Rapper Lil' Cease was born and raised in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant area, at age 15 becoming a protégé of the Notorious B.I.G. With his distinctive lisping style, he made his recorded debut in 1994 as a member of the Junior M.A.F.I.A., issuing the single "Players Anthem"; the full-length Conspiracy followed in 1995, and that same year Lil' Cease scored a hit with the Lil' Kim duet "Crush on You." On March 9, 1997, he and the Notorious B.I.G.