Why more artists don't follow the Illmatic code remains a mystery. Barring the Bun B-assisted classic "Trap or Die" and the soul-jockeying "Talk to Em" the album's second half really lags and Jeezy's allure ultimately wears. A recent remix featuring New York kings Jay-Z and Fat Joe was one of the more obvious (and thrilling) things to happen to hip-hop in recent months and confims Jeezy's universality.Īll the fun shit aside, at 19 tracks and no skits, Let's Get It is long and can become a chore to wade through.
It is also the best 1998 Roc-A-Fella drug rap song in some time, featuring producer Don Cannon's spare tom rolls, classy horns and a killer chorus. "Go Crazy" is the height of the Mason-Dixon bridge. "And Then What" finds Mannie Fresh in fine, fat-faced form while Jeezy heads down to his "Auntie House" before he goes boom, boom clap. "Get Ya Mind Right" runs on horror movie organ fuel, like a Goblin-Argento soundtrack redux. "My Hood", while cheap, easy, and out of character for the steadily mean-mugged Jeezy, is blissful, thanks to a chintzy Casio beat and some sort of My Hood=Our Hood claptrap.
There's no parsing through flow and lyrics and drum machines. For Jeezy, it's the essence of his persona: maniacal shouting, catchphrases, euphoria, instant gratification. For most MCs this would weigh down their words. Unbridled "Daaaayuums" and everlasting "Yeeeeaaahs" or "Thaaaaat's riiiiight"s punctuate each song. By now Da Snowman's ad-libs are things of legend. He punctuates the song with his calling card.
He breathes hard on the track and stares down his microphone like it hates him. It's a joyous moment but also the scariest album opener I've heard this year. On opener "Thug Motivation 101" Jeezy pounds his chest and growls, "I used to hit the kitchen lights, cockroaches er'where/ Now I hit the kitchen lights, there's marble floors er'where" over tense, eerie keyboards.
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