Young Jeezy - Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101 (Review)
What up one & all. Sky Bento here on the check-in once again. Big Bento Energy is most definitely in full effect. Hope you & yours are doing good & well. Drinking water, protecting your mental health, knowing the vibes & all.
Earlier this week was the 17th anniversary of Young Jeezy’s classic debut album and I don’t think an album has more beautifully “destroyed the community” since. This record changed the landscape of the genre and shifted Black culture entirely. These weren’t the same streets of the 80’s & 90’s. “Drug dealers” were a thing of the past. This was the dawn of a new era. The era of the trap star. Now I’m finna keep it a bean witchu, I’m not a street cat. I stayed in school, went to college, and worked regular jobs. I’ve never even gotten a ticket. Sure, I’ve got friends in the streets and have some proximity to certain things but I always kept my hands and my nose clean. I don’t think any of that matters when talking about this masterpiece though, this is an album that you just feel. I’ve always believed there are two types of people in this world: those who rejoice in victory when they hear the raspy laugh of the Snowman, and those who cower in fear. Today, let us rejoice. We’re going to discuss one of my favorite albums of all time. We’re going to discuss 2005’s Thug Motivation 101.
As always, these are just MY opinions and do not reflect the views of TDN as a staff, brand or a m***********g crew. Feel free to crucify me on Twitter @plzsaythebento. Iight, let’s get it.
01. “Thug Motivation 101” - Right off the bat you get hit with some dark sinister sounding synths and a frantic pizzicato sitting on top of it. If this don’t sound like some supervillain s***, I don’t know what does. “I USED TO HIT THE KITCHEN LIGHTS, COCKROACHES EVERYWHERE/ HIT THE KITCHEN LIGHTS NOW IT’S MARBLE FLOORS EVERYWHERE.” Rags to riches in it’s purest form. Jeezy always used to do this thing I call “levelling with the listener”, where he rhymed the same word twice (if you wanna say that’s what he’s doing) but it really drives his point home. It makes his statements feel all the more factual, all the more lived & experienced. Five star intro, easy. I don’t think we get “Dreams & Nightmares” without this. “It’s clear to see the boy Jeezy do it for the people”.
02. “Standing Ovation” - Speaking of doing it for the people, we get the manifesto right here. Remember, this might be his debut album but the streets knew Jeezy very well at this point. The Trap Or Die mixtape did had the South in a chokehold. Where that tape still had survivalism all throughout it, TM101 is much more of a celebration. It’s the other side of all that hard work. Late nights out on the block. Jeezy made it to the grand stage. THAT is the real Thug Motivation. Them horns feels so victorious, Them hi hats remind you that it’s a fast-moving world, until the hook slows it all down to remind you that Jeezy IS THE TRAP.
03. “Gangsta Music” - “I’d rather listen to your instrumentals, n****", Jeezy real raw rugged on this intro. This another one of them big, dark, synth-heavy, bassy beats you’ve gotta associate with Jeezy and early trap music. And Jeezy’s menacing rasp feels like Atlanta’s answer to Jadakiss on records like this. Jeezy paid a lot of attention to beat selection because he was a producer first which a lot of people don’t know. His artists kept getting into legal trouble so he just started making music himself. Like Pimp C before him, this architectural ear allowed him to say more with less. His simpler rhyme style perfectly compliments the sinister sounding beats. It feels like when Hov dumbs it down very obviously and you know he’s smart enough to be more clever but in delivering it so straight forward it only asserts that he is in complete control. It’s like making sure the listener is still with them, knows exactly what is going on, and making them aware who the real boss is. And if you get lost, good. The codes ain’t for you to understand. The writing may not exactly be genius, but the mentality is.
04. “Let’s Get It / Sky’s The Limit” - Admittedly not one of my favorite joints on here, but not a skip. Another mission statement of a hook. Jeezy such a motivational speaker. This beat got more of a mid-2000’s Dipset/Wayne feel with a bouncier kick-snare pattern. It’s more trap motivation, and this album does not miss in that department. This one speeds up the tempo a little bit which is good. The record really serves as a transitional point in the tracklist. You might feel like you know what to expect from Jeezy at this point. Every beat so far has sounded like it could be from the same producer (only two of them share Shawty Redd). But from this point forward, we moving on from Trap Or Die. Jeezy about to show us how you further establish a sound.
