The Weight is Over: A TM103 Review

LaGreezy told them to straight .rar this and .zip file that.

 Three years, approximately as many mixtapes, a slew of pushed-back release dates, and presumably several bricks of cocaine later, the newest Young Jeezy album, TM: 103- Hustlerz Ambition, is available for sale at your local iTunes store. And you know, depending on how this review goes (but more importantly if the year-in, year-out tradition of getting a ten dollar iTunes gift card in my stocking holds true) I might even consider buying it there...but probably not because I already copped it off the internets for free.99. I digress.
Anyway, before we get into the mud, there's a couple of declarations that need to be made. The first is that I will try to approach the album with as clear of a mind as possible. This will be difficult for approximately two reasons: One: I'm drinking a bloody mary right now. Two: being the Jeezy stan that I am, this shit is like the best thing that's happened to me in a long time, and I even graduated college a week or two ago. But trust me, I'm more excited about this (In regards to my Jeezy stan-dom, does it make me a bad stan for getting a Brick Squad snap back and not a Snowman T-shirt? And yes, this is a real dilemma I'm going through).
The next thing I wanted to address is what the fuck is going on with that album title? Three years to come out with this shit and dude calls it 'Hustlerz Ambition'? Like phonetically, 'Husterlz' just sounds whack. Not to mention it's clearly a reference to his song 'Hustlaz Ambition' off of his 2008 effort The Recession, so why not just name it that? If Jeezy is naming albums after previously released tracks, I guess I'm he didn't go with a track title off of the As Real as It Gets mixtape: "She's a Lesbian" (Though, this time around it might have been 'Lezbian'). Don't even get me started on the fucking album art, it's miserable.

If you've made it this far, why don't you just go ahead and hit the jump to catch the track by track review.


Just so you know, this is according to the track listing that's on the copy I pirated...it's allegedly the deluxe edition.

1. Waiting: The album starts pretty much how you would expect. Applause, a high pitched synth, horns, and Jeezy chanting about how people have been waiting, waiting, waiting on 103. Then proceeding to remind you that "I ain’t lose, I don’t lose, I ain’t lose, never lost"...let's just say I never fucked with Jeezy because his internal rhyme game was spot on. Anyway, this is what I want from my intro track on a new Jeezy album. A bouncy beat with the occasional 808 break down and roar of a crowd. Thus far, I'm getting what I expected. Jeezy goes One-for-One.
The World According to Jeezy: "Bitch I'm legendary, bitch I'm a living legend."

2. What I Do (Just Like That): Drumma Boy beats always break necks, so I'm down. Jeezy sounds at home as a mother fucker on this, bodying the track up. I fucks with this track. The funny thing about Young is that he only has a few flows, but somehow each time I hear dude on the  mic it just puts a smile on my face. I think it's probably the simplicity of said flows coupled with the beats that just fit together so nicely. I know that shit sound gay, but no homo, you feel me? Anyway, this hook is crazy, too. This is the type of track I'm trying to play before I go out heavy in a city. You know, like hella heavy with my goons and I where we're banging in skinny jeans, scarfs, pea coats and our hair parted with a barber's preciseness. Remember when I said no homo? Run that shit back, family.
The World According to Jeezy: "Must be drinking amnesia, cause I forgot what I said/Stack up so much bread I’mma need me a toaster."

3. OJ (Featuring Jadakiss & Fabolous): Like, I know I'm a fucking Jeezy stan. I know this, and so do my people, but got damn the dude can write, or at least record the shit out of a chorus. I mean just look at this shit:

What you know about champagne every night
Bad bitches everywhere, Barry White
Hit the things, I could bury white
Countin’ up a million dollars every night
Hit the mall blow a four way
Kinda hard when you’re sleeping on Dolce
Wake up drinkin' Rose
Killin’ that white bitch, OJ

It's absurdly simple, but I'm a fucking sucker for references to OJ and Barry White, so it's not a hard sell. The beat is pretty simple, too, but it's suiting for the track, and allows Snowman and Loso to do their thing; unfortunately Jadakiss is another story. While some of his lyrics are dope, like "More money, more problems, more grams/ more real estate, more land", that was honestly his best bar on the track. Yikes.
The World According to Jeezy: "Louis V on deck, luggage on my waist."
The World According to Fabolous: "I woke up saying I ain't drinking no more."
The World According to Jadakiss: see above quotation.

