534 debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 60,000 copies in the first week. The album received mixed reviews from music critics, with most of them praising the production on the album, while criticizing Memphis Bleek's lyrics and performance.
Recording
534 was recorded in a "relatively stripped down studio setting", with help from Young Guru. In an interview with Billboard magazine Memphis Bleek said this setup was reminiscent of the times when he just started rapping.[1] The album was executive produced by Bleek's childhood friend Jay-Z, under the name "The Carter Administration".[2] Jay-Z, who previously announced his retirement, also recorded a song for the album, "Dear Summer", which was supposed to be his final song.[3] Unlike other songs on the album, "Dear Summer" doesn't feature Memphis Bleek's vocals.[4]
According to Memphis Bleek, 534 was a "people's album", as he was trying to appeal to the tastes of various people around him. "I let a good opportunity slip by", said Bleek in an interview to HipHopDX.[5]
534 included the first major-label recording from Rihanna, "The One", which preceded her debut single "Pon de Replay" by a few weeks.[6]
The album's title is a reference to the address of Marcy Houses, 534 Flushing Ave., where Bleek and Jay-Z grew up.[1]
534 received mixed reviews from music critics. In his review for AllMusic, Andy Kellman said that "[e]ven in its best moments [...] it's usually the production work [...] that attracts the attention, not Bleek".[7] Margeaux Watson of Entertainment Weekly praised Jay-Z's performance on the track "Dear Summer", while simultaneously criticized Memphis Bleek as his "unimaginative apprentice", who's left with the rest of the album, which she called an "uneven mix of contrived party songs and well-produced yet lyrically insipid street tales".[15] Anthony Springer from HipHopDX wrote of the album: "While 534 is a step up for Bleek, several missteps keep this album from reaching its full potential". Despite that, he considered 534 to be one of the best Bleek's albums.[16]Soren Baker of Los Angeles Times thought 534 was an "uneven [collection] of rap cliches and music production styles that have been pioneered by other artists", similar to Bleek's previous albums.[17]Pitchfork's Tom Breihan criticized the album, calling Bleek's lyrics "staggeringly lame" and "bizarrely terrible", but praised the production and Jay-Z's performance on "Dear Summer".[18] Justin Cober-Lake of PopMatters described Memphis Bleek's performance on the album as "a steady if uninventive flow and straightforward lyrics".[19] James Corne from RapReviews assessed the album as above average, claiming that it's a "good listen, but [Bleek is] just not a top rank contender" and that 534 is "still too generic to stand out". He ended his review stating: "Each song aims at hitting a different listener instead of using the universal appeal of emotion and empathy to sell us all".[20]Rolling Stone magazine published a positive review for the album, saying that Memphis Bleek "matches the sleek intensity of Just Blaze's beats, providing smart and brassy [...] rhymes".[21]The Washington Post's Joe Warminsky characterized Bleek's performance as "monosyllabic, slang-heavy lyrics [that] rarely offer more than one-dimensional descriptions of life", while commending the album's producers.[23]
"First, Last and Only" contains a sample of "Never Know What You Can Do (Give It a Try)", written by Leroy Hutson and Michael Hawkins, and performed by Lee Hutson.
