Album Review-Young Jeezy- TM103 Hustlerz Ambition

So one of the most highly anticipated albums of 2011 has to be Young Jeezy and the return of his Thug Motivation with TM103. pushed back a couple of times, Jeezy may not have had the outward buzz that Defjam was looking for, but the streets have still been clamoring to see what the Snowman brings in his return. Here is my album review of Young Jeezy TM103: Hustlerz Ambition.

Thug Motivation starts off just how I would expect with "Waiting" and into/song that introduces the concept of what's going on and presents a theme for the album that brings things back to Jeezy's second album in a way. "What I Do" is a straight forward Bass filled joint that keeps it trill with daily life of a balling out dope boy. "Way To Gone" is the same thing with idea being that he's killing them by spending so much money. The song also features new Atlanta sensation Future. For the ladies, there is "All we Do" which is about how all Jeezy does with a chick is to fuck, spend money, and get high. Ne-yo handles the hook on "Leave You Alone" where Jeezy is talking to a chick who knows he is bad for her.



Nothing has a general bounce beat and a hook that has a political possibility that could have grown from the ground covered on The Recession, but the verses don't handle the expectation. Meanwhile "OJ" which features Fabolous and Jadakiss - who drops another dud of a verse filled with early obvious references to Orenthal James - is about how each of them "kills the white". Likewise "Superfreak" which features 2 Chainz also is repetitive and boring. In a pairing I wouldn't have expected, Jill Scott sings alongside the Snowman on "Trapped" which is song more in line with Jeezy's last release. Single "F.A.M.E." doesn't make much sense as an acronym but its directed at the haters and features king of the South T.I. as they talk about 'Fake Motherfuckers Envy'. The final track of the album "Never be the Same" is more filler.



That song is preceded by the summer-time banger "Lose My Mind" which featured everyone's favorite Goon Plies. "Ballin'" finds Jeezy sounding out of place alongside Lil' Wayne talking more about frivolous spending. Freddie Gibbs does his thing on ".38" though the song sounds too much like everything else on the album. "Higher Learning" is about weed and doesn't fit Jeezy's persona even though he smokes as much as it fits Snoop who spits a good verse and Devin the Dude. The much hyped "I Do" features Jay-z and Andre 3000 both talking about women that they say "I Do" to, in Jay's case, being a metaphor, yet with that firepower, the song manages to underwhelm with the stock 'soul' beat, to lame hook and trite attempt by Jay to spin the concept. Andre himself waits until the very end to pull his verse out and make it really more than average for him. My favorite song on the album is "This Ones For You" featuring my favorite Miami rapper, Trick Daddy, whose verse is about some other rappers he influenced.

The fact Jeezy has been gone for a couple of years helped to build the expectations for this album. The Recession was a good album for Jeezy and though it was uneven, it showed progress in both actual skill and topics for the snowman. Here, on TM103, Jeezy steps back and attempts to add some 'swag' rap to his hustler talk and the results are less than stellar. Too many of the beats are pretty much the same and the hooks are either just boring and unimaginative, or way too deep for the simplistic verses and that's the worst part. After all, no one is expecting Jeezy to suddenly become TI never mind turning into Nas but when I have to wonder if he or 2 Chainz is the worst on a song it doesn't bode very well.

Rating: 2/5

Comments

Popular Posts