Christopher Bellard (born June 17, 1979), also known by his stage name Young Maylay, is an American rapper, record producer and actor based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. He is best known for his portrayal of Carl "CJ" Johnson, the main character and protagonist of the 2004 video game '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas''.

Early life

Christopher Bellard was born and raised in Los Angeles, California amid gang violence and the peak of gangsta rap in a crime-riddled area in poverty which inspired his rapping career. Bellard is the younger cousin of actor and rapper Shawn Fonteno, who played Franklin Clinton, one of the protagonists of '' Grand Theft Auto V''.

Music career

Early years: 2000–2005

His rapping career eventually took off in 2000, at the age of 21. With help from King T, Maylay made his first appearance in Killa Tay's Thug Thisle, with the song ''#1 Hottest Coast (Killa Cali)'' in 2000. Later he appeared in Rodney O & Joe Cooley's Summer Heat in 2002. Since then, he has been featured on many releases across the West Coast. Maylay wrote the majority of King T's album ''Ruthless Chronicles''. He founded his independent label in 2005 with the money from GTA San Andreas and released his debut mixtape in the same year.

Pre-Lench Mob: 2006–2008

In 2006, Maylay was featured in Deeyah's single " What Will It Be" with a music video. In the same year, he appeared in DJ Crazy Toones' CT Experience, it was the first collaboration of the trio ''DJ Crazy Toones, WC and Young Maylay''. In 2007 the trio began working in Maylay's album ''The Real Coast Guard''. The album was released in 2008 and later that year, WC signed Young Maylay to Bigg Swang/Lench Mob.

Lench Mob days: 2008–present

Lench Mob Records were set in 2006 to put out Ice Cube's and WC's records, but later other artists were signed, like Young Maylay, who is considered a veteran by Ice Cube. DJ Crazy Toones created two blogs for Maylay, the first is called ''Who's Young Maylay? Mix Blog'' and the second is called ''Young Maylay, WC & Bad Lucc Mix Blog''. Young Maylay is working on three albums, by himself, WC and Crazy Toones. Young Maylay is featured on two tracks by Ice Cube called "Y'all Know Who I Am" and "Too West Coast" on the album '' I Am the West''. In 2010 Young Maylay was featured on two tracks on the album ''DJ Premier Presents Year Round Records - Get Used To Us''. The track "Temptation" is a solo performance, while the track "Ain't Nuttin' Changed (remix)" is a collaborative effort with

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and

MC Eiht Aaron Tyler (born May 22, 1971), better known by his stage name MC Eiht (pronounced MC eight), is an American rapper and actor. Many of his songs are based on his life in Compton. His stage name was partly inspired by the numeral in KRS-One's nam ...

. In an interview, when asked about a new album, Maylay said:

OBG Rider Clicc

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and BG Knocc Out with the song ''Wes Indeed'' in the Cali Luv mixtape.

''Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas''

Maylay was working in New York when he received a phone call from

DJ Pooh A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

, who was in a meeting with staff from

Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...

. They started a regular conversation about music which, unknown to Maylay, occurred on speakerphone. Rockstar staff heard the conversation, and after the conversation between the two ended, they encouraged Pooh to bring Maylay in to audition. A few weeks after the audition, Rockstar reviewed the tapes and decided on Maylay for the role of the main character of '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', Carl "CJ" Johnson. In the game, Maylay starred alongside celebrities such as actors

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, Peter Fonda,

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, Big Boy,

David Cross David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series '' Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix si ...

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, Charlie Murphy and

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, rappers Ice-T,

, Chuck D, The Game,

Kid Frost Arturo Molina Jr. (born May 31, 1962), better known as Frost (originally Kid Frost), is an American rapper, songwriter and record producer from Los Angeles. He is the father of record producer Scoop DeVille. Early life Molina was born and ra ...

and

Yo-Yo A yo-yo (also spelled yoyo) is a toy consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a string looped around the axle, similar to a spool. It is an ancient toy with proof of existence since 500 BCE. The yo-yo was also called a bandalore in ...

and musicians George Clinton,

Axl Rose W. Axl Rose (born William Bruce Rose Jr.; born February 6, 1962) is an American musician. He is best known for being the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, and has been the band's sole constant member since its incep ...

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, and

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. When asked if he would consider reprising the role of CJ in any future ''

Grand Theft Auto ''Grand Theft Auto'' (''GTA'') is a series of action-adventure games created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily d ...

'' titles if given the opportunity, Maylay stated that he would never play the role of CJ again due to conflicts with

Maylaynium Muziq

Malaynium Muziq is Young Maylay's own independent record label based in

Studio City, California Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 192 ...

. His mixtapes were released on this label.

Discography

;Mixtapes * '' San Andreas: The Original Mixtape'' (2005) * ''The Real Coast Guard'' (2008)

Filmography

Film

Video games

Television

References

External links

*
Young Maylay online

Young Maylay official Twitter

Discography at Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maylay, Young 1979 births African-American male rappers African-American male actors American male video game actors Record producers from California Living people Male actors from California Male actors from Los Angeles Rappers from Los Angeles Gangsta rappers West Coast hip hop musicians 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American people