It's clear to any music fan who gets at least one channel of MTV: The South currently rules hip-hop, from Lil Jon's punk-rock anthems to Houston's mesmerizingly laid-back "chopped-and-screwed" sound to the blessed eccentricities of OutKast, the scene's godfathers. The latest Dixie conqueror is Young Jeezy, a seductive rhymer vying to become Atlanta's 50 Cent. With a blizzard of hits blazing the radio including the Boyz N Da Hood anthem Dem Boyz, his collaboration with Gucci Man on So Icy, and his own single And Then What, Young Jeezy - also known as The Snowman - is poised for his big break with his highly anticipated solo debut, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101. Already, Young Jeezy's group Boyz N Da Hood debuted at #5 on the album charts, selling over 100,000 copies of their self-titled Bad Boy release, leaving the streets hungry for more Young Jeezy.

Young Jeezy's official debut album, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101, shows off his warm, raspy voice, his down-home charm and his no-nonsense approach to record-making. Producer Mannie Fresh, of Cash Money Millionaires fame, supplies sample-free synth-bounce, which has become as much a soundtrack to Southern life as banjos and Dolly Parton. When Fresh is off, Thug Motivation sounds a little cheap and a little drab, but the album's open-armed, bare-bones style fits Young Jeezy's utterly straightforward approach to rhyming. Young Jeezy never goes off-message on Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101: the album hammers home his persona as a world-weary ex-hustler who's got as much regular-guy appeal as he's got cash and horror stories. On Thug Motivation 101, Young Jeezy is "Donald Trump in a white T"; on My Hood, he's just another MC repping for his hood; and on Get Ya Mind Right, he's "the realest nigga livin'." Gun violence is surprisingly absent; on the best tracks, such as the darkly seductive, G-funking Don't Get Caught, Young Jeezy outlines a past full of drugs. Songs like the revealing Let Me Talk To 'Em show Young Jeezy apologizing for many of the wrongs in his life and attempting to set the next generation straight about the dark side of life in the traps. The guest line up is a who's who of southern rap: aforementioned Mannie Fresh, Trick Daddy, Young Buck, Bun B., Akon, Shawty Redd, ColliPark, and Jazze Pha.

With Atlanta serving up some of the hottest product in the rap game, native son Young Jeezy stands as one of the most exciting merchants of cool to emerge in years. Young Jeezy manages to slightly alter his style to distinguish himself as a solo artist from his work as a member of Boyz N Da Hood. Young Jeezy is as big of a true-blue Southerner as regional stars like Mike Jones and Juvenile but his real forebears are gangsta entrepreneurs such as Dr. Dre, Master P and, of course, 50 Cent. And even if Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 doesn't make Young Jeezy as famous as 50 Cent or The Game, he's surely not the last of his breed.

02.08.2005