Young Jeezy - Trappin' IS Dead Nigga

This post is about Young Jeezy and the death of trap music in the mainstream.

In 2003 T.I. released the album that created a lane for artists like Young Jeezy in mainstream rap. This sub-genre is known as "trap music". It involves rapping about trap (drug dealing) related activities and the rewards of being a trap star (prosperous drug dealer). The beats have very heavy bass and are, usually, very melodic using sounds such as horns, strings, and organs. 

While T.I. may have paved the way, Young Jeezy came on the scene in 2005 as a part of Boyz N Da Hood. They are a group signed to Diddy's Bad Boy South. They had a very street sound and from the very beginning Jeezy was the obvious stand out. For Jeezy, the group deal was just for one album as he was signed to Def Jam South as a solo artist. The group album was nothing more than an introduction to the man who would soon take over stereos everywhere.

Jeezy's debut album Lets Get It : Thug Motivation 101 was released just a little over a month after Boyz N Da Hood (self-titled). After his first week's sales were counted he came in at number 2 on the charts. The album went on to achieve platinum status. Featuring production from Shawty Redd, Jazze Pha, and Mannie Fresh it was a high energy album that was perfect for the car, parties, and the club. It was filled with street bangers that everyone from drug dealers to suburban high school kids felt compelled to blast as loud as their speakers would allow.

He quicky followed the album up with the release of the infamous Trap Or Die mixtape in November of 2005. The mixtape caught fire in the streets, not only giving Jeezy more exposure and blowing up the mixtape's host DJ Drama but also changing the way a lot of rap artists would promote their albums. 

After the release of this mixtape artists such as Yo Gotti and Gucci Mane started to gain popularity in the streets. Trap music had officially become a sub genre and started to grow with artists and producers at a very fast rate.

Young Jeezy release two more mixtape in 2006 with DJ Drama before releasing his sophomore album The Inspiration : The Motivation 102. Can't Ban The Snowman was released in February of 2006 and was followed by I Am The Street Dream! which was his the official mixtape before the album. Def Jam had a full promotional campaign behind it which included heavy plastering of posters and I AM THE STREET DREAM t-shirts. The Inspiration dropped in December of 2006 and hit the charts at the number one spot and went platinum. The album sales were driven by the two platinum singles I Luv It and Go Getta featuring R. Kelly.

After promotion on The Inspiration was done Jeezy began to work on building label and group, USDA. They released Cold Summer (The Authorized Mixtape) in May of 2007. With the help of their front man, Young Jeezy's fame and a pretty hot single in White Girl it came it at number four on the charts.

In the meantime, Gucci Mane (who was always seen as Jeezy's biggest competition) was building steam by releasing mixtapes non stop. He had his biggest single yet with Freaky Gurl which peaked at 62 on the Hot 100. He had released multiple albums but his mixtapes are what kept gaining him fans. It became the thing to do for trap rappers. Everyone was releasing mixtapes as frequently as they could. 

Between 2007 and 2008 we saw the emergence of a few more trap rappers including OJ Da Juiceman who had his own big single in Make The Trap Say Aye which features Gucci Mane. Shawty Lo also came on the scene with his hit Dey Know which had a remix that featured Young Jeezy as well as others.

Jeezy came back strong in May of 2008 with the single Put On which featured labelmate Kanye West. The Drumma Boy produced track quickly took off on the radio and peaked at number 12 on the Hot 100. It was also his highest debut for a single at 36. He gained his second number one album debut with The Recession and the album eventually went on to sell gold.

Shortly after the release of The Recession the sound of trap music started to change. The beats became a little more futuristic and the subject matter became a little more mianstream with artists like Gucci Mane toning down the drug talk. This led to him being featured on a few mainstream hits by Black Eyed Peas, Mario, and Mariah Carey. Instead of making a song about selling drugs Gucci Mane came with a hit single about using them called Wasted. It peaked at 36 on the charts and was followed by three more singles including Lemonade which also caught on with the masses and peaked at 52 on the charts.

While Gucci was blowing up Jeezy had released Trappin' Ain't Dead, a mixtape that was called garbage by most of his fans. He would continue to release tracks here and there for another year until he dropped Trap Or Die 2 in May of 2010. This mixtape had a split reception. Some of his fans loved it because it was the "old Jeezy" and the rest of them hated it for the very same reason. Even trap rappers have to progress. Trap Or Die 2 is where we heard the first single for Thug Motivation 103. The song is called Lose My Mind and features Plies. This should've been a a huge warning sign that Jeezy was falling off. When you have to go get an artist that is below you to feature on your single in hopes of a bigger buzz something is terribly wrong. 

I had been telling people since The Recession that Jeezy was done. His sound was too stale and it seemed as if he just kept recreating the same old songs. He was lost in the evolution of trap music. In my opinion Jeezy was never the most creative or anything. He just found a sound that worked and when that sound died he didn't move on simply because he wasn't talented enough to. Artists like Jeezy are meant to have short careers. If the initial impact is as good as it gets then there's really no point for them to be around.

There is a reason I chose that picture. Jeezy needs to pray for a miracle if he doesn't want to fade away. His album has been officially shelved by Def Jam and his buzz is flat-lining. The only people I still see checking for him are from Atlanta so maybe he would be cool going independent. I don't know the details of his contract with Def Jam but he is still signed and would have to finish his contract or get released from it for that to happen so, for now, he is stuck in rapper limbo.