05. “And Then What (featuring Mannie Fresh)” - We just NOW getting to a single and a feature. None other than Cash Money’s Mannie Fresh starts the record with a perfectly politically incorrect attempt at being politically correct. I’ll be honest off rip, I’m hella biased. This one of my favorite beats ever. Mannie Fresh took the trap sounds Jeezy was working with but did his own thing with it and that took it all the more further into the future. NBA YoungBoy still raps on beats like this 2022. I remember Jeezy from Boyz N Da Hood before this, but this REALLY felt like my introduction to who would go on to be one of my favorite rappers of all time. So many quotables on this one here. I remember the first time I heard “I’m so clean but I’m so grimy, so dirty but yet I’m so shiny” over that faint twinkling piano. I don’t know what it was about that moment, but it changed my life forever in ways I still can hardly even fathom. Pastor Young was really dropping gems. The hook is just his lifestyle too, what a flex. And then when he says “I can’t lose the whole city’s behind me” and it goes into the “We Will Rock You” sample for the breakdown, you can’t help but feel like he had not only the city, but the whole WORLD behind Jeezy in that moment.
06. “Go Crazy (featuring Jay-Z)” - We using the Apple Music version which got the Hov verse on it, but truth be told this joint was really a hit without Jay. The fact that an Atlanta newcomer could get the man who some were and still are calling the GOAT to drop a verse on his debut album FROM RETIREMENT is a statement though. It’s a testament to the spirit of trap music, which can even be found in Hov’s early work. It was just called hustling then. Hov would later go on to say Jeezy reminded him of himself in his younger days. So we get some jazzier, more East Coast style production courtesy of Don Cannon to take the Snowman out of his comfort zone and show his true colors. Spoiler alert: Jeezy good everywhere. The dope boys go crazy just at the sound of his voice. No cap, Jeezy might have the greatest rap voice ever. At least one of them, no doubt. This joint is a 2005 celebration, and the inclusion of a fire Hov verse just the cherry on top.
07. “Last Of A Dying Breed (featuring Trick Daddy, Young Buck & Lil Wil)” - Another joint I’m not too fond of. But Jeezy flipping Biggie’s name before a Pac impression is just fire. G-Unit’s Southern soldier Young Buck doesn’t get the respect he deserves. He’s here for a reason. Jeezy was one of the first Southern acts to really get New York’s support, much like Young Buck. Then on the other side, we have Trick Daddy: Southern royalty if ever there was, but someone who again doesn’t really get that love outside of the South. I don’t hate this song, but there’s a better posse cut later on in the album and I don’t think the album needed this one. It’s a product of its time though, and that alone makes it hard to skip in the context of TM101.
08. “My Hood” - I’m not gonna hold you, as a kid this song made me wish I was from the hood. Jeezy’s specifically. I can hear ice cream trucks with this beat playing. But real quick can we talk about how Jeezy diversified his sound real quick? This an obvious radio hit with one of them sing-songy hooks we’d come to associate with Atlanta in the late 2000’s. Jeezy sounded like the real hood hero on this record. But as kid-friendly as this beat sounds, he still talking about “Summertime cookouts and Wintertime fights”. This a negro spiritual for real. This song is the definition of pride in what you come from no matter the circumstance. “Ford Taurus pull up, everybody run/ White boys jump out, pointing with they gun/ Ford Taurus leave, everybody came back, hope them boys didn’t find my sack!” Jeezy makes this sound like a neighborhood game and nothing more. It’s so blunt and lightheartedly stated. Just another day in the hood.
09. “Bottom Of Da Map” - Now I ain’t gonna hold you, this always smacked to me. But hearing it in the Verzuz against Gucci? It’s just rung out different ever since. Let’s not talk about the rest of the Verzuz though. But this beat go crazy. That metallic clangy synth that starts the record goes crazy. This more of that classic Jeezy sound you know and love from Trap Or Die but elevated and polished. Beat so fire half the hook is literally just the beat. Don’t nobody mind. That bass going crazy too. This the type of song that changed rap forever. Everything comes from trap beats now. Hi hats run everything. But these synths do a lot of heavy lifting of course. They just don’t make beats like this any more, and if they do rappers don’t carry themselves like Jeezy.
