Key Takeaways:
- Jeezy reflects on the legacy of Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101 20 years after its release, calling it the “blueprint” of his career.
- The “TM:101 20th Anniversary Live Tour” reimagines Jeezy’s debut album with orchestral arrangements and live performances.
- Despite leaking early, the album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and helped define the sound of Southern Hip Hop.
Jeezy is looking back on two decades of Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101. Speaking to Billboard on Friday (June 27), the Atlanta rapper said his iconic debut was essentially the roadmap for his journey ever since.
“Writing that album — looking at it 20 years from when I wrote it — I look at it as the blueprint. These are the things I went through, and this is how I overcame it, and you see me 20 years later, do you believe what I’m saying? The proof of concept is there,” he told the publication. “I told you what I was gonna do. Corporate thugging and being a soul survivor.”
The “Seen It All” hitmaker added, “That’s what this is. Look at all the things I endure and all the things I was able to navigate. That’s what a soul survivor does.”
Despite leaking a few weeks before its official release, TM:101 became an instant classic and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The album introduced hits like “Get Ya Mind Right,” “Soul Survivor” with Akon, “My Hood,” and perhaps its biggest standout, “Go Crazy,” featuring JAY-Z.
Speaking about that Hov collaboration specifically, Jeezy noted, “Nobody believed that I had the verse either. When the album came out and they saw JAY-Z on there, it was game over.” Ghostface Killah even popped up in the visual companion for the Don Cannon-produced record where Jeezy notably rapped, “Cash rules everything around me, so what's realer? / About the scrilla, call me a Ghostface Killah.”
To celebrate the album’s 20th anniversary, Jeezy is hitting the road with his “TM:101 Live Tour,” which starts on Friday in Miami. He’ll also stop in major cities like New York, Nashville, Atlanta, and Chicago, before wrapping up in Detroit on Sept. 12. Joining him on the run are composer Derrick Hodge, the Color of Noize Orchestra, and DJ Drama, who’s set to appear as a special guest.