Young Maylay

Christopher Bellard[1][2] (born June 17, 1979) also known by his stage name, Young Maylay, is an American rapper, record producer and actor from Los Angeles, California. He is best known for his portrayal of Carl "CJ" Johnson, the main character and protagonist of the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Young Maylay
Born
Christopher Bellard

(1979-06-17) June 17, 1979
Los Angeles, California, United States
Other namesYoung Maylay
Occupation
  • Rapper
  • record producer
  • actor
Years active2000–present
RelativesShawn Fonteno (cousin)
Musical career
Genres
InstrumentsVocals
Labels
Associated acts

Early life

Christopher Bellard was born and raised in Los Angeles amid the gang violence and the peak of gangsta rap in a crime riddled area in poverty which inspired his rapping career. Bellard is the cousin of actor/voice actor Shawn Fonteno, who played Franklin Clinton, one of the protagonists of Grand Theft Auto V.[3]

Music career

Early years: 2000–2005

His rapping career eventually took off in 2000. With help from King T, Maylay made his first appearance in Killa Tay's Thug Thisle, with the song #1 Hottest Coast (Killa Cali) in 2000. Later he appeared in Rodney O & Joe Cooley's Summer Heat in 2002. Since then, he has been featured on many releases across the West Coast. Maylay wrote the majority of King T's album Ruthless Chronicles.[4] He founded his independent label in 2005 with the money from GTA San Andreas and released his debut mixtape in the same year.

Pre-Lench Mob: 2006–08

In 2006, Maylay was featured in Deeyah's single "What Will It Be" with a music video. In the same year, he appeared in DJ Crazy Toones' CT Experience, it was the first collaboration of the trio DJ Crazy Toones, WC and Young Maylay. In 2007 the trio began working in Maylay's album The Real Coast Guard. The album was released in 2008 and later that year, WC signed Young Maylay to Bigg Swang/Lench Mob.

Lench Mob days: 2008–present

Lench Mob Records were set in 2006 to put out Ice Cube's and WC's records, but later other artists were signed, like Young Maylay, who is considered a veteran by Ice Cube.[5] DJ Crazy Toones created two blogs for Maylay, the first is called Who's Young Maylay? Mix Blog[6] and the second is called Young Maylay, WC & Bad Lucc Mix Blog.[7] Young Maylay is working on three albums, by himself, WC and Crazy Toones. Young Maylay is featured on two tracks by Ice Cube called Y'all Know Who I Am and Too West Coast on the album I Am the West. In 2010 Young Maylay was featured on two tracks on the album DJ Premier Presents Year Round Records - Get Used To Us. The track 'Temptation' is a solo performance while the track 'Ain't Nuttin' Changed (remix)' is a collaborative effort with Blaq Poet and MC Eiht.

In an interview, when asked about a new album, Maylay said:

Yeah, I'm working on an album. But I will not tell the title again! (laughs) And we gonna know when we're gonna drop it. But I got something that I wanna put out. I was gonna call it "Brushfires and Earthquakes", cause that's California all day. On the brushfire side I come with just straight heat spittin' . And then on the earthquake side I'm coming for that like to get out there in traffic and show you they got some sounds. But that's gonna be more or less like a mixtape. The album is in the works. I'm not trying to just take songs that I didn't use off my mixtape and put it on a CD and call it my album. I can't really put no timeline on it, we're working everyday. So it ain't the fact about getting songs done or nothing like that, timing is everything man.[8]

OBG Rider Clicc

OBG Rider Clicc is Young Maylay's rap trio (with Young Dre The Truth and Killa Polk) the group first appeared in Young Dre's album called Revolution In Progress The Movement with the single Let's Get The Game Bacc Right. and later appeared with Compton Cavie, Dresta and BG Knocc Out with the song Wes Indeed in the Cali Luv mixtape.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Maylay was working in New York when he received a phone call from DJ Pooh, who was in a meeting with staff from Rockstar Games. They started a regular conversation about music which, unknown to Maylay, occurred on speaker phone. Rockstar staff heard the conversation, and after conversation between the two ended, they encouraged Pooh to bring Maylay in to audition. A few weeks after the audition, Rockstar reviewed the tapes and decided on Maylay for the role of the main character of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Carl "CJ" Johnson.[9]

In the game, Maylay starred alongside celebrities such as actors Samuel L. Jackson, James Woods, Peter Fonda, Clifton Powell, Faizon Love, Big Boy, David Cross, Andy Dick, Chris Penn, Danny Dyer, Frank Vincent, Sara Tanaka, Charlie Murphy and William Fichtner, rappers Ice-T, MC Eiht, Chuck D, The Game, Kid Frost and Yo-Yo and musicians George Clinton, Axl Rose and Shaun Ryder.

Maylaynium Muziq

Malaynium Muziq is Young Maylay's own independent record label based in Studio City, California. His mixtapes were released on this label.

Discography
Main article: Young Maylay discography
Mixtapes

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2004 The Introduction Carl Johnson Short film made in the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas game engine, showcasing the events that occurred prior to the game itself.

Video games
Year Title Role Notes
2004 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Carl "CJ" Johnson

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2014 The Brodies Mario Unknown episodes/episode
2018 Dogstar: High School 2

References
  1. "Young Maylay". Discogs. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
  2. "Young Maylay". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-03-03.
  3. "IGN's GTA 5 Panel - NY Comic Con 2013". IGN. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  4. "King T Ruhtless Chronicles". Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  5. "Ice Cube Dubcnn interview". Retrieved 2008-10-10.
  6. "Who's Young Maylay? Mix Blog by DJ Crazy Toones". Dubcnn. Retrieved 2009-03-03.
  7. "Young Maylay, WC and Bad Lucc Mix Blog by DJ Crazy Toones". Dubcnn. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
  8. "Young Maylay Dubcnn interview". Retrieved 2009-05-05.
  9. "Young Maylay RiotSound interview". Archived from the original on 2008-09-17. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
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