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. Junior M.A.F.I.A. was an American hip hop group from Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York City. The backronym M.A.F.I.A. stands for Masters At Finding Intelligent Attitudes. They were formed and mentored by New York rapper The Notorious B.I. ...

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 agr ...

'' 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 Name-dropping (or name-checking or a shout-out) is the practice of naming or alluding to important people and institutions within a conversation,. story, song, online identity, or other communication. The term often connotes an attempt to impress ...

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 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 l ...

'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 Cameron Ezike Giles (born February 4, 1976), better known by his stage name Cam'ron, is an American rapper, record executive, and actor from Harlem, New York City. Beginning his career in the mid-1990s as Killa Cam, Giles signed to Lance "Un" ...

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 h ...

'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 stati ...

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 Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated ...

, and features

Jay Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one o ...

, 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 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 soundtrac ...

to the feature film '' Notorious''.

In other media

Lil' Cease is portrayed in the feature film '' Notorious'', the

biopic A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudr ...

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 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