Since its American release last year, the debut album from the 26-year-old Atlanta rapper Jay “Young Jeezy” Jenkins has sold more than a million copies. Like his fellow former drug dealer 50 Cent, his previous career has taught him how to give his target market exactly what it wants.
The record is calculatedly effective: Gangsta Music’s beats are sleek and direct, while the chorus to My Hood is a simple chant. Jeezy’s mind is sharp, but his stony-faced mask rarely slips: Talk to ’Em discusses the darker side of life on the street, but otherwise the album is an emotional void, any traces of vulnerability and self-doubt ruthlessly purged. Jeezy operates well within himself, but he already has a million good reasons not to bother trying any harder.
(Def Jam)