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MJG, half of the pioneering Southern rap duo
8Ball & MJG, rarely branched out for solo albums (e.g.,
No More Glory, 1997), yet his work with
8Ball proved influential, earning him a reputation as a living legend. Born
Marlon Jermaine Goodwin,
MJG grew up in the Orange Mound area of Memphis, TN, where he met
8Ball at Ridgeway Junior High School in 1984. The two shared a passion for hip-hop, which hadn't yet made a strong impact in the South, and formed their own rap duo,
8Ball & MJG. They made their recording debut in 1991 with a three-track single, Listen to the Lyrics, released on cassette and 12" vinyl by On the Strength Records, an independent label. (These early recordings for On the Strength would later be reissued in 1997 as Lyrics of a Pimp and also in 2000 as
Memphis Under World.)
8Ball & MJG subsequently signed a deal with Suave Records (aka Suave House), a Houston, TX-based label run by
Tony Draper.
8Ball & MJG's debut full-length,
Comin' Out Hard (1993), produced partly by
MJG, was the inaugural release by Suave, which would grow to become one of the premier Southern rap labels of the decade. Now considered a milestone,
Comin' Out Hard was among the first Southern rap albums to get widespread recognition, opening the door for other pioneers such as
Three 6 Mafia,
Master P, and Cash Money Records.
8Ball & MJG recorded a few additional albums for
Tony Draper throughout the remainder of the decade --
On the Outside Looking In (1994), On Top of the World (1995), In Our Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1999) -- and did much to foster the growth of Suave, regularly being featured as guests on the label's other releases. Plus,
8Ball and
MJG each branched out for solo projects, Lost (1998) and
No More Glory (1997), respectively, both released by Suave. In 2000,
8Ball & MJG left Suave and switched to JCOR Entertainment, a short-lived rap label founded by
Jay Faires, for the release of
Space Age 4 Eva. The album, which notably featured production by
Swizz Beatz and
DJ Quik, was a departure for
8Ball & MJG, who heretofore had worked more or less exclusively with regional producers. The album spawned a pair of minor hits, "Pimp Hard" and "Buck Bounce," the duo's first to first to get national, opposed to regional, airplay. In 2001, JCOR released a pair of
8Ball albums --
The Slab, a various-artists compilation, and
Almost Famous, a proper solo album -- but the label then ran into trouble and went out of business, leaving
8Ball & MJG without a recording contract.
After a couple years in limbo, Bad Boy Records, helmed by
Diddy, picked up
8Ball & MJG and released
Living Legends (2004), the duo's most star-studded album to date. "You Don't Want Drama," the lead single, became
8Ball & MJG's biggest hit ever, reaching number 30 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart, while
Living Legends itself likewise became the duo's best-selling, debuting at number three on the Top 200 album chart and topping 500,000 in sales.
8Ball & MJG's second Bad Boy album,
Ridin High (2007), was less successful, though, despite debuting well at number eight and spawning a strong lead single, "Relax and Take Notes." ~ Jason Birchmeier