commercial performance The album debuted and peaked at number 7 on the Billboard 200, with 118,000 units sold in its first week.Memphis Bleek Is "Coming Of Age" With Top Ten Debut. Mtv.com. Retrieved on January 26, 2013. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on September 14, 1999, for shipments and sales of over 500,000 units in America.
Critical reception
Matt Diehl of Entertainment Weekly praised Bleek for holding his own lyrically alongside guest artists Ja Rule and N.O.R.E., and displaying striking sensitivity on "Regular Cat". He also noted how the album's production of "ominous inner-city symphonies and raw street beats" was ageless. Keith Farley from AllMusic noted how Bleek's vocal delivery was more "street-level" than Jay-Z's, along with the album containing an "urban funk" style like most of his material, concluding that "Still, Coming of Age is a fine debut that shows Memphis Bleek already leaps and bounds ahead of most rappers." In a dual review with Ja's Venni Vetti Vecci, Rolling Stones Rob Sheffield felt that Bleek came across as a cliché-filled rapper that lacked witticism in his lyrics and wasted the beats given to him by his producers.
Track listing
Sample credits "Who's Sleeping" contains a sample from "If This World Were Mine", written by Marvin Gaye, and performed by Zulema. "What You Think of That" contains a sample of "High Velocity", written and performed by Keith Mansfield. "Stay Alive in NYC" contains an interpolation of "Summer is the Coldest Time of Year", written by Patti Austin, James Harris, and Terry Lewis. "Regular Cat" contains a sample of "Love and Let Love", written by Ralph MacDonald, William Eaton, and William Salter; and performed by Roberta Flack.
Personnel Juan Allen – engineer (12) B-High – co-executive producer Big Jaz – co-executive producer Kareem "Biggs" Burke – executive producer Eric "EBO" Butler – mixing (7, 14) Shawn Carter – executive producer Tom Coyne – mastering Damon Dash – executive producer The Drawing Board – art direction, design Irv Gotti – mixing (5) Ken Duro Ifill – mixing (4, 8, 11) Jonathan Mannion – photography Monica Morrow – stylist Joe Quinde – engineer (3), mixing (3, 13) Chico Spades – engineer (4, 13) Brian Stanley – engineer (10) Tai – instrumentation (5) Pat Viala – engineer (2, 5, 7–12, 14), mixing (2, 5, 9, 10, 12)
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (1999) Peakposition
Year-end charts Chart (1999) Position US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard) 72
Certifications
See also List of number-one R&B albums of 1999 (U.S.)
References