4. Nothing: This sounds like a toned down version of "Lost My Mind", which is fine, but I didn't really need those on the same album. But, I suppose it's better than Young getting experimental, and anything is better than "Jizzle". Actually, now that I've mentioned that monstrosity I need to just get to the next track.
The World According to Jeezy: "Fuck sellin' words, bitch I sold ice cream."


5. Way Too Gone (Featuring Future): I think Jeezy took Ecstasy before recording this song. At least that's how it sounds initially. Then he starts talking about Jizzle on replay, and  then about keeping Jizzle on repeat. This makes me sad, and I have to convince myself he's referring to himself, and not the previously mentioned creation of Lil' John. Then the beat drops and I'm convinced that he's for sure on E, and is trying to capture the imagination of Aubrey's constituencies. The instrumental sounds like it could have been produced by whoever did the "Don't Fuck with Me" beat (I know Drake did it initially, but how I'm gonna link somebody to his video?).  This track kind of reminds of another Jeezy song called "Dreamin'", only without a terrible Keyshia Cole hook. I'm kind of convinced the only reason Keyshia Cole was on that hook was because the word 'Key' is in her name. Future's verse, while nothing spectacular, serves it's purpose and is enjoyable.
The World According to Jeezy: "Wake up in the morning, who the fuck am I screwing?"
The World According to Future: "We in the club with thugs, this must be heaven."

6. Supafreak (Featuring 2 Chainz): It should come as no surprise that the artist formerly known as Tity Boi would be on a song called 'Supafreak'. In other news, I wish he would have never changed his name. Fuck a mainstream cross over.
The World According to Tity Boi 2 Chainz: "She got that wet-wet, now that’s a supaleak."
The World According to Jeezy: "Yeah you know that thing is super-wet, call it sloppy joe."


7. All We Do: This song isn't terrible,but it's tired. Let me give you the premise: Jeezy knows a freak, he has sex with her often, and even occasionally empowers her to the point where she might even be seen as an equal. While all here and Jeezy do might be smoke and fuck, all I'm going to do is skip track 7 every time I listen to this album.
The World According to Jeezy: "She let me hit it from the back, she call it her best side."

8. Leave You Alone (Featuring Ne-Yo): Say word? Ne-Yo does hooks on rap tracks?
The World According to Jeezy: "let me be your mind reader, let me read your mind/ and when i’m done with the front, hit it from behind"

9. Everythang: The chorus on this on some so-whack-it's-fun-to-listen-to type shit. Typical triumphant beat for Jeezy to cover. I fuck with this song though. In an age where people like Drake and The Throne are talking about the pains that come with fame and money, Jeezy seems to be still relishing his success, fame, and access to, well, "a whole lotta everythang".
The World According to Jeezy: "Dreamt of some big things on my grandmama's couch, Hid some big things at my grandmama's house."

10. Trapped (featuring Jill Scott): Jill Scott's verse contains the term "whack-sauce". You know what? That's fucking whack-sauce. Aside from Ms. Scott's verse, this track is actually pretty smacking. Ol' girl's work on the chorus kind of makes up for her first-verse transgressions. Kind of. Like I'm still pissed she said whack-sauce.
The World According to Jeezy: "Spending all your money on lawyer fees, now he throwing numbers at you it's like he speaking Japenese."
The World According to Jill Scott:"I'm tellin' you it's whack-sauce."

