Orange Mound rapper and one half of 8Ball & MJG, the most commercially successful act to emerge from the Memphis scene. He met his longtime partner MJG at Ridgeway Middle School. Their 1993 debut "Comin' Out Hard" on Suave House Records is a foundational Memphis rap album, setting the template for Southern street rap before the term existed. 8Ball supplied much of the duo's bass-heavy, Southern Gothic atmosphere with his deep-voiced delivery and vivid neighborhood narratives.