***DISCLAIMER*** @BBQx_ wrote this article and he is a free lance blogger.
Well its about fucking time.
The major release that everyone who is anyone has been eagerly anticipating FOR YEARS is now (illegally) on the iPods and hard drives of the masses. When Young Jeezy released his The Real Is Back mixtape in May 2011, it was the first sign that TM:103 Hustlerz Ambition could become a reality. The Real Is Back was full of start-to-finish bangers. In fact, nearly 8 months later, I still listen to it regularly. TRIB is certainly in my top 3 mixtapes of 2011. It made ya wonder that if he was willing to just give away THAT kind of music…how great was the shit that he was holding back for TM:103??
WELL, we kinda received an indication of such just a few weeks later when Jeezy released ANOTHER mixtape, The Real Is Back 2 which was a MASSIVE WOMP in comparison to its predecessor. Its not that TRIB2 was BAD necessarily, but the first one was just THAT good. I was scared. It made me question if he was laying the groundwork for failure if/when TM103 was released. Years of hype + declining quality ≠ success, typically. Fast-forward months later though, and the world finally had the opportunity to see what Jeezy had been up to for all of this time.
With TM:103 downloaded and all of my info properly tagged and sorted in my iTunes, I grabbed my headphones and took some notes. Ronald “@iChArnold” Isley made it clear that no one, except maybe Axl Rose, cares about a “white ninja-lover’s” opinion about rap.
But FUCK IT, here are my thoughts anyway.
TM:103 Hustlerz Ambition
1.) Waiting: Solid introduction to this album. Lyrically, he re-establishes himself as well…Young Jeezy. Musically, I don’t know/care who created this beat, but the bassline is dead-ass “Put On”, which is difficult for me to ignore. But there are enough differences to prevent me from calling this a recycled beat. Overall, I liked this record.
2.) What I Do (Just Like That): This is a track that will immediately be added to my workout playlist. Classic Jeezy. This is the kind of track you should not listen to alone as it WILL inflate your G and have you steppin’ to people that you would not ordinarily step to. LISTEN WITH CAUTION
3.) OJ [feat. Fabolous & Jadakiss]: This is a BANGER. Fuck rap, this is a great song PERIOD. Jeezy, Fab & Kiss come hard and the beat is melodic. The kind that you can find yourself humming, which is atypical of most rap beats. I hope the label doesn’t release this record because I don’t need radio playing it out and ruining it for me.
4.) Nothing: I only made it through the first 47 seconds. Shit was boring.
5.) Way Too Gone [feat. Future]: BANGER #2. This is like THE perfect song to bop to after a fifth of your favorite vodka. Great hook, Future held his own on here…show me someone who dislikes this song and I will show you an asshole (pause).
6.) Supafreak [feat. 2 Chainz]: I have a ZERO tolerance policy for corny synths. Leave the Casio keyboard at home, especially when millions of dollars and BBQ’s endorsement are on the line. I lost interest before Shity Boi could even spit. NEXT. smh
7.) All We Do: Not terrible. Surprisingly soft for Jeezy. TM:103 is a major album release, so you can expect some fluff records for the ladie, but if you listen to this without a woman present, you might be a gaywad. No one man nor group of men should enjoy this record.
8.) Leave You Alone [feat. Ne-Yo]: Fag track #2. Get Ne-Yo ALL THE WAY THE HELL up off my TM:103. Trying to appeal to the ladies is killing these major releases. I could only make it through 1:05 of this.
9.) Everythang: This is corny. Sounds like 50 with gravel in his mouth trying to sing on the hook. Jeezy did it on other tracks on here and it sounded fine, but this whole song is just boring. Only made it about half-way through this record.
10.)Trapped [feat. Jill Scott]: I don’t get it. Maybe I’m the one with the problem. But miss me with this crap. The intro is too drawn out and I don’t need to hear Jill Scott on my TM:103. Lasted about half-way through this record.
11.)F.A.M.E. [feat. T.I.]: Long intro BUT it was done properly. It was interesting and it had me anticipating the body of the track. Unfortunately, the body of the track sucked. I can’t get with this. This should have been on J. Cole’s album or some shit. I lost interest at about one-quarter of the way through
12.)I Do [feat. Jay-Z & Andre 3000]: Yeeeeeeeah, I like this shit. This is what I like to call a “POLISHED record”…for us grown folks. You young cats, gone ahead and skip to track 13. The subject matter isn’t what you would typically expect from Jeezy or Hov, but they pull it off. 3 Stacks didn’t disappoint, but he didn’t impress either. I started to lose interest about half-way through his verse specifically, but the record was good enough up to that point to acknowledge it as “aight”.
13.)Higher Learning [feat. Snoop Dogg & Devin The Dude]: Not a bad song to cruise to. This beat is the kind of down-tempo, laid-back soundscape that makes me wish I smoked weed or at least drank while driving. Lyrically, its about what you would expect from a 40-year old Snoop and Devin.
14.)This Ones For You [feat. Trick Daddy]: Painfully average. Beat sounds very amateurish, no layers or depth. Average beats yield average lyrics. I didn’t feel compelled to skip to the next record, which is a good thing, but at the end of the song I had no opinion whatsoever about the last 5:26 of my life.
15.).38 [feat. Freddie Gibbs]: I like this record. Beat is reminiscent of something you would hear from an artist on Hypnotize Minds, with the lightning quick high hats and a melody sampled from a suspense movie. Jeezy’s lyrics are solid, but I feel like Freddie Gibbs shit on him. I never really cared much for Freddie Gibbs, but I am at least curious to hear his next album/mixtape.
16.)Ballin [feat. Lil Wayne]: I’m gonna go ahead and give Jeezy BANGER credit for this track even though its about 8 or so months old. Everyone has heard this and has it memorized so I am not going to break this down any further.
17.)Lose My Mind [feat. Plies]: I’d love to know why the label deemed it necessary for this record to make the final cut. I won’t be listening to this record by my own volition ever again.
18.)Never Be The Same: BANGER #4. A trance melody with a southern drum kit? Don’t mind if I do! You could reasonably expect to hear this record in the club. Lyrically, Jeezy went topical and really managed to sustain my attention throughout the entire song, I was curious to hear what he would say next and I didn’t find it at all predictable.
Verdict: BANGER
For an album to receive banger status, it needs to have 3 bangers on it and Jeezy gave us an EASY 4.
While I do not feel that TM:103 is BETTER than The Real Is Back, it is certainly as good.
Lyrically, with the exception of maybe “Never Be The Same”, nothing stood out to me to suggest that he has gotten any better or grew as a rapper. It was pretty much same ol’ Jeezy, for better or for worse. Its difficult for me to take an artist seriously who at 34 still raps about the same shit he did when he got into the game at 24ish. Maybe you would call that lack of evolution, “consistency”. Either way, it doesn’t matter because this is still a GREAT ALBUM.
I feel like his beat selection and choice of features really set this album apart from his prior work and recent releases by other artists. He took a risk on the overall sound of the album and I think it worked very well. There were some real misses for me on this album, but he really nailed the hits.
This album is a MUST-HAVE for anyone who claims to love not just rap but music in general!!
@BBQx_ on twitter for more opinions and fuckery in general
***DISCLAIMER*** @BBQx_ wrote this article and he is a free lance blogger.
© 2011, @BWyche. All rights reserved.