11. F.A.M.E. (Featuring T.I.): Did they sample one of the songs from Black Hawk Down for the intro to this song and run it through auto-tune? This is a serious question that I would like the answer to. I heard this song a bit ago when it leaked, and despite some of it's cornier aspects, you know, like having T.I. on a track that is both demonstrative and introspective (see: any track of Paper Trail), I fuck with it. It's nothing special, but when you're favorite trapper's favorite trapper hasn't put anything new out in a minute, you'll listen to anything the snowman puts a 16 down on. This track is a perfect example of how Jeezy's signature simple hooks suit his tracks perfectly. It's also hilarious to hear T.I. continuously say he's a changed man and that he's growing up and this is his last time going to prison and shit. Look man, I know some dudes who say the same shit all the time; that they are getting out of the game even though they are not showing any signs of slowing down. I got two words for Tip and the rest of these goons: Career Crook. Word to Jay Hova.
The World Accoridng to Jeezy: "Bill Gates' state of mind with an automatic weapon."
The World According to T.I.: Upon several re-listens to try and find something worthy to put in this spot, I've just reconsidered and decided that T.I.'s verse just sucks. I wish it wasn't on this track.

12. I Do (Featuring Jay-Z and Andre 3000)- It appears that the case with this song is that Three Stacks dropped a 16 on this beat, and presumably flipped the two of them to Jeezy and the CTE family, and the latter two got the God MC to "bless" the track with some bars. Essentially what we have here is a poor homeless man's "International Player's Anthem", with Andre stealing the show, despite delivering a verse that is kind of whatever (but let's be honest, it's great to hear the man on wax), Jeezy coming in second, and Jay-Z's corpse in dead fucking last. Like I can understand that Andre probably has verses on ice that he's just been waiting to blow motherfucker's minds with, and Hov has put out a lot of verses as of late, but yo, how you gonna get bodied lyrically by Young Jeezy? That said, I still like this song. I was talking with my boy Noah and asked him what his thoughts were on this and his response was essentially: "that shit is so gay." And it hella is whack, like I said, they completely bit the "International Players Anthem", but fuck it, that's a good ass song to swagger jack, so I'm with it. No homo.
The World According to Jeezy: "said I must've had too much to drink, I'm in my G-Mode".
The World According to Jay-Z: Please refer to what I wrote about T.I.'s verse on the previous track
The World According to Andre 3000: I have been trying to find something to put from dude's verse here, but even after several listens and reading lyrics it's just like...'Dogg, what the fuck are you talking about? '
You know what? NoPo was right. Motherfuck this song.

13. Higher Learning (Featuring Snoop Dogg, Devin the Dude, & Mitchellel): Dude, bro, no effing way! A song about smoking weed featuring guest appearances by Snoop and Devin?!?!?!?! Give me a fucking break. Shame on you, Jeezy, you should know better than this. This is, what, the umpteenthousand time Snoop and Devin had made cameos on weed smoking songs? This shit is mad boring and played out to me. I like can't even really listen to this right now. I guess I'm just relieved that like, Evidence and Asher Roth aren't on here. I can't believe either, but especially the latter of those names actually landed on my blog. Fuck.
And yo, who the fuck is Mitchellel? Like a wannabe Bone Thug? This shit is pissing me off. Like this song isn't even bad, it's even decent, but it's just super fucking lazy.
The World According to Jeezy:  "Tipped the valet a hundred, I love to stunt."
The World According to Snoop: Something about marijuana.
The World According to Devin: Something else about marijuana.
Nobody gives a fuck about Mitchellel.

14. This One's For You (featuring Trick Daddy): Anytime Jeezy and Trick Daddy get together, you know you are about to get some real gully down south shit, and I can fuck with that. This song does not stray from that path.  The beat nicely compliments the slow flows of both Jizzle and Tricky, which provides a situation for the music to resonate while the listener marinates in the soundscapes painted with each trapper's diction.
The World According to Jeezy: "That synthetic ass shit, we call it double dip."
The World According to Trick Daddy: "Too many cliques, too much swag now."

