American hip hop duo from Memphis, Tennessee, consisting of rappers
8Ball and
MJG. The two rappers met at Ridgeway Middle School in 1984.
Making their debut on the rap scene in 1993, with the album
Comin' Out Hard. The album was successful commercially as well as critically and established the group as a prominent act in the then emerging Southern Rap scene. Their subsequent albums, 1994's "
On the Outside Looking In" and 1995's "
On Top of the World" cemented their status as some of the South's best rappers.
After those albums both 8Ball & MJG released solo albums, first MJG's "
No More Glory" in 1997 and then 8Ball's "
Lost" in 1998. They reunited in 1999 to release their fourth album as a group, titled "
In Our Lifetime, Vol. 1".
They signed with
Bad Boy Entertainment in 2004, releasing the first album for the newly established Bad Boy South division, "
Living Legends', which was certified Gold by the RIAA. Followed by the release of "
Ridin High" in March of 2007.
Commercially one of the high points of
8Ball &
MJG's career was their being featured on
Three 6 Mafia's hit song "Stay Fly" in 2005, which peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was a collaboration between two of the most successful rap groups from the state of Tennessee.
Today 8Ball and MJG also head their own record labels. 8Ball heads
8 Ways Entertainment (distributed by
KOCH Entertainment), while MJG heads MJG Muzik. On their label are the young, up and coming Memphis duo, Da Volunteers, who are widely known throughout the Southern United States for their 2006 single, "What's Yo Favorite Color?", which glorifies their neighborhood of Orange Mound.
In September 2007, 8Ball and MJG signed deals in Sacramento, CA with
Real Talk Ent. 8Ball released a group album with
E.D.I. of the
Outlawz entitled "
Doin' It Big" on April 1, 2008 and MJG released a solo album entitled "
Pimp Tight" on April 29, 2008.
In June 2008 the group announced that they have officially signed onto
T.I.'s record label
Grand Hustle.