Forget whatever you did last night - Young Jeezy was in the studio writing rhymes to Timbaland beats in one room, working with Just Blaze in another, and having Keyshia Cole re-record vocals to their collab track in a third. All in the course of finishing up this fall's crazily anticipated Inspiration: Thug Motivation 102. We got to hear some tracks from it in the company of the Snowman yesterday, and give you the rundown after the jump.
- "Hypnotized," perhaps Shawty Redd's most goth-ed out beat yet. Overdriven, heaven vs. hell synthesizers and quadruple-time hihats provide a bed for Jeezy's whispers (and absolutely massive, screwed-down backing vocals). Even though many of the new tracks we heard stretch away from Jeezy's debut blueprint, there's more than enough songs like "Hypnotized" to satisfy the Lets Get It faithful. 60+ have been recorded so far, and the plan is to take 14 for the album and save the best of the rest for a follow-up to DJ Drama's You Can't Ban The Snowman mixtape.
- "Bury Me A G", a Pac-referencing, soul-sampling cut where Jeezy envisions his own death and bellows "Bury me in Evisu jeans, a USDA top and a throwaway glock" on the chorus.
- A new Akon collaboration, although the song Jeezy calls "Soul Survivor Pt 2" isn't that one, but his track with Keyshia Cole - which, even though we only heard a snippet of the demo version, can say that it lives up to his hype.
- "She Can Get It", a Scott Storch-produced "girl song" with TI on assist. Jeezy is skeptical about heading into this territory, even for just one song - and although "She Can Get It" isn't bad at all, we're pretty skeptical too - but having TI on the song definitely helps. "That's already Tip's lane," Jeezy says. "So why not do it with him?" He went on to tell us about an "even crazier" club track recorded with Ne-Yo and Ludacris. "I played that for my people, and they we're like, you cannot put this out!"
- "Black Bandanna", which, between it's gruff, catchy chorus and guitar sample, made Jeezy remark "This one's gonna get the white kids putting their rag up!"
- A "west coast" song with Snoop that isn't G-Funk, but a cinematic ride-out track (think purple Michael Mann sunsets) that's smooth as fuck while still keeping a uneasy, menacing feel throughout - to our ears, this is perhaps the best example of Jeezy trying new sonics but keeping the same Trapper Of The Year charm that made us love him in the first place.