So I'm reading through it & came across an article about Young Jeezy. Now I like Jeezy's music, shit I still remember the day my boy Jamaal stopped by my crib with his 1st CD and I was... why did you buy a Young Jeezy album? His response was he was in Sound City ( a mom & pop record store on stienway st. in Queens) & wanted to buy something to support the store & wasn't really anything out at the time. So me being the kinda guy I am made a copy cuz I'm willing to give every artist at least 1 full listen. Long story short we were both very surprised at how much we were diggin the album.
Anyway back to the purpose of this entry, so I'm reading through it & with every page regretting the purchase, then I get to the Jeezy article and retracted that statement. That article alone made me content that I broke my streak of not buying magazines anymore (anyone who knew me growing up knows that my room was like a magazine stand).
As I'm reading it I keep saying to myself wow a rapper that actually gets it, a down south rapper no less. He's asked about his new album called "The Recession" & how did his approach to this album change from his last two albums & how the real recession affects him. Here's his answer(clif notes version):
"People are going through life changes right now. When I 1st came out money was plentiful, and people just loved to hear about money. 'Bout throwing it,'bout getting it, 'bout spending it, makin' it... That's what Thug Motivation(1st album) was about. And I gradually watched things change...When I went to The Insperation(2nd album), I started seeing shit, like, This ain't the same way it used to be...The Insperation, for me, was like, Okay, y'all see what's going on. You see what's about to come...There wasn't as much club music on there as I would have put on Thug Motivation, because, at the time, we were all clubbin'. Now the clubs have slowed down a lil', & I'm on the road workin', and when u get back home, you don't really see the same thing you used to. Because they getting ready for what's about to happen next, & thats a recession...You know when things start to slow down...Everybody dealing with it in different ways. Some people still continue to party like it's not going on, & some people sit at home. Some people are losing their houses or can't pay their mortgage. Some people are working to pay for gas. Some people could give a fuck what's going on with the economy...The recession affects me in a lot of ways. Even with just living. I don't wanna go to the club & be throwing money & doin' all that shit, & ain't nobody else in the club got it. It don't make no sense. They ain't gonna love you for that. They gonna hate you...I could go to the studio & give everything I got, but if you're not able to ride with me because you can't buy it, or you can't come to see me, then your not even feeling the same. So why am I gonna come out talkin 'bout safes and money to the ceiling when all the safes are halfway empty now?
Now it may not be a big deal, but it was good to see a more mainstream rapper have some sense & seem to take the current climate into consideration when it comes to the content he chooses to put out in his product. And some of you like me would not even think of Young Jeezy as one of those rappers.
