May 27, 2009 @ 6:13 pm

Young Jeezy: The Voice of the People

Benjamin Meadows-Ingram

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Mr. 17.5 on his brand new album and the classic he already has under his belt

When the links are dead, the records are broken and it’s all said and done, Young Jeezy’s The Recession (CTE/Def Jam, 2008) will be a certified rap classic. On his third solo album, Jay Jenkins, 31, not only silenced critics who had long ago dismissed him as an ad lib–driven, all style, no substance MC, he also accomplished the rare feat of fusing the personal with the social. Unlike the year’s other standout rap releases—Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III (Cash Money/Universal), T.I.’s Paper Trail (Grand Hustle/Atlantic), and Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam)—The Recession wasn’t limited to the psychological state of its author, instead widening its scope to address society at large. Now, Jeezy appears to be drifting into 2Pac territory: He’s a charismatic superstar determined to always keep one eye on the ’hood. And with two classics to his credit already, Mr. 17.5 has us hungry for round four.

In what’s rapidly becoming a Memorial Day tradition, Jeezy and his Corporate Thugs Entertainment team descended on Miami this past weekend, lighting up the streets with a solid new mixtape, Trappin’ Ain’t Dead with DJ Folk (click here to download), and plenty of promo material, including sweat towels announcing his new album title, Thug Motivation 103. We caught up with the cover star of last year’s Real Rap Issue to talk Grammy Awards, “Swagga Like Us,” and what he’s cooking up next.

VIBE: What are you workin’ on right now?

Young Jeezy: Well, right now I’m feeling good about wrapping the movie [Janky Promoters (Dimension, 2009)] with Ice Cube and Mike Epps, so that should be coming up here shortly. And I’ve been working with my artists on Corporate Thugz Entertainment. We’ve got Bama coming, I’ve got Blood Raw, we got Roccett, Screw, 211, Slick Pulla, Boo Rossini.... Working on this compilation, fixin’ to drop that toward the end of this summer. I’m back in working on my shit. It’s like the evolution. This is where I do me.

How is it going to be different from The Recession?

The Recession was more for the people. That album was like, Shit fucked up right now, we goin’ get through it, we goin’-to-do-it-together-type album. I ain’t get a chance to really just do me, so with this [next] album, I’ma really just do me. It’s gon’ be how I really feel about the things I’m going through. That shit that get you out your bed at 9 o’clock in the morning and just make you want to get to running. This is the album when I give it everything I got.

When is it coming?

Awww, man, whenever it’s done it’s coming. It’s like food—when it’s done cooking, it’s coming.

You predicted the recession for a lot of people.

I told y’all, you can call me a prophet whenever y’all ready [laughs]. But you know what? The Recession was a special album, I don’t give a fuck what nobody say. Ten years from now, you put The Recession in, it’s gonna bring [you] a feeling like you was part of what was going on at that time. That’s something that nobody can take away from me. Just like you can’t never take away “My President,” nobody can ever take away me calling my album The Recession way before it hit. I had niggas in my ’hood who didn’t even know what the word meant. All of a sudden it was a topic of conversation.

Do you feel vindicated?

I just felt like it was my duty. I’m the only cat that can pretty much relate to it ’cause a lot of cats in the industry just [don’t be in the ’hood] like that. You gotta be in touch with reality if you’re gonna speak for people. You don’t want to come out on cloud nine and everybody else on cloud one, and be tryin’ to speak for ’em, you feel me? I feel like I knew what was about to happen. I seen it so many times in my world when things slow up and people cut back on certain shit. When you see the same motherfuckers at the club three times a week, then you don’t see ’em no more, you know it ain’t all good.

Did you feel overlooked when the album wasn’t nominated for a Grammy?

To be honest, I think [The Recording Academy] don’t know [about the album]. In situations like that, they always find out last. Everybody else already know what’s going on. But at the end of the day, when you’re not No. 1, 2, or 3 on somebody’s list, they don’t know. I don’t think it was a matter of me being overlooked, they just don’t know.

Speaking of the Grammys, everybody’s been talking about how you were the dude that was missing from “Swagga Like Us.”

I can agree with that. I can agree that I definitely got a lot of swag. I gave it about six weeks to jump on the remix, but by that time everybody had a verse on it, like 115 “Swagga Like Us” verses running around, and I’m just like, Yo, it’s cool....But it’s a great song, and you know when the next one come around I’ma make sure I’m on there.

You’ve managed to make The Recession relevant through all the music videos you’ve done.

I ain’t even done yet. I got six more videos I already shot for The Recession and we gon’ shoot three more. I told them I was gonna shoot a video for every song—and that’s what I think I’m gon’ end up doing. I ain’t really about selling no records, I just want this album to speak for people. When I think about old Cash Money records or old Master P shit or UGK, I know what I was doin’ at that particular time in my life ’cause that shit is like a time capsule. That’s how I want The Recession to be. When all the smoke clears and all this other shit goes, I absolutely, positively will be the last man standing.


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