On the eve of his long-awaited Thug Motivation: 103 – the last in the trilogy – we talked with the Atlanta native about the current ‘emotional’ state of hip hop, his purpose in life and (surprisingly) love.
Check out the interview:
Jeezy, welcome back! We’re loving the new single ‘I Do’! I can’t help but sing the hook!
(Laughs) Thank you sweetheart, just don’t go getting married on me now.
Perfect place to start! You have professed several times over that you’re married to the game. Would you ever marry in real life?
It would take a lot. I was put here for a reason. It’s not like I get up and practice how to be Jeezy. I really live this life. And my career, my music, the game, that is my life. And for me to get married, I’d have to find somebody to ride with me. That takes a lot of balance. This is 24/8. I’m in the studio, or gone a lot. And not to mention that chicks dig me, so it’s hard to find that trust. More importantly, it’s hard to deal with somebody who’s already in love with something else.
Have you ever been in love?
I had a female or two that I thought was down, but over time things change – you start to see the real person and their real motives. So no, I wouldn’t call it love. I thought it was at the time, but I was wrong.
What went wrong?
Some people don’t want to share you. I love being the spokesperson for my people. It’s hard to share me with that. The game is all I’ve ever known since I was like eleven. And it’s been there for me when no female hasn’t…Honestly, half of my life I’ve f-cked up a lot of things because I’m too loyal.
That’s a loaded statement. Care to elaborate?
Nah…I’m not too much into talking specifics.
I notice that. You are extremely private when it comes to your personal life. Where does that come from? Was that a conscious decision?
I was always taught by the older cats that I came up under to never let anybody know what’s going on in your game room. Love and loyalty are big things to me. You have to protect those things. And the moment you start opening up those doors to everybody, you lose the ability to protect them.
What kind of woman does Young Jeezy like? What attracts you? And what keeps you?
What attracts me? Hmm, well of course looks attract me, but in order to keep me you have to be well rounded. A woman has to be confident, hard working – it doesn’t even matter what you do – just go hard for it. But she’s got to have her own. I couldn’t deal with someone who doesn’t have a passion. She might even call me for a lil advice and I might go to her when I’m stressed and we can work it out together. A man and woman were put here to be a team, so they could build together. But before we can get there, you first have to have your own.
You have a track with Drake, ‘Unforgettable’. And Drizzy’s taking a lot of flack now a days for his brand of ‘Emotional Hip Hop’. What are your thoughts on it? Has Hip Hop gotten too emo?
Hip Hop has always been emotional. I feel like with me, a lot of my stuff comes across as rough. I speak from stress, I speak from pain, anxiety and so my music comes out real aggressive. But that’s because that’s the emotion I’m sharing. But I’ve always thought my music was emo, I just choose aggressive tracks. But aggressive times cause for aggressive measures. You can try to finesse it but the emotion has always been there, so I think what’s happening now is artists are choosing more finessing tracks. There’s still the same amount of emotion – they may be talking about other things – but what you’re really hearing are softer tracks.
Alright Jeezy, the new album is TM:103. So give me Three Tips on How To Love A Thug.
Respect His Mind: When you come from a place where the odds are against you, you don’t think like everyone else. You grow up paranoid and sometimes self-centered. And it’s not that you even mean anything by it, you’re just so used to doing what you have to do to stay alive. So if you ‘re gonna be with a man like that, you have to understand that’s just how his mind works and ya’ll are going to have to figure out how to make it work, together.
Let Him Do What He Do: If you met that man in the club, then don’t get mad if he wants to dip off to the club every once in a while. That’s where you met him, so that’s obviously what he likes. He’s the club guy, so let him be who he is. Don’t come in and try to change him. That’s when ya’ll are gonna run into problems.
No Matter What, Always Stay Down: If he wakes up one day, and it’s all gone you have to be the woman ready to roll up your sleeves and help him build it all back.
No comments:
Post a Comment