“We’re in H-town so we have to do something special!” yelled Jeezy as he stood center stage at the House of Blues Sunday night. Dressed simply in black shorts, a black T-shirt with his signature snowman logo, a black hat turned to the back, and a gold chain, the Atlanta rapper paced pack and forth pumping up the crowd.
“I want to see who is a real day one,” he exclaimed as he looked back at the DJ and returned his gaze back to the crowd. While the DJ cued up the next song Jeezy stood up on the monitor in front of him, arms crossed, as the sound of blaring horns filled the room. The audience lifted their hands as “Dey Know” boomed through the speakers.
Jay Jeezy Jenkins has grown well beyond his introduction into the music world with the release of 2001’s Thuggin’ Under the Influence (T.U.I). His major label release Let’s Get It: thug Motivation 101 would help to define a genre and influence so many MCs that followed. His gritty anthems of struggle and success have brought him from the streets of Atlanta to the halls of of the upper echelon of politics. He executive produced Hip-Hop and The White House, a Hulu documentary examining the intersection of politics and Hip-Hop music.
Last year he released Adversity for Sale: Ya Gotta Believe, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller where Jeezy speaks about his upbringing from South Georgia to his journey becoming a father, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. While a search of his name now pops up prominent news stories of his recent separation, all that is dwarfed by his musical accomplishments. Jeezy’s Playlist Concert Series focuses on those musical accomplishments, giving real fans the opportunity to hear the Snowman run through his hits and mixtape classics.
Jeezy’s discography consists of 13 studio albums, 18 mixtapes, and 70 singles and The Playlist Concert series goes deep into his catalog. The 26-city tour began back in July and has been crisscrossing the country giving fans a taste of the old Jeezy, a fact that he recognizes and addresses during the show.
“They told me what y’all want to hear Houston,” he laughed into the microphone. “They said if you gonna get it rocking, we don’t want to hear no new shit!”
The Playlist Concert series is aptly named with its curated selection of songs that are picked by Jeezy fans. Jeezy has built a career from mixtape anthems and he doesn’t shy away from those that brought him success. He leans heavily into the fan-selected songs, especially the deep cuts, which in many other artists’ cases would seem to be forgotten. Songs like “Dey Know,” “All There,” “Standing Ovation,” “Lose My Mind” and “I Luv It” kept the crowd on their feet and chanting in unison.
Jeezy displayed the stage presence he’s honed for the last two decades, but often it was simply the MC leading the packed house through the chorus of his hits. The call and response style were on full display with “Way Too Gone” and “Everythang” where the sold-out crowd basically took over the song as camera phones and hands rose into the air.
Sunday marked the second to last night of The Playlist Concert series, but the show does display the power of allowing fans to have some say in the song selection. Hopefully more artists will take their cues from Jeezy’s example because Sunday night’s concert left fans little to criticize.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
