Memphis Bleek is putting the pressure on his longtime friend and collaborator JAY-Z to drop a verse on his new single.
Bleek dropped his new single “Bands Up” on Friday (July 12), and it’s resonating with fans.
AD LOADING...
“@memphisbleek might be the one to bring Hov outside for A verse. I know he heard that second half of bands up [fire emoji],” a supporter wrote on X on Monday (July 15).
Catching wind of the post, Bleek shared it and added, “I’m on his neck for one trust me.”
I’m on his neck for one trust me 🙌🏾 https://t.co/h0RaBN5i0X
— MemphisBleek (@memphisbleek) July 16, 2024
Childhood acquaintances who both grew up in Brooklyn’s Marcy Projects, JAY-Z and Memphis Bleek first connected on “Coming of Age” from Hov’s 1996 debut album Reasonable Doubt.
The Clark Kent-produced song established their relationship as master and apprentice, with Jigga lyrically schooling Bleek about how to hustle while trading rhymes with his teenage understudy.
“I collared him and said, ‘Look, I’m making an album and you can be on it, but you have to learn this song in 24 hours. You don’t learn it, then you’re not on it,’” Jay recalled in his 2010 book Decoded.
“He took the paper I handed him and looked it over. I’d written the verse down for him in some chicken scratch… He came to my apartment the next day and spit the whole thing like he’d been doing it his whole life.”
AD LOADING...
The pair delivered a sequel to the street tale with “Coming of Age (Da Sequel)” from 1998’s Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life. And while Bleek would remain a mainstay on follow-up albums like Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter, Roc La Familia: The Dynasty and The Blueprint 2, a third installment in the trilogy never materialized.
It’s been seven years since the 53-year-old’s last solo release, 2017’s 4:44, which marks the longest drought in his career thus far, so it’s safe to assume that quality over quantity is Jigga’s musical mantra at this stage of his life – but perhaps there’s hope that Bleek can at least get him outside for a verse!
