Jeezy, a pioneer of trap music known for his acerbic and exuberant rhymes with a distinct streetwise viewpoint, came out of the Atlanta underground as a member of Boyz N da Hood. Just one month after the group’s self-titled album for Bad Boy demolished the Top Ten of the Billboard 200, the rapper almost reached the top of the chart with his solo Def Jam debut, Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101 (2005).
Jeezy, a pioneer of trap music known for his acerbic and exuberant rhymes with a distinct streetwise viewpoint, came out of the Atlanta underground as a member of Boyz N da Hood. Just one month after the group’s self-titled album for Bad Boy demolished the Top Ten of the Billboard 200, the rapper almost reached the top of the chart with his solo Def Jam debut, Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101 (2005). Jeezy made the Top Ten with all eight of his following big-label albums, including the number one entries The Inspiration (2006), The Recession (2008), and Trap or Die 3 (2016). He was also a huge contributor to both Atlanta’s commercial domination and Def Jam’s ongoing prominence. He earned well over a dozen gold and platinum songs as the lead or featured artist during this time. Four tracks—”Put On” and “Amazing” (both Kanye West collaborations), “Lose My Mind” (with assistance from Plies), and “I Do” (a summit including Jay-Z and André 3000)—were nominated for Grammy Awards in the Best Rap Performance category. After TM104: The Legend of the Snowman (2019), Jeezy had planned to take a retirement, but he came back the following year with a number of EPs and a full-length album called The Recession 2. 2022 saw the release of Snofall with DJ Drama, while 2023 saw the release of the double album I Might Forgive… But I Don’t Forget.
Thuggin While Under the Effect
Jay Wayne Jenkins was reared in Georgia, first in Atlanta, then in Hawkinsville and Macon. He was born in Columbia, South Carolina, and his upbringing was hampered by his involvement in gangs and his street hustling. After returning to Atlanta, he entered the music business in his early twenties with the intention of staying in the background. He made his debut in 2001 under the name Lil’ J with Thuggin’ Under the Influence, with contributions from early supporters Kinky B, Shawty Redd, and Lil’ Jon. Prior to this, he had founded Corporate Thugz Entertainment (aka CTE) and promoted Cash Money albums. Two years later, Come Shop wit’ Me, a two-disc compilation credited to Jenkins’s new persona as Young Jeezy, was released, expanding the album. Jeezy joined Boyz N da Hood, a signee of Bad Boy Entertainment, at the same time and contributed creatively to the group’s self-titled album, which debuted in June 2005 at number ten on the Billboard 200. Jeezy’s Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101, which he also signed to Def Jam as a solo artist, debuted the next month at number two on the Billboard 200. The album established Jeezy as one of the most well-known performers in his genre. It became a platinum record thanks to the promotion of the gold-certified “And Then What” (with Mannie Fresh), the multi-platinum number four pop hit “Soul Survivor” (with Akon), “Go Crazy” (starring Jay-Z), and “My Hood.”
chilly summer
Jeezy’s following two solo albums peaked at number one on the Billboard 200. The Inspiration, a platinum-selling album, debuted towards the close of 2006 and had two Top 20 pop hits, “I Luv It” and “Go Getta.” 2008 saw Jeezy return to the top with The Recession, following his success as one-third of U.S.D.A., whose Top Five Def Jam single Cold Summer hit in 2007. Another Top 20 pop smash, “Put On,” a collaboration with Kanye West, was one of its five charting tracks. It went multi-platinum and was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group category. Jeezy was also a featured artist on many singles by the end of the decade. These included Drake’s “I’m Goin’ In,” Akon’s “I’m So Paid,” West’s Grammy-nominated “Amazing,” Usher’s chart-topping “Love in This Club,” Drake’s “I’m Goin’ In,” and Rihanna’s number-eight smash “Hard.”
TM:103 Ambition of Hustlers
“Lose My Mind” was released in 2010 as a lead-up to TM:103 Hustlerz Ambition. The song became Jeezy’s sixth Top 40 hit as the lead artist, and it was his third Grammy-nominated recording. However, Bell’s palsy diagnosis caused the parent album’s release to be postponed until late 2011. TM:103, which was still much awaited, reached the Top Ten and included a couple more hit singles, “I Do” and “Leave You Alone.” With the former, which included André 3000 and Jay-Z, Jeezy was nominated for four Grammy Awards. He didn’t put out another studio album for three years, but in that time, he unveiled multiple mixtapes and appeared on singles by YG (“My N*gga”) and Yo Gotti (“Act Right”). Every year between 2014 and 2017, he put out a new studio album. For the first album in this series, Seen It All: The Autobiography, he dropped the adjective associated with his performing name. He then proceeded to impart knowledge and a hint of spirituality on the loosely conceptual Church in These Streets, Trap or Die 3 (his third number one album), and Pressure. The most popular song off these LPs was “Seen It All,” a gold-certified Jay-Z collaboration. 2019 saw the release of TM104: The Legend of the Snowman, which was marketed as his last course and continued his run of Top Ten albums. It turned out that the rapper’s partnership with Def Jam had just come to an end with TM104. Jeezy returned in 2020 with two EPs, Trap or Treat and Twenty/20 Pyrex Vision, as he prepared for his next album, The Recession 2. The Yo Gotti-assisted song “Back” heralded the release of the follow-up to his 2008 album The Recession, which came out in late November 2020. Jeezy and mixtape king DJ Drama collaborated on a song called Snofall in 2022, which peaked at number nine on the Billboard 200. November 2023 saw the release of “No Complaining,” a single, as one of the first tracks from his eleventh album, the double-LP I Might Forgive… But I Don’t Forget.
