On 12/20, Young Jeezy released his fourth studio album, and the third and final piece to his Thug Motivation series, in Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition.  The work did not surface without controversy and a good story behind it; missing a series of purported release dates over a two year delay before finally reaching the public.  In it's first week, TM:103 moved 233,000 units domestically, and topped the Billboard Rap Album charts...Enjoy the review and deeper look into the background of the release below, and get at the full stream.

Review by Naveed Ahmad (@NaveedMBS)

When Def Jam Recordings handed Jay Wayne Jenkins, better known as Young Jeezy, his first million-dollar check in 2004, they weren’t exactly investing in a young man. Age twenty-six at the time, Jenkins had built up a music career several years prior through his company, Corporate Thug Entertainment (CTE). Starting out by pushing other artists, Jenkins would eventually step into the booth himself. He would build a rabid following in the urban mecca of Atlanta with two simple principles: booming, bass-heavy beats, courtesy of producer Shawty Redd, and an impeccable history as a drug dealer, boosted by a relationship with Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory, alleged leader of the notorious cocaine cartel, Black Mafia Family...READ MORE...




The streets, along with hip-hop’s elite, had long rewarded Jay Jenkins. “Jeezy has one of the most magical qualities that any rapper could have,” says Aubrey “Drake” Graham, going on to point out that, “He’s believable. You believe him. From the moment he came in.” Fellow Atlanta superstar T.I. adds, “It was someone who was speaking the language of the streets.” The data corroborates such comments. Before his signing, Jenkins had already independently sold over 100,000 mixtapes, along with 200,000 copies plus of his Trap Or Die DVD’s.

After the 2004 Def Jam signing, over the next five years, Young Jeezy would bring his “movement” to mainstream channels, delivering two platinum records. Yet when his third album, The Recession, topped out at gold, rumors started to circulate that Def Jam wanted their prized street rapper to have more of a crossover appeal, a problem that’s plagued many a rapper these last couple of years.

Young Jeezy found himself in a fight of principle: softening his commitment to the streets to sell a few more records, or sticking to the content that brought him legitimacy and success. The fight was on.

Differences between the two parties kept pushing back the drop-date for his fourth album, Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition. Originally conceived in the summer of 2009, the delay of TM 103 swallowed up 2009 and 2010, and crept into 2011. The fine line Jeezy walked between cool and paranoia seemed to skew towards the latter. The first attempted single off TM 103, “Lose My Mind,” opened with an incoherent Jeezy mumbling in silence, all before a strained synthesizer exploded into a crushing beat layered with heavy bass and snap drums. “I’m hearing voices in my head/think I’m schizophrenic” he spits.

A Hustlerz Ambition, a documentary by Def Jam documenting his life and career, illuminates more of the pressure. As cameras followed him around between 2009 and 2010, one moment in particular sticks out. Sitting in his posh Atlanta home, with an illuminated skyline behind him, Jeezy would describe his attitude at the time. “I got homies right now, they like, dawg you worry too much,” he says with wide eyes and a strained voice, going on to say, “Naw, you ain’t worried enough…you content. You can stay here all you want, I’m not staying here, I’m not staying here because the more I stay here, the more my past catches up with me. The more I stay here, the more my past, where I came from, comes to haunt me. I gotta keep it moving.”

Despite the comments, in the face of pressure that would break most hip-hop artists, Young Jeezy showed maturity and resilience. On December 20th of this year, more than two and a half years after the project began, Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition came out. The paranoia of the last two years has been tucked away, instead showcasing a confident Jeezy, once again chanting infectious hooks, layered on top of massive beats, staying true to the trapping game that put him on.

“Been through straight hell/so I can get street heaven/bitch I’m Jeezy/the one you been waiting for,” he spits on the opening track, “Waiting,” as the song gives way to a thunderous production by Drumma Boy, “What I Do (Just Like That).” The second track is epic, the kind of track tailor-made for Jeezy’s guttural chants. “Bet when them niggas hear this/they get to grabbing they strap,” he growls, and it’s so true. Young Jeezy has always been the type of artist to make you feel invincible. His best work is to be blasted out of your car, for the whole world to hear. On TM 103, he delivers any number of tracks to rattle your bones, from an ode to the perfect club girl in “SupaFreak,” featuring Atlanta native 2 Chainz, to the best kind of minimizing street putdown in “Ballin’,” featuring the ever-charismatic Lil Wayne (“So many cars/I’m like eenie, meenie, mini, mo”). These earth-shattering tracks make up the heart of the album.

With major label money behind him, Jeezy had the flexibility to reach out in the hip-hop community, and reach out he did. Fabolous, Jadakiss, Andre 3000, T.I., Jay-Z, and Snoop Dogg, among others, make appearances. They don’t over-saturate the album as much as they fit into the Jeezy sound, a sound that’s homage to real street life, complemented by deafening beats and catchy hooks. You could probably cut out 3-4 songs that make the 18-track deluxe album drag, but after two-and-a-half years of fighting, it’s a blip that can be ignored.

One could argue that Young Jeezy has relied on the same sound for too long, but Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition sounds fresh and inspired, the product of a man sticking to his principles and winning. There’s no crossover here. TM 103 is a street album made by a street artist. If the rest of America wants to get on board, all the better. And after selling over 230,000 copies of TM 103 his first week, things are looking good for Young Jeezy and his CTE team.

Winning is a beautiful thing.

Essential Tracks:

• What I Do (Just Like That)
• SupaFreak (Ft. 2 Chainz)
• Ballin’ (Ft. Lil Wayne)