Young Jeezy: The Inspiration : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Young Jeezy is the Tony Robbins of coke dealing: On the follow-up to the multiplatinum Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101, he offers powder-game hopefuls more practical advice ("Jeezy likes to mix Arm & Hammer with his coke," from "J.E.E.Z.Y.") and motivational slogans ("We gonna trap all day and play all night - this is the life of a go getta," delivered by hook man R. Kelly on "Go Getta"). Despite his unsubtle nickname - Snowman - the Atlanta rapper's flow is warm and distinctly Southern, with drawled rhymes delivered at a near-molasses pace.

Jeezy's main asset is his oddball charm. He uses his trademark interjections ("Yeaaahhh," "Ayyy," "ha-ha," etc.) to offer a director's commentary on his gritty, cinematic tales; on the club jam "Three a.m. in tha Mornin'," he brags, daffily, that he's had so much Grey Goose that he's "higher than a pelican." "Three a.m. in tha Mornin'" also has the hardest-knocking beat on a disc full of jeep-shakers: a weird and amazing Timbaland-produced jam, with monster synths that will make your speakers sound at least forty percent more expensive than they actually are. Several tracks are built around the swelling, orchestral sound that powered T.I.'s "What You Know" - including the postmortem fantasy "Bury Me a G" and the single "I Luv It," which was actually produced by "What You Know" knob-turner DJ Toomp. If there's one problem, it's the lack of surprises. Jeezy once called this album Thug Motivation 102, and you kind of wish the second-semester class was more challenging than the first.