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As I mentioned a few days ago, Young Jeezy's new album The Inspiration: Thug Motivation 102, has leaked onto the internet. While there have been a handful of sites that have put up some of the tracks from the new album, I'm surprised there hasn't been more talk about it. It seems like just yesterday that half of the blogs out there were telling us that Jeezy's trap hop was about to take over the rap game. And Jeezy had the bootleg t-shirt game on lock for a minute, with everyone from little kids to your grandmother walking around with Snowmen on their chests. Maybe its just that all of the gossip surrounding Jay-Z has distracted everyone, or maybe bloggers have finally seen through Jeezy's street image and realized there's not much of an MC behind it, but there hasn't been as much hype for this second album as I would have expected.
I've never really understood Jeezy's popularity. I'll admit I do like a few of his songs -- like most everyone else, I had the Go Crazy remix with Jay-Z in heavy rotation when it came out -- but for the most part, he comes off as a mediocre rapper. His wordplay isn't particularly interesting, he has a penchant for rhyming the same word with itself and the only reason his lyrics stand out are his ad ("Ay!") libs ("Yeeeeaaahhhh"). His street talk covers the same ground that every gangsta rapper before him has done to death, and he doesn't add anything new to the genre. The same charge could be made against the Clipse, of course, but they at least put some effort into their lyrics.
The feedback I've been getting on his latest album, due out on December 12th, has been all positive, though. And this is coming from friends of mine who don't even know what a "blog" is, so they're generally untainted by the internet hype that Jeezy has benefitted from. I haven't listened to The Inspiration yet, but I did go out and cop one of his newest mixtapes, DJ Drama's I Am The Street Dream. Most of the songs on the mixtape are from his upcoming album, but here are two mixtape-only tracks:
Keep it Movin'
I'm Tellin Ya
I didn't hear anything on the Street Dream mixtape that would make me change my opinion of him as a rapper, but if Jeezy continues to get solid reviews for his new album, I may have to give it a listen when it comes out.
You can purchase I Am The Street Dream at gangsta grizzilllzz.
A couple of other items that I'm not going to waste a full post on:
In the latest issue of Complex Magazine, Weezy apparently had this to say about Jay-Z:
You left on a good note, and all of the artists were saying, 'Yo, this is Jay's house. He's the best.' Now he comes back and still thinks it's his house. ... It's not your house anymore, and I'm better than you.
You can read more at VH1.
The group Nice Peter (no connection to Pete Nice, unfortunately) has put out a song entitled "50 Cent is a Pussy." Here is the video. (via AllHipHop.com)
12/6/2006 10:30:55 AM posted by Fresh