10. “Get Ya Mind Right” - I used to blast this in my headphones on the way to the residential cafeteria in college. Random memory, but this was a mainstay in my Jeezy playlist for real. You’ve gotta love how Jeezy balances these “Trap Or Die 2.0” type of cuts with more radio ready production, and doesn’t switch his style at all between them. His voice could sell any hook over these type of beats. “Jeezy a rider, Jeezy a m*********** fool/ Don’t approach him like that, you & Jeezy ain’t cool.” He may make more mainstream records now but he always gon keep one of these in the cut - a reminder of the environment that Jeezy has not only endured, but also put on for.
11. “Trap Star” - Another one of my favorite Jeezy songs ever. Another one of those songs that had childhood me in a chokehold. It just feels so motivational. This the club after a long day of hustling. This what that hustle money get you. To this day I don’t even care if he actually spelled star “S-T-R” or not on the hook. The whole record just feel like victory. Of course this was another one of the singles, but it doesn’t feel like he’s compromising for radio play, just making catchier music. With joints like this I can see the Jay-Z in him, I don’t think Hov was lying at all. The “she likes it” hook just feels so good to hear and rap along with. It’s just good music. There’s some real emotion in them horns. It’s like wiping the sweat off your forehead and being proud of whatever made you sweat in the first place. It’s pride in rising above circumstance. It’s pride in the circumstance. It’s pride in yourself.
12. “Bang (featuring T.I.P. & Lil Scrappy)” - As much as you can tell I was a Young Jeezy fan as a jit, my reverence for the King Of The South’s early work goes even deeper. The two are a package deal that I’m still sad never fully materialized. Close your eyes and imagine the alternate universe where we got a collaborative TIP X JEEZY album at the height of their powers for a second… Anyways, this features T.I.P., not T.I.. You can tell off the top off the record, just how psycho this beat sounds. It sounds like whoever rap on it gotta be crazy, they gotta really be bout what they say. So of course the Prince of Crunk also featured on this joint. This one of them “don’t get stomped out” records Lil Jon specialized in back in them days. The crunk-trap hybrid beat is definitely a high point, but there ain’t a whack verse on here. Jeezy holds down his verse reminding you he’s 30 deep and they ain’t fighting fair. His dark, gravely voice feels like there’s a knife in your hand and a gun in his. T.I.P.’s verse is a bit more calculated and composed but just as tapped underneath it all. He needs to see blood. Scrappy himself just wilds out like he always do and it’s the cherry on top. THIS is the posse cut the album needed.
13. “Don’t Get Caught” - The cautionary tale the album needed. This the type of music T.I. was specializing in at the time, but to hear Jeezy’s take on it is refreshing amongst all the celebrations of drug dealing throughout the album. The hook brings back memories of 2Pac honestly. Jeezy breaks down that as much fun and games he makes trappin’ look like, this is serious business. Hope you actually made it to track 13 before you started trapping to soak up this game. It’s very simple, but Jeezy’s great at simplicity. Sometimes the bluntest messages are the toughest but most vital to digest. This album is meant to motivate the thugs, it’s in the title. But to motivate them to be crash dummies out here just ain’t right. Pastor Young taking care of it with a message and you’ve got to appreciate it.
14. “Soul Survivor (featuring Akon)” - NOW THIS. As Jeezy’s biggest hit, and some would even say his signature song, this is what really made me a die hard fan of the Snowman. Akon didn’t hurt to add, as I was a huge Akon fan as well. “Akon & Young Jeezyyyyyyy” was literally the sound of my childhood. Gotta appreciate these more serious takes on the same subjects being back to back on this album like this. What can I say about this song that hasn’t already been said. But I guess if you weren’t there for this record you just don’t know. Real quick, them scratch sounds on a lot of these beats bring back memories of NWA, but on this record right here it really feels like it’s an even bigger nod to gangsta rap as a whole. This one of the greatest gangsta rap singles ever and we can’t let time make us forget that. EVER. Akon produced this as well so let’s give him all his credit real quick. A little detail I didn’t notice until years later is how Akon layers himself over Jeezy’s “yeah” ad libs in the hook. It really blends the two artists together very well. The “three” in the beat feels like life support. There’s even a sample from Goldeneye on N64 in the beat. But all in all the record wouldn’t work without Jeezy holding up his end on the verses to bring us to Akon’s next hook. And these verses in typical Jeezy fashion are so matter of fact and real about every aspect of the crack game. This record is everything about the album in one song for real. “This ain’t a rap song n****, this is [his] life”. And he survived and made it beyond that.
