8 Ball

8 Ball, half of the pioneering Southern rap duo 8 Ball & MJG, 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 years.

Born Premro Smith, 8 Ball grew up in the Orange Mound area of Memphis, TN where he met MJG at Ridgeway Junior High School. 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, 8 Ball & MJG. They made their recording debut in 1991 with a three-track single, "Listen to the Lyrics," released by On the Strength Records, an independent label. 8 Ball & MJG subsequently signed a deal with Suave Records (a.k.a. Suave House), a Houston, TX-based label run by Tony Draper. 8 Ball & 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.

8 Ball & 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, 8 Ball and MJG each branched out for solo projects, "Lost, " (1998) and "No More Glory" (1997), respectively, both released by Suave. In 2000, 8 Ball & 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 8 Ball & 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 get national airplay. In 2001, JCOR released a pair of 8 Ball 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 8 Ball & MJG without a recording contract. Meanwhile, Tony Draper released "Lay It Down," (2001), a compilation of Suave-era leftovers featuring 8 Ball.

After a couple years in limbo, Bad Boy Records, helmed by Diddy, picked up 8 Ball & 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.