Happy Birthday, Lil’ Cease!

Bad Boy Records is a storied record label that unfortunately has had many casualties. Shyne served time in prison and came out Jewish. G. Dep is serving 15 to life for murder. However, Lil' Cease turned out all right considering he was near the center of the deadly East Coast vs. West Coast beef. Notorious B.I.G.'s partner-in-crime turns 38 years old today (Aug. 20).

Although Lil' Cease is the butt of one of Biggie's more famous lines ("I make yo' mouthpiece obese like Della Reese / When I release, you lose teeth like Lil' Cease"), he does get props for being a member of the short-lived Junior M.A.F.I.A. collective.

Lil' Cease, born James Lloyd, was far from being an extra. His verse on "Player's Anthem" was one of the collective's most memorable. Junior M.A.F.I.A. dropped three albums, but only Conspiracy -- the clique's first and its only Biggie-assisted project -- went gold.

The rapper gave going solo stardom a shot, too. He dropped his only solo album, The Wonderful World of Cease A Leo, in 1999. It was a dub along with Ma$e's weakly received Double Up and P. Diddy's lackluster Forever. Bad Boy hit a rough patch in 1999, and Lil' Cease wasn't the one to rescue them. When the label got the ball rolling again, Lil' Cease stepped out of the spotlight -- at least when it came to the music industry.

Following the mayhem of the transformative hip-hop years of the late '90s, Lil' Cease lives a pretty normal life. He reportedly spent time as a car salesman and was a consultant for the 2009 biopic Notorious. Fitness was also his focus for a time when he released the Lil Cease Presents... HardBody Fitness DVD in 2009.

Watch Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s "Get Money" Video

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