Made

Memphis Bleek | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 16, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Def Jam
• ASIN: B0000Z80DO
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #138,169 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

So how does Roc-A-Fella Records cope with Jay-Z's retirement? Well, some would argue that Hova's departure leaves the gate wide open for his in-house protégé Bleek to step up. Despite a three-year gap between releases--which seems like dog years in popular music--Bleek seamlessly jumps back into the fray by utilizing the widespread rap trends of the day. With its share of clichéd collaborations and pedestrian interpolations, his third full-length sure ain't no Black Album. That being said, Bleek's mature ruminations on near-death family experiences (brother) and childbirth issues on "Understand Me Still" hold your interest. And while neither Bleek's delivery nor his lyrics do much to distinguish him from your average Joe Emcee, production contributions from Just Blaze and Kanye West make this a highly listenable album. The numerous guest appearances by members of the Roc-A-Fella clique bump things up a few more notches as well. Everything from Freeway's vocal histrionics on "Just Blaze, Bleek & Free" to M.O.P.'s sheer intensity on "Hood Muzik" to the Jiggaman's sublime raps over the '70s-soul-infused "Hypnotic" help to make this Bleek's best album to date and a pleasant surprise overall. --Dalton Higgins

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars eyecalone of Playahata says...., January 4, 2004

By 

"eyecalone" (Brooknam, NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Made (Audio CD)

If I had to describe this album in one word, that one word would have to be, "uninspiring". After taking numerous walks through Memphis Bleek's 3rd LP, M.A.D.E., I finally figured out what was missing from Bleek as an artist. Putting aside the obvious content and perspective issues which I've come to expect, Bleek is just not a very interesting personality musically, and probably otherwise. Maybe it's the fact that he got into the rap game so early in life (allegedly at 15) that has stunted his growth and made him so short on personal experiences and growth, maybe not. Whatever the reason, despite a strong delivery and voice, Bleek's songs so often come off as dry, particularly when he attempts to rap over tracks of a slower tempo or 'smooth it out' like on "Hypnotic", "My Life", "Round Here", and "Need Me In Your Life". Bleek comes across best when both he and the track are full of energy, so he wins on cuts like "Everything's A Go" and "Murda Murda". But come to think about it, the last two aforementioned tracks both feature guest appearances by Jay-Z, and worse than that those are only half of Jay-Z's four guest appearances, and less than a third of the total guest appearances by other rappers. The choice of guest appearances is also somewhat interesting, because although publicly people associated with the label have gone out of there way to say that everything is fine and everyone gets along, I think I have an idea of who (Cam'ron, etc) Bleek is talking about when he says "it's many dudes on the team (Rocafella) that ain't family now, and ya'll see it". I would gladly return to the days of 10-12 song albums with limited, and often timely, guest appearances over today's era of 17-20 song albums riddled with guest appearances, bad skits, musical filler, and material that probably should have stayed on the cutting room floor. Another area where M.A.D.E. seems to run into trouble is it's selection of song hooks, which many times are porous if not brutal, i.e. the songs "War" and "Hell No". Overall though, M.A.D.E. isn't much different from any of Bleek's previous efforts so if you liked those then you may view this one as a small step up, if not sideways.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Memph's Bleek Future {2.5 Stars}, September 10, 2006

By 

Norfeest "Yes Yes Y'all" (Washington DC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Made (Audio CD)

Simply put, Memphis Bleek is the U God of his crew. You know, that guy that swears he's nice, keeps putting out albums, and all but one of them stink to high heaven. Bleek's only decent release was his most recent release (534). You may think I'm crazy and say to yourself "Coming Of Age is Bleek's best album", but I turned my nose up at it after he was introduced as "the new and improved Jay Z." And in a lot of ways, that claim has been a bit of a snake bite to his career because now he can't get anyone to listen to him. Anyway, back to this album. Lyrically, I've never expected much from Bleek because he's one of those guys that just hasn't shown anything that would make anyone anticipate his releases. Honestly, how many die hard Memphis Bleek fans do you know? Case closed. There are too many wack joints on the album for me to give it 3 stars. "Need Me In Your Life", "", suffer from bad production, "" and "War" suffer from wack lyrics, "We Ballin'" and "My Life" shouldn't be played while operating heavy machinery, "I Wanna Love You" is straight up wack, and all of those songs contain godawful hooks/choruses.

Despite all the bad track, there are some decent cuts on the album to be found. "Just Blaze, Bleek, & Free" is a dope cut. Not because of the lyrics, but because Just Blaze produces a nice track and slaughters the end of it with some serious cutting and scratchin'. The lead single "Round Here" is decent and features Trick Daddy outshining T.I. and Bleek (which speaks volumes to Bleek's flow or lack thereof). "Hypnotic" is a noteworthy track that features Jay Z and Beanie Sigel, but it can have a sleep inducing effect. The easy standout on the album is the bangin' "Murda Murda." Jay Z, again, out shines Bleek on his own album, Beans brings that SP grit that we all love from him, and the production from Scott Storch (the remix is even better though). The rest of the album is typical, run-of-the-mill pop rap.

There are worse albums out there and M.A.D.E. does have a few joints worth hearing, but the long and short of it is Bleek can't rhyme, the beats are generic, and the album is flooded with guest appearances that add absolutely nothing to the album. If Bleek is going to have anykind of impact, he'll need to step up his lyrical game and actually say something worth hearing. Otherwise, he'll forever be known as "that other guy." I recommend downloading the joints you want to hear and save your money for a good album.

Standout Tracks: Round Here feat. T.I. & Trick Daddy, Hypnotic feat. Jay Z & Beanie Sigel, Just Blaze Bleek & Free feat. Freeway, and Murda Murda feat. Jay Z & Beanie Sigel (My Favorite)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The R.O.C. Is back !!!!, January 9, 2004

By 

AngyLitha "Angie Litha" (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Made (Audio CD)

To Be Honestly Bleek Is One Of The Most Talented Rappers Of The R.O.C. But People Be Honestly Next To Jigga He is no Game... But this Album is A Good Production And Show Us That RoccaFella Is Alive....Still Alive in 2004...Holla