James Lloyd, better known by his stage name Lil' Cease, (; born August 20, 1977) 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

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, a borough of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Career

As part of Junior M.A.F.I.A., Cease's first album ''

Conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

'' was released in 1995. He gained mainstream attention with a memorable verse on " Player's Anthem", the album's highest charting single. Frequent name dropping from mentor The Notorious B.I.G. throughout Cease's career helped keep the young rapper in the spotlight. Cease featured on

Def Jam Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

's soundtrack for the 1997 comedy film '' How to Be a Player'' alongside LeVert,

Cam'ron Cameron Ezike Giles (born February 4, 1976), known Mononym, mononymously as Cam'ron, is an American rapper. Beginning his career in the early 1990s as Killa Cam, Giles signed with Lance Rivera, Lance "Un" Rivera's Lance Rivera, Untertainment, a ...

and

Mase Mason Durell Betha (born August 27, 1975), better known by his stage name Mase (often stylized as Ma$e), is an American rapper. Best known for his work with Sean Combs, Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs' Bad Boy Records, he signed with the label in 1996 ...

. He is also known for being a featured artist on Lil' Kim'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'' 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 Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

, 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''. In January 2009, Lil' Cease released "Letter to B.I.G.", which sampled "Letter to B.I.G." by Jadakiss from the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

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.

Discography

Studio albums

* '' The Wonderful World of Cease A Leo'' (1999)

Collaboration albums

* ''

'' with Junior M.A.F.I.A. (1995) * '' Riot Musik'' 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'' (2002) * ''Chronicles of Junior M.A.F.I.A.'' (2004) * ''Reality Check: Junior Mafia vs Lil Kim'' (2006) * '' Dave Chappelle's Block Party'' (2006) * ''Life After Death: The Movie'' (2007)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cease, Lil 1977 births Living people African-American male rappers 20th-century American male rappers 21st-century American male rappers Atlantic Records artists Bad Boy Records artists Rappers from Brooklyn East Coast hip-hop musicians The Notorious B.I.G. 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American musicians