Jeezy: still larger than life
Published Dec. 5, 2006
JORDAN SARGENT
Staff Writer
Young Jeezy's 2005 debut, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101, was a monstrous summer success both commercially and critically — the soundtrack to an afternoon spent playing in the water of a fire hydrant (Do people actually do that?) His singles were effervescent and effortless street anthems, the best of which — the Jay-Z assisted "Go Crazy" — sounded like Jeezy was going to stroll out of your speakers on a red carpet, parade in tow, tossing out bags of dope like confetti. And although he is actually rather short in stature, his regal, booming voice, combined with those ridiculously great Snowman shirts, pushed him into a sort of demigod status among new rap stars.
Jeezy is also the most personable of all the trap-hop personalities. His dope-dealing lore is by-the-book rap fare, but no one else in hip-hop comes off as, real. I don't actually know these types of people, but Jeezy seems like the everyday dope-dealer from Anyhood, USA, who just happened to hit it big in rap because he's awesome at yelling "Ay!" Jeezy knows this, too, and he plays the role perfectly.
Sonically, Thug Motivation 101 was as sweeping and intimidating as the man himself. His producers laced him with kingly horns and punishing organs and rumbling basslines that made him seem as large as the Michelin Man. His singles, except for "Soul Survivor," were all blasts of boisterous sunshine, but the album as a whole was much darker. Songs like "Get Ya Mind Right" and "Bang" were bare-bones drug and cops 'n' robbers tales, with Jeezy playing up his other job with a mix of scaringly straightforward intimidation ("Stomped a nigga's ass out until they turn the lights on") and smile-inducing similes ("Got a trunk full of bricks like a contractor").
The Inspiration: Thug Motivation 102 draws from that same darker palette with great success. Black organ and synth smears and gorilla-stomp bass drums again give Jeezy a larger-than-life feel. My headphones did these songs no justice; this is an album made to blast open trunks and crack concrete six-feet deep.
If the beats build on and improve from his debut, so do the hooks — crowned by the predictably transcendent R. Kelly sung "Go Getta." Reminiscent of the way Akon stole the show on "Soul Survivor," Kel sounds right at home — and magnificent — under these monstrous cymbals and gasping organs while Jeezy does the Jeezy-drug-and-car-show thing. It's funny that Jeezy is expendable on the best track of his own album — overshadowed by an impossibly perfect beat and hook — but to be honest, I haven't been this excited about a non-Lil' Wayne hip-hop track this year since T.I.'s "What You Know."
Speaking of "What You Know," one of the other great tracks (there are many) on The Inspiration, "I Luv It," is a near carbon copy of King's smash single. You might hear that he is ripping himself off on his second album, but don't believe it. He's just churning out another batch of stellar trap-hop as easily as he cooks coke.
The second half here gets a little too syrupy, but all told, Jeezy has done what the haters said he couldn't: equal his benchmark debut. Here's to hoping his next album is called Thug Motivation 103: I Can't Fucking Miss.