The Inspiration
Wander through the coke-lined lyrics of Young Jeezy'sLet's Get It: Thug Motivation 101and nowThe Inspiration, its keep-it-entirely-real follow-up, and you may never look at a snowman or a box of baking soda the same way again. But what you lose in the way of crack-trade innocence you gain in a clear picture of why few rappers in the game get Jeeps to rattling as reliably: Jeezy--never mind the hopped-up hustler bluster--is a hugely magnetic figure, a ghetto go-getter capable not only of laying down the kind of loosey-goosey lyrics that make you want to clap him on the back for untangling street-wiseness from seriousness but of inspiring some kind of out-there superhero comic book series, too. Other rappers drip on the ATL drawl, but none as winningly (check the Timbaland-produced "3 A.M."). And other rappers spit trademark phrases a la James Brown's "Good God!," but few as adroitly (Jeezy's "ha ha" sticks). Friends help--something divine issues from the pipes of Keyshia Cole on "Dreamin,'" and DJ Toomp puts the T.I. treatment on "I Luv It"--but at the end of a long day of trappin' and playin' this is Jeezy's party.--Tammy La Gorce