Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 : Young Jeezy : Review : Rolling Stone

It's clear to any music fan who gets at least one channel of MTV: The South currently rules hip-hop, from Lil Jon's punk-rock anthems to Houston's mesmerizingly laid-back "chopped-and-screwed" sound to the blessed eccentricities of OutKast, the scene's godfathers. The latest Dixie conqueror is Young Jeezy, a seductive rhymer vying to become Atlanta's 50 Cent. Jeezy unveiled his version of the G-Unit early: A month ago, his four-man crew, Boyz N Da Hood, debuted at Number Five with an album that dropped N.W.A in the backwoods, offering near-horror-core levels of violence and menacing drawls framed by phantasmagoric tales of drugging and thugging.

Jeezy is as big of a true-blue Southerner as regional stars like Mike Jones and Juvenile -- his rhymes are dotted with "e'erbody"s and a cartoonishly drawled "Yeeeaaah" catchphrase -- but his real forebears are gangsta entrepreneurs such as Dr. Dre, Master P and, of course, 50 Cent. The unapologetically money-hungry Jeezy has done a fine job setting himself up for success: He's got big-name backers, including P. Diddy and Jay-Z; a steel-clad hometown rep; and a well-publicized beef with fellow Atlanta MC Gucci Mane that allegedly resulted in the death of a man sent by Jeezy to rough up Gucci. And like 50, the Game and dozens of soon-to-be-hot rappers, Jeezy made his name in the mix-tape game, pushing true-life tales and brawny freestyles like he's pushing weight. Jeezy's most widely circulated mix tape, Trap or Die, is full of over-the-top boasts and brittle beats that feature his Southernness at the dirtiest setting.

Young Jeezy's official debut album, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101, shows off his warm, raspy voice, his down-home charm and his no-nonsense approach to record-making. Jeezy is an expert self-promoter, but, with the exceptions of a few obvious singles, he expects the outside world to come to him, rather than the other way around. Producer Mannie Fresh, of Cash Money Millionaires fame, supplies sample-free synth-bounce, which has become as much a soundtrack to Southern life as banjos and Dolly Parton. When Fresh is off, Thug Motivation sounds a little cheap and a little drab, but the album's open-armed, bare-bones style fits Jeezy's utterly straightforward approach to rhyming.

Jeezy's laid-back steez and deep rasp often prove irresistible. Like Paulie in GoodFellas, he's slow because he don't have to move for nobody, and like the best of his Southern cohorts, his rhymes and call-and-response choruses are both conversational and repetitive. On "My Hood," the album's most head-noddable track, Jeezy drops hypnotically smooth rhymes about "summertime cookouts and wintertime fights" and G-men jumping out of Ford Tauruses. On "Let's Get It/Sky's the Limit," he repeats a hook that's one part get-off-your-ass exhortation and one part financial-seminar sloganeering: "The world is yours/And everything in it is out there/Get on your grind and get it/Hey!/Hands in the air."

Jeezy never goes off-message on Thug Motivation: The album hammers home his persona as a world-weary ex-hustler who's got as much regular-guy appeal as he's got cash and horror stories. On "Thug Motivation 101," Jeezy is "Donald Trump in a white T"; on "My Hood," he's just another MC repping for his hood; and on "Get Ya Mind Right," he's "the realest nigga livin'." But Jeezy often redeems these thug commonplaces through his command of detail. Amid the cascading, weirdly New Wave chorus on "Trap Star," he outlines his seduction of a lady friend while going on about cocaine, purple mangos and a pimped-out chopper. Gun violence is surprisingly absent; on the best tracks, such as the darkly seductive, G-funking "Don't Get Caught," Jeezy outlines a past full of drugs and dirty-ass ho's, making pimping in the hot-as-fuck Southern streets sound like big fun on a Saturday night.

The main problem with Thug Motivation might be the expectations surrounding it: Had it not been earmarked for big success, it would be just an above-average Southern-rap record. Only a handful of tracks grab you by the ears the way they should, and despite abundant reminders of his street-life struggles, Jeezy needs a couple more dimensions to his character. But if Thug Motivation doesn't make Young Jeezy as famous as 50 Cent or even the Game, he's surely not the last of his breed. As far as the rap game goes, the South is rising again and again.