Listen Up: CD Review: Young Jeezy – “The Recession”

Young Jeezy’s junior album, eclipses a dull summer and presents itself as something for Russell Simmons to “woosah” to after those disappointing record sales calls.

The Recession, (which is surprisingly more highly favored than The New Kids on The Block’s comeback album which features the Billboard smash, Sexify My Love) glamorizes Jeezy’s status of kingpin amongst today’s class of easily disproved rappers and others in serious need of “G Pass” revocation.

Keeping in mind the thesis of America’s need for political overrule and an economic resurgence that Jeezy put forth in pre-release interviews, Jeezy doesn’t seem to have seen the track listing for the album that he released.

Therefore the album plays like a Thug Motivation sequel rather than the sparkling rock (no pun intended) that hip hop needed a trap rapper to produce (sorry, there was no way
around that one).

For the album’s first six tracks, he doesn’t make it past a minute without a testimonial to the coke game and while at times these predictable couplets are uninspiring, you can’t help but chuckle at how innovatively he puts it.

Case in point: By The Way (produced by Terry “TA” Allen ), the third track off of The Recession where Jeezy’s recognizes that he “Turned a brick into a clothing, a Boost commercial/ And he’s still talking (Ya)Yo/ so who’s commercial?”

Jeezy’s political commitments are evident in two songs. If you haven’t seen him with the Barack Obama graphic tees, then his Nas featured My President, definitely allows you to rule out his candidacy for vice president to McCain (and I did say “Mc”).

Jeezy’s two verses are beasts, that the world will have to rediscover after the hype of Nas’ “Just two albums in and I’m the realest ***** on this Label” line dies down.
But is Jeezy still motivating the thugs or is he making an indisputably classic album in which he stresses different ideals with equal fervor? All criticisms aside, Jeezy’s become the most credible candidate to bring social commentary and street knowledge together so well on a platinum album.

Unfortunately, The Recession isn’t that album.