James Lloyd (born August 20, 1977), better known by his stage name Lil' Cease,
is an American rapper and former member of hip hop group
Junior M.A.F.I.A.
Early life, family and education
James Lloyd was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
Career
As part of Junior M.A.F.I.A., Cease's first album ''
Conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...
'' was released in 1995. He gained mainstream attention with a memorable verse on "
Player's Anthem
"Player's Anthem" is the first single released from the Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s debut album ''Conspiracy (Junior M.A.F.I.A. album), Conspiracy''. Produced by Clark Kent (producer), Clark Kent, the song contains a sample of New Birth (band), The New Bi ...
", the album's highest charting single. Frequent
name dropping from mentor
The Notorious B.I.G.
Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...
throughout Cease's career helped keep the young rapper in the spotlight.
Cease featured on
Def Jam's soundtrack for the 1997 comedy film ''
How to Be a Player
''Def Jam's How to Be a Player'' is a 1997 sex comedy film, starring Bill Bellamy, Natalie Desselle and Bernie Mac. The film was directed by Lionel C. Martin, and written by Mark Brown and Demetria Johnson.
The '' How to Be a Player Soundtrack'' ...
'' alongside
LeVert
LeVert was an American R&B vocal group from Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Formed in 1983, LeVert was composed of Sean and Gerald Levert (sons of Eddie Levert, founder and lead singer of R&B/Soul vocal group O'Jays) and Marc Gordon.Wells, ...
,
Cam'ron and
Mase
Mason Durell Betha (born August 27, 1975), better known by his mononym Mase (formerly Murda Mase and stylized as Ma$e), is an American rapper and minister. In the late 1990s, he recorded on the Bad Boy Records label alongside its founder Sean ...
. He is also known for being a featured artist on
Lil' Kim
Kimberly Denise Jones (born July 11, 1974), Those giving 1974 include:
*
*
*
*
* better known by her stage name Lil' Kim, is an American rapper and reality television personality. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, she lived much of he ...
's record
Crush on You from her debut album
Hard Core, which was a number 1 hit on the
Hot Rap Songs
Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by '' Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stat ...
chart. Rapper Cam'ron revealed that he wrote the original rendition of the song ''Crush on You''.
After making guest appearances on other artists' albums, Cease released his debut and only studio album ''
The Wonderful World of Cease A Leo
''The Wonderful World of Cease A Leo'' is the only solo album by rapper and Junior M.A.F.I.A. member Lil' Cease. It was released on July 13, 1999 through Atlantic Records and was mainly produced by members of The Hitmen. The album proved successf ...
'' in 1999. It peaked at #26 on the
''Billboard'' 200 and #3 on the
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...
, and features
Jay Z, Lil' Kim and Bristal. In 2005, Lil' Cease, Banger and MC Klepto reunited Junior M.A.F.I.A. and released the group's second album, ''
Riot Musik
''Riot Musik'' is the second and final album by Junior M.A.F.I.A. It was released on April 19, 2005, by Mege Media Records.
Production
Guests on the album include Jadakiss, Blake C (formerly known as Trife), Boss Money, Prodigy and Aja. The audi ...
''. In January 2009, Lil' Cease released "Letter to B.I.G.", which sampled "Letter to B.I.G." by
Jadakiss
Jason Terrance Phillips (born May 27, 1975), better known by his stage name Jadakiss, is an American rapper from Yonkers, New York. He began his career in the 1990s as a member of the rap trio The Lox, managed by Ruff Ryders and signed with B ...
from the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
to the feature film ''
Notorious''.
In other media
Lil' Cease is portrayed in the feature film ''
Notorious'', the
biopic of the Notorious B.I.G., by
Marc John Jefferies
Marc John Jefferies is an American actor known for his roles in ''Losing Isaiah'', ''Get Rich or Die Tryin, ''Power'', ''The Haunted Mansion'', ''Nerve'', ''Stuart Little 2'', ''Brown Sugar'' and '' Notorious''.
Career
Jefferies began his car ...
.
Discography
Studio albums
* ''
The Wonderful World of Cease A Leo
''The Wonderful World of Cease A Leo'' is the only solo album by rapper and Junior M.A.F.I.A. member Lil' Cease. It was released on July 13, 1999 through Atlantic Records and was mainly produced by members of The Hitmen. The album proved successf ...
'' (1999)
Collaboration albums
* ''
Conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...
''
with Junior M.A.F.I.A. (1995)
* ''
Riot Musik
''Riot Musik'' is the second and final album by Junior M.A.F.I.A. It was released on April 19, 2005, by Mege Media Records.
Production
Guests on the album include Jadakiss, Blake C (formerly known as Trife), Boss Money, Prodigy and Aja. The audi ...
''
with Junior M.A.F.I.A. (2005)
Mixtapes
* ''Junior M.A.F.I.A.: The Lost Files'' (2009)
* ''Everything Is Hard Body Vol. 1'' (2010)
* ''Lil Cease & the Mafia Dons: Riding for the King''
with Mafia Dons (2014)
Guest appearances
Filmography
* ''
Paper Soldiers
''Paper Soldiers'' is a 2002 American urban crime comedy film. This hip-hop comedy from Roc-A-Fella's film division stars Kevin Hart (in his film debut), Beanie Sigel, and Stacey Dash. Rapper Jay-Z appears in a cameo role. Hart plays the charact ...
'' (2002)
* ''Chronicles of Junior M.A.F.I.A.'' (2004)
* ''Reality Check: Junior Mafia vs Lil Kim'' (2006)
* ''
Dave Chappelle's Block Party
''Dave Chappelle's Block Party'', also known as ''Block Party'', is a 2005 American documentary film hosted and written by comedian Dave Chappelle, and directed by Michel Gondry.
The film and its soundtrack are dedicated to the memory of music pr ...
'' (2006)
* ''Life After Death: The Movie'' (2007)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cease, Lil
1977 births
Living people
African-American male rappers
Atlantic Records artists
Place of birth missing (living people)
Bad Boy Records artists
Rappers from Brooklyn
East Coast hip hop musicians
21st-century American rappers
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century African-American musicians
20th-century African-American people