15. .38 (featuring Freddie Gibbs): Earlier this year Freddie Gibbs signed to Young Jeezy's record label Corporate Thug Entertainment. Upon reading this, I shit my pants in jubilation. One of the streetest up-and-comers, who also doubles as one of my favorite new MCs, was now signed to the record label of one of my favorite rapper's company (let the record show that favorite doesn't have a direct correlation with best. While I thoroughly enjoy listening to Young Jeezy, I know from a skill perspective he is not even in the conversation for top 25 all time. Now fuck off and keep reading. But thanks for still reading, because this is long). Anyway, this sounds like a pretty standard Jeezy beat, but he comes in hard as a muh fuckah. This is certainly in contention for my favorite track on the album. This shit makes me wanna wild the fuck out. Like orangatangin around a house party pullin clocks off the wall type shit. Jeezy's new ad-lib "TWERK!" is also incredible.
The World According to Jeezy: "I'm in that purple Lam', lookin' like some dirty Sprite."
The World According to Freddie Gibbs:"I was good with stickups, two Mossberg pumps and a pick up."

16. Ballin (featuring Lil' Wayne): Two shitty albums and a prison sentence later, Lil' Wayne's name on a by-line now causes me to cringe rather than get excited. Oh, and the zebra jeggings aren't really generating a vote of confidence from anybody. Even the dudes who recorded "You're a Jerk" are pissed off about it. For all intents and purposes, Weezy's verse on the track isn't bad. But I still don't like it. I believe the real problem is the lack of 'zurp. Despite the fact that it's not good for him, fucked up Weezy is infinitely better than sober(ish) Weezy. He just doesn't have the same level of insanity on the mic. Where as one used to just listen to Dwayne Carter in astonishment at the shit that would fly off the top of his head and out of his mouth. Now, everything seems to be calculated in a manner that results in horseshit. I guess I'm just going to abandon any Weezy tracks that are released between now and the end of his probationary period. At which point I will anonymously mail him a vitamin water container filled with sizzurp and bag of the finest northwest marijuana.
The World According to Jeezy: "I bought the Phantom just to say it's black, I bought the Phantom just to take a nap."
The World According to Weezy: "I'm with a Spanish bitch, if she ain't fucking, ADIOS."

17. Lose My Mind (featuring Plies): I fucked with this song when it came out because it was infinitely better than Jizzle, both were released around the same time, and it goes hard when you're faded. That being said, this shit has more than ran it's chorus so I don't really get why Jeezy put it on his album that came out more than a year later.
The World According to Jeezy: "My goons got goons, house stupid dumb big, my room got rooms."
The World According to Plies: "White girls fun, cause all of them swallow."

18. Never Be The Same: This song is fine. The beat is cool, but it's really more of the same. It sounds similar enough to know who is going to go in on it, and different enough that Jeezy doesn't get accused of recycling beats. This actually might be Jeezy's best song lyrically and as far as a flow is concerned, but I'm just not that into it. Maybe I'm just getting tired of writing, but this song is kind of whatever.
The World According to Jeezy: "Condo on the top flo', bad bitch cookin'. Hit her from the back another bad bitch lookin'."

Ultimately, The World According to Jeezy is outlandish, and at times, even laughable. But that's why I love him so much, PAUSE, and by that I mean listening to his music. Unfortunately, TM103 was not as good as the predecessors that carried the same Thug Motivation tag. It sounds more like a mixtape than a real album, and even still is not as good as some of his past mixtapes. It's hard to differentiate song to song, and at times I found myself bored, I mean, 18 tracks is a pretty heavy load for a trap rap album, I think you need 13-15 TOPS. I'm sure I'll keep listening to it for a while, but at the end of the day, it will probably just get buried somewhere in my iTunes. At least the wait is over.