Memphis Bleek and Just Blaze are joining forces once again for their first collaboration in nearly 20 years.
The Brooklyn rapper took to Instagram on Monday (June 10) to announce that his new single “Durag Bleek” will be released on Friday (June 14).
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In the caption, Bleek revealed that the song is produced by longtime collaborator Just Blaze. He also nodded to their Roc-A-Fella roots by using the hashtags “#RocSolid” and “Roc4Life.”
“Durag Bleek” will serve as the pair’s first musical effort since Bleek’s 2005 album 534, which found Blaze producing several tracks including the JAY-Z-helmed “Dear Summer.”
Just Blaze has been a pivotal part of Memphis Bleek’s career having also produced songs on his previous albums, 2000’s The Understanding and 2003’s M.A.D.E.
However, Bleek has also let a few classic JB beats slip through his fingers over the years.
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During his interview on Drink Champs last year, the Marcy Projects native opened up about wanting to rap on some of the producer’s instrumentals before they went to the likes of Cam’ron, Joe Budden and Fabolous.
Referencing Cam’s “Oh Boy,” Bleek said: “I always want to fuck him up for that [laughs]. But I can’t, that’s my brother. I love him. N-ggas trying to say I passed up on ‘Oh Boy.’ You out your ‘Oh Boy’ fucking mind. Fuck outta here. I would have hit you in the head with an ‘Oh Boy.’
“I had it first when Cam’ron first rapped on it. Just like I ain’t never like the fact he gave Budden’s ‘Pump It Up’ too. Fuck outta here. Yo, n-gga, you don’t give shit like that away. And I never liked the fact he gave Fab, that other shit… ‘Breathe.’ I was sick on that too.”
Just Blaze, meanwhile, appeared on People’s Party with Talib Kweli in 2022 and revealed that Memphis Bleek almost made a joint album with fellow Roc-A-Fella rapper Beanie Sigel.
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“We went down to Miami to do the album, his brother ended up having a near fatal motorcycle crash,” Blaze recalled. “Serious head trauma, he had to go to therapy for a long time and almost didn’t make it so I feel like that kind of derailed the momentum of that.”
He continued: “Can you imagine in 2002 what a Bleek and Beans joint album would have done? Once that accident happened, we tried to still push through the album but I could just tell mentally his brother is in a bad place. So he had to handle that but he always persevered and pushed through.”