15. “Trap Or Die (featuring Bun B)” - The title track from the mixtape that got him here, this belongs on the album for sure. Especially with that Shawty Redd intro. The joke here is that it rings truer and truer each time you hear it. Trap music blew up with Jeezy. This was the blueprint for trap for years. Jeezy (along with Gucci Mane & T.I.) were architects for a lot of the music we hear today and for Young Jeezy it all started with that one mixtape. “Last time I checked I was the man on these streets…” This s**** so legendary it got shouted out on Kendrick Lamar’s classic album “good kid, m.A.A.d city”. I think even Nipsey Hussle’s “Last Time That I Checc’d” came from this (RIP Neighborhood Nip). “Mix the flake with soda, you got Young Jeezy”. Bun B the trill OG also comes through with a hell of a co-sign, bridging the old school UGK fans with the new sound of trap. You gotta love it.
16. “Tear It Up (featuring Lloyd & Slick Pulla)” - First and foremost let me tell you I hate when they throw a song for the ladies randomly on to albums like this. I could understand if it’s a single at least, but I’ve never once heard this record outside of this album. Records like this were never really Jeezy’s strongest suit, but at least the beat is smooth and the Lloyd vocals don’t hurt. Jeezy of course had to put on his mans somewhere though, so USDA’s Slick Pulla comes through with an unnecessary verse. If there’s a song that don’t belong on this album it’s this. But I guess p**** is motivation for a thug just as it is for any other man. At least it’s just this one song.
17. “That’s How Ya Feel” - Talk about sonic whiplash. The last song really just snapped me out of the feel of the whole album. “We don’t just say no, we too busy saying yeahhhhh” feels even better to rap along with in the wake of Lil Jon I bet. I wasn’t outside to experience it, but I know it was. This more of what you want from this album, but at this point, the album definitely feels a little bit too long. “Trap Or Die” alone felt like a bonus track since it’s from the tape, but if there’s gonna be more records it should be more this and less of the last joint.
18. “Talk To Em” - But this feels like a hell of an outro. Too bad it’s not. This sample may work better on 50 Cent’s “Hustler’s Ambition” but the way Jeezy makes his beats shine is incredible enough that this warrants being it’s own joint. Especially on this hook when the sample takes center stage. Jeezy gets on his Hov s*** and reminisces, literally “talking to em”, all of em. What’s more motivation for a thug than hearing your name on a major label debut album? Sounds so soulful don’t you agree?
19. “Air Forces” - We wrap it up with another of my favorite Jeezy songs. This definitely works as an outro with it’s rags to riches hook, one of the best of Jeezy’s career. This one is just big. Feels like a culmination of Jeezy’s life, from the point of view of after the fame. “I went from old school Chevys to drop top Porsches, you couldn’t walk a mile off in my Air Forces”. And when he says “I spit it for y’all, on the real my n**** dog I spit it for y’all”…. let’s get into it. Jeezy’s gang vocals are a big part of what makes him so effective at sounding anthemic. With all the takes of his voices lapped up over each other it really feels like a whole community of people speaking at once. Then we end the track and the album with no vocals at all, just the beat. That’s a statement. After a whole album of motivation, trash talk, life advice, memories, and more it’s like that whole community is just staring you down saying this is what we are. This is the trap. This is the way of life. This is how we eat. This is how we treat each other. This is what we do.
I had the pleasure of meeting Jeezy one fateful day. He came in to the restaurant I worked at to eat with his fianceé Jeannie Mai. I couldn’t not say nothing, but damn was I starstruck. To add perspective, I’ve been blessed enough to meet some incredible entertainers with names your grandmother would know. She might not know Young Jeezy. But I do, and he was such a big part of my childhood that I felt like I knew him in real life. All that went out the window man I can’t even front anxiety kicked in like a m***********. I did the typical starstruck waiter thing asking him if he needed anything, but I also let a “thank you for all you’ve done for our culture” slip. Corny as hell, but I meant it. Because Atlanta is what helped make Hip-Hop the #1 genre in the world, and much of that is owed to trap music. Gucci gets his flowers all the time and due to their rivalry I feel like Jeezy doesn’t get his. Of all the early trap rappers, and 2000’s Atlanta rappers in general, there is only one with a classic debut album.
That rapper is Young Jeezy.
And that album is Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101.