8Ball

American rapper 8Ball -- half of the pioneering Southern hip-hop duo <a href="spotify:artist:7iUhmKPNkkPPS6FCQxqtNq">8Ball & MJG</a> -- branched out occasionally for solo albums, beginning with the double-disc Lost in 1998, and was an active collaborator, appearing as a featured guest on countless rap songs over the decades. Born Premro Smith, 8Ball grew up in the Orange Mound area of Memphis, Tennessee, where he met <a href="spotify:artist:6pDFdYZARPitpkfm44UsOQ">MJG</a> 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, <a href="spotify:artist:7iUhmKPNkkPPS6FCQxqtNq">8Ball & MJG</a>. They made their recording debut in 1991 with a three-track single, Listen to the Lyrics, released on cassette and 12" vinyl by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22On+the+Strength+Records%22">On the Strength Records</a>, an independent label. (These early recordings for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22On+the+Strength%22">On the Strength</a> would later be reissued in 1997 as Lyrics of a Pimp and also in 2000 as Memphis Under World.) <a href="spotify:artist:7iUhmKPNkkPPS6FCQxqtNq">8Ball & MJG</a> subsequently signed a deal with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Suave+Records%22">Suave Records</a> (aka Suave House), a Houston, Texas-based label run by Tony Draper. <a href="spotify:artist:7iUhmKPNkkPPS6FCQxqtNq">8Ball & MJG</a>'s debut full-length, Comin' Out Hard (1993), produced partly by <a href="spotify:artist:6pDFdYZARPitpkfm44UsOQ">MJG</a>, was the inaugural release by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Suave%22">Suave</a>, 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 <a href="spotify:artist:26s8LSolLfCIY88ysQbIuT">Three 6 Mafia</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7zICaxnDB9ZprDSiFpvbbW">Master P</a>, and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cash+Money+Records%22">Cash Money Records</a>.

<a href="spotify:artist:7iUhmKPNkkPPS6FCQxqtNq">8Ball & MJG</a> 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 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Suave%22">Suave</a>, regularly being featured as guests on the label's other releases. In addition, 8Ball and <a href="spotify:artist:6pDFdYZARPitpkfm44UsOQ">MJG</a> each branched out for solo projects -- Lost (1998) and No More Glory (1997), respectively -- both released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Suave%22">Suave</a>. In 2000, <a href="spotify:artist:7iUhmKPNkkPPS6FCQxqtNq">8Ball & MJG</a> left <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Suave%22">Suave</a> 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 <a href="spotify:artist:2cADQgiLMjNhbsfeN52Bf3">Swizz Beatz</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0b2XeWDPeBiLeskT6RFqMb">DJ Quik</a>, was a departure for <a href="spotify:artist:7iUhmKPNkkPPS6FCQxqtNq">8Ball & MJG</a>, 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 get national, opposed to just regional, airplay. In 2001, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22JCOR%22">JCOR</a> released a pair of 8Ball albums -- The Slab, a various-artists compilation, and Almost Famous, his second proper solo album -- but the label then ran into trouble and went out of business, leaving <a href="spotify:artist:7iUhmKPNkkPPS6FCQxqtNq">8Ball & MJG</a> without a recording contract. Meanwhile, Tony Draper released Lay It Down (2001), a compilation of <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Suave%22">Suave</a>-era leftovers featuring 8Ball.

After a couple years in limbo, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Bad+Boy+Records%22">Bad Boy Records</a>, helmed by <a href="spotify:artist:59wfkuBoNyhDMQGCljbUbA">Diddy</a>, picked up <a href="spotify:artist:7iUhmKPNkkPPS6FCQxqtNq">8Ball & MJG</a> and released Living Legends (2004), the duo's most star-studded album to date. "You Don't Want Drama," the lead single, became <a href="spotify:artist:7iUhmKPNkkPPS6FCQxqtNq">8Ball & MJG</a>'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. <a href="spotify:artist:7iUhmKPNkkPPS6FCQxqtNq">8Ball & MJG</a>'s second <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Bad+Boy%22">Bad Boy</a> album, Ridin High (2007), was less successful, though, despite debuting well at number eight and spawning a strong lead single, "Relax and Take Notes." In addition to these <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Bad+Boy%22">Bad Boy</a> albums, 8Ball revived <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%228+Ways+Entertainment%22">8 Ways Entertainment</a> -- a vanity label of his which had lain dormant since its 2001 debut on The Slab, the aforementioned various-artists compilation showcasing the talent assembled around the label -- and secured a distribution deal with Navarre. A series of 8Ball-associated releases resulted, beginning with a 2006 re-release of The Slab, and subsequently including Montana Trax: The Boy Somethin' Great (2006), Light Up the Bomb (2006), and the Devius collaboration The Vet & the Rookie (2007).

In 2008, 8Ball issued another collaborative effort, this time with <a href="spotify:artist:7EYYQxtg622QBLf8M5JniP">E.D.I.</a> on Doin' It Big. 8Ball & Memphis All-Stars: Cars, Clubs & Strip Clubs followed in 2009. After reuniting with <a href="spotify:artist:6pDFdYZARPitpkfm44UsOQ">MJG</a> for the duo's Ten Toes Down (released on <a href="spotify:artist:4OBJLual30L7gRl5UkeRcT">T.I.</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Grand+Hustle%22">Grand Hustle</a> label), 8Ball returned to his solo work. Life's Quest was the rapper's seventh set, arriving in 2012 on <a href="spotify:artist:5jgku0qqxANyqVgSJ1Lc01">E1</a>. The album broke into the Billboard 200, climbing into the top twenty of the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and featured appearances by <a href="spotify:artist:0CKa42Jqrc9fSFbDjePaXP">Big K.R.I.T.</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:17lzZA2AlOHwCwFALHttmp">2 Chainz</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2hWr3AjjKOCVmWcwvuT4uM">Angie Stone</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6pDFdYZARPitpkfm44UsOQ">MJG</a>. That same year, he released the mixtape Premro, which birthed a sequel in 2013 with Premro 2. After hopping onto tracks from <a href="spotify:artist:6pDFdYZARPitpkfm44UsOQ">MJG</a>'s Too Pimpin' mixtapes, 8Ball returned with singles "Look at Me" and "Room 306" in 2018. ~ Jason Birchmeier, Rovi