Something is up with Young Jeezy. Usually the coolest guy in school, Jizzle has been making some pretty questionable moves lately. His fourth album Thug Motivation 103 has been plagued by pushbacks and failed singles. ‘Lose My Mind’, the ‘street single’ was a geniune hit (it currently sits at number 5 on the Hot Hip-Hop/R&B Tracks chart, and peaked at number 35 on the Hot 100), but follow up singles ‘All White Everything’ and ‘Jizzle’ have failed to make much of an impact or even create any real buzz for the project. Trap of Die II, Jeezy’s last mixtape, was well recieved, but it didn’t have anywhere near the impact of the first Trap Or Die. While his former rival Gucci Mane has the streets on lock, Jeezy is struggling to find his footing.
On top of all this, there’s the Rick Ross situation (or not, according to Jeey). On two seperate occasions, Jeezy has sent subliminals at Rick Ross and then denied it. Recently, he dropped a fresstyle over the ‘B.M.F.’ beat entitled ‘Death Before Dishonor,’ which included the line ‘how you blownin’ money fast when you don’t know the crew?/ Oh you down with the fam? Shit I never knew…’ This seems like a pretty obvious shot at Ross, however Today Jeezy denied that it was, posing the question ‘what would I have to gain from dissing him?’ ‘B.M.F.’ is exactly the kind of song that Jeezy made his name on: hard beat, anthemic chorus, etc. – it is a certified street anthem. and him sending shots at Ross now that Ross is blowing up in his lane just makes it more apparent that Jeezy isn’t as hot as he should be at this point. Not to say that he’s jealous, but we’re sure that a part of Jeezy wishes that ‘B.M.F.’ was his record.
NEXT PAGE: WHAT’S THE PROBLEM, JIZZLE?
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Jeezy’s problem is pretty simple: the music he’s releasing just isn’t up to the standards he’s set for himself. Not that singles like ‘All White Everything’ and ‘Jizzle’ aren’t good, because they are, it’s just that they don’t live up to Jeezy’s past classics (and he has a bunch of those). They aren’t transcendent. At this point in his career, Jeezy is at a crossroads. The Recession may not have performed as well as his two previous albums sales-wise, but it was the album that cemented him as one of the biggest emcees in the game. Songs like ‘Put On,’ ‘My President’ and ‘Crazy World’ took Jeezy to an entirely different level. He’s not just the hottest rapper in the streets anymore, he’s a power player making records with Rihanna and co-headlining tours with Jay-Z. He should be releasing records that reflect that, now retreads of songs he made years ago.
Jeezy already has classics under his belt, and we’re sure he’ll pull it together for TM103. Hopefully it’s sooner rather than later.
