From the June 2005 issue of The Source...
You just can't knock the never-ending hustle of Atlanta game-spitter Young Jeezy. Making major moves before he even secured a deal, the eager newcomer stepped into the game running at full speed last year with cameo appearances on albums from Fabolous, Jagged Edge, and Trick Daddy. And after grinding the South with two heavily bootlegged mix CDs by DJ Drama, the self-proclaimed "Thug Motivator" secured two major deals at the same time. Now, with both his Def Jam debut Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 and his self-titled Bad Boy South-distributed group effort Boyz in da Hood hitting the streets this summer, Jeezy will make the world respect his gangsta.
THE SOURCE: How did you secure two major label deals at the same time?
Young Jeezy: I had a couple of groups. I was the money man. I'm paying for studio time. Niggas aint coming to sessions so I'm doing everything. They see all the legwork and time I put in. I ain't come and knock on Puffy's door and say, "Gimme a record deal." I aint get at Jay-Z. I didn't go in there with no demo tape. I showed them niggas what I can do.
THE SOURCE: In your rhymes, you speak a lot about working the trap and "having thangs" at a young age. How much is fact and how much is fiction?
Young Jeezy: I ain't gotta exaggerate. I was the nigga in the club popping the bottles, rocking the ice. I was going in Magic City when I was 14, 15. I was the first nigga on my block with the 190 Benz with Gucci seats. I was the first nigga in the hood with a GS 400 Lexus in '98. I was the first nigga in my hood with a crib out of state. Diddy might see a nigga in the club and I might have on the same watch that he had on.
THE SOURCE: Like a testament to your street credibility, incarcerated Black Gangster Disciple leader Larry Hoover is on one of your mixtapes. Do you have any gang affiliations?
Young Jeezy: I really look up to that nigga. I used to bang and all that shit. But I look at a gang as being a company. United Gangsta Nation is the shit I believe in. If some niggas on the East Side is on some Piru shit and niggas on the West Side is on some Crip shit, we can't never connect to make our movement bigger. That's how they separate us. You let these white folks take something that you created to keep yourself secure and keep yourself fed and use it against you.
THE SOURCE: So you're saying that gangs should all unite?
Young Jeezy: That's the same shit Larry Hoover was on; the same shit I'm on right now. Chi-Town niggas are the realest gangstas. They got discipline, laws. It's certain shit they won't do. They ain't just gone do shit that's gone fuck up the money. How we gone let them turn our shit against us? Them white boys ain't gonna say, "He went to Harvard. I don't fuck with him." Nigga, fuck that. If he's gonna bring some money, bring it over here.
End of interview.
You just can't knock the never-ending hustle of Atlanta game-spitter Young Jeezy. Making major moves before he even secured a deal, the eager newcomer stepped into the game running at full speed last year with cameo appearances on albums from Fabolous, Jagged Edge, and Trick Daddy. And after grinding the South with two heavily bootlegged mix CDs by DJ Drama, the self-proclaimed "Thug Motivator" secured two major deals at the same time. Now, with both his Def Jam debut Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 and his self-titled Bad Boy South-distributed group effort Boyz in da Hood hitting the streets this summer, Jeezy will make the world respect his gangsta.
THE SOURCE: How did you secure two major label deals at the same time?
Young Jeezy: I had a couple of groups. I was the money man. I'm paying for studio time. Niggas aint coming to sessions so I'm doing everything. They see all the legwork and time I put in. I ain't come and knock on Puffy's door and say, "Gimme a record deal." I aint get at Jay-Z. I didn't go in there with no demo tape. I showed them niggas what I can do.
THE SOURCE: In your rhymes, you speak a lot about working the trap and "having thangs" at a young age. How much is fact and how much is fiction?
Young Jeezy: I ain't gotta exaggerate. I was the nigga in the club popping the bottles, rocking the ice. I was going in Magic City when I was 14, 15. I was the first nigga on my block with the 190 Benz with Gucci seats. I was the first nigga in the hood with a GS 400 Lexus in '98. I was the first nigga in my hood with a crib out of state. Diddy might see a nigga in the club and I might have on the same watch that he had on.
THE SOURCE: Like a testament to your street credibility, incarcerated Black Gangster Disciple leader Larry Hoover is on one of your mixtapes. Do you have any gang affiliations?
Young Jeezy: I really look up to that nigga. I used to bang and all that shit. But I look at a gang as being a company. United Gangsta Nation is the shit I believe in. If some niggas on the East Side is on some Piru shit and niggas on the West Side is on some Crip shit, we can't never connect to make our movement bigger. That's how they separate us. You let these white folks take something that you created to keep yourself secure and keep yourself fed and use it against you.
THE SOURCE: So you're saying that gangs should all unite?
Young Jeezy: That's the same shit Larry Hoover was on; the same shit I'm on right now. Chi-Town niggas are the realest gangstas. They got discipline, laws. It's certain shit they won't do. They ain't just gone do shit that's gone fuck up the money. How we gone let them turn our shit against us? Them white boys ain't gonna say, "He went to Harvard. I don't fuck with him." Nigga, fuck that. If he's gonna bring some money, bring it over here.
End of interview.
