Jeezy Reflects on Crafting the ‘Blueprint to Corporate Thuggin” With 20 Years of ‘TM:101’

Jeezy’s grandma always told him, “Don’t ask anybody for anything without giving them something first.” Setting the table for the most important year of his life, Jeezy began 2005 by giving away his DJ Drama-hosted Trap or Die mixtape for free.

Living off a waterless diet of Cristal and Waffle House while getting just “35 minutes” of sleep per night eventually caught up with him, as Jeezy developed polyps in his throat and essentially snapped his vocal cords that spring, which required surgery — that he paid in a brown paper bag of cash — and months of recovery.

“It humbled me and I remember not having insurance at the time,” he recalls to Billboard with a laugh. “Imagine that, I had insurance on my Ferrari and not [medical] insurance!”

Jeezy mixed his Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101 debut with a pen and pad, scribbling notes to his engineer. But another roadblock emerged — which he thought would sink his rap career for good and send him back to the streets – when TM:101 leaked about a month early.

“I knew that was designed to hurt me,” Jeezy admits before explaining that the leak ended up being a blessing in disguise. “That took the pressure off, because the world had heard the music. That was the promo.”

Bootleggers spread the word across the country, and fans gravitated toward the Akon-assisted “Soul Survivor” — which Jeezy thought initially was “too big for the album,” but which was quickly tabbed as the next single. “Soul Survivor” would go on to become Jeezy’s first top five hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and restored momentum heading into his debut LP.

Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101 finally arrived on July 26, 2005, and entered at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 172,000 units earned in the first week. Jeezy had his version of a championship parade while riding down Peach Street in Atlanta on album release day, seeing thousands of Snowman posters plastered to the walls.

Jeezy’s raspy flow and motivational 16s served up trap to the masses and shifted the landscape of southern rap, while giving hustlers the playbook to corporate thuggin’. His classic debut solidified himself as a star, completing his transformation from the streets to music.

“If there was nothing else in the world, no book or other mixtapes and albums to represent me, I think people can see who I am and my character, my moral compass, my integrity and everything I’m about in that one body of work,” he reflects. “That’s why I call it ‘the blueprint.’ That’s him, Jay ‘Jeezy’ Jenkins.”

While he’s traded trips to Magic City for flights to Greece and is now mixing in plenty of water, the same street code Jeezy lived by and hustler principles embedded in TM:101‘s DNA are one he’s still applying 20 years later. Below, take a trip down memory lane and relive 2005 with Jeezy — who’s currently touring his seminal debut with a live orchestra.

How do you look at your debut album 20 years later?

The mission is the same. The consequences aren’t as dire, but they’re more life-changing. I still feel the way I did when I picked up a pen to write that album. I’m just not gonna let up. As I evolve and things change, you need a different set of skills to navigate, but I keep that same frame of mind. I go outside of my comfort zone and I’ll travel to the other side of the world to get the answers. I don’t think I’ve ever done anything for 20 years. 

Going back to the top of ’05, what do you remember about setting the table for the album with Trap or Die?

Trap or Die was different, because the consequences were dire. I had a lot of people getting incarcerated, a lot of people being unalived, and just a lot of people in poverty. I was just trying to figure it out. Trap or Die was when I was starting to find my voice and myself. I don’t know what it was — maybe the universe was telling me to give it away.

My grandmother always told me, “Don’t ask anybody for anything without giving them something first.” I remember being in the studio telling Trick Daddy and those guys I was gonna put out a mixtape. They were like, “Where you gon’ sell it at?” I was like, “I’m not, I’m gonna press up these copies and give ’em away to create a buzz.” I just wanted to be heard. I didn’t know what the next two weeks was gonna hold. I remember not even wanting to be on the same plane with the hard drives, just in case.

I pressed up several hundred thousand copies, and I remember getting $500 for my first show for Trap or Die. You gotta think I was driving to the show in a Ferrari. However, I knew this was my way out, and I had to put everything I had in this project to get some attention, because of what I was up against. I was up against people who were already established, selling millions of records. This was me and my own money and vision, I didn’t have a record label behind me. It was all or nothing.

I spent a lot of time, money, resources and effort to do Trap or Die. I’m so glad I did — it’s one of the best decisions I ever made in my life. I don’t think I’d be sitting here in front of you if I didn’t do it. Even taking a couple of those songs and putting them on Thug Motivation, my spirit told me to do that. Even now when I’m on the stage and I do those records, I feel the same, like, “Yo, this s—t is hard!” 

In the spring of ’05, you had vocal cord surgery. What do you remember about that time and having Bell’s Palsy?

I definitely wasn’t taking care of myself at the time. I was living on the edge and my diet was Cristal and Waffle House. I was probably getting about 35 minutes of sleep a day. I was living. I wasn’t drinking water — all crazy s—t. I remember not taking care of myself with the stress of people getting indicted and killed in the hood and you don’t know if you’re gonna make it or not through the summer. I was very stressed, depressed and didn’t know it. I was self-soothing with drinking and smoking and partying. A lot of trauma bonding with people in the same situation. When I got the opportunity to get on stages, I was overexcited, and didn’t ask anyone for any advice — so I’d get up there and yell the whole time. I developed polyps on my vocal cords, and it wore down over time to basically snap them.

I was just getting on around that time. Things were starting to pick up. My first thought was karma. It was crazy, because I was scared. I was just starting to get a buzz, I had a deal with Def Jam and was negotiating Boyz N Da Hood and had all these shows lined up. I didn’t know how it was gonna work out. My voice is naturally raspy — and it’s crazy, all the girls used to laugh at me because they couldn’t understand what I’m saying. Look who’s laughing now! I gave Coach K [Kevin Lee] a brown paper bag to pay for my surgery. I couldn’t talk for three or four months. 

Even when I was mixing Thug Motivation, I had to write down the changes for the engineer. So I’d sit in the sessions and write down to turn the vocals up or the snare up on that. I basically mixed Thug Motivation with a pen and pad. This sweetheart momma Jan [Smith] is Justin Bieber’s vocal coach, and some people suggested I go to her to get my voice back. I went to her as I was healing, and she was playing on the piano and made me follow along with the chords. I remember this UPS guy walked in — he was a brother — and I’m back there, “Falalala.” He looked back and said, “Oh s—t, that’s Jeezy?!” I did what I had to do, and I had to sing in the shower and all the homies staying with me were laughing, but I had to get back well.

As soon as I got back together, the Bell’s Palsy basically paralyzed half of my body. That was real, because I didn’t think it was gonna go back. I think it was all to humble me. It’s generation-changing. I got on this health mission and lost all this weight. I was drinking water. It was the ultimate wake up. I never went back, because I remember the first show and it’s the second song and they’re throwing stuff at me. I’m like, “Hold up, who’s throwing stuff?” The security guard goes, “Boss, they’re panties.” I said, “Really?! Oh okay, I’m never going back. I like this.” 

You called Magic City your office while you were recording for TM:101. I think you said you recorded over 60 songs. How did you turn the strip club into your office?

I got introduced to the strip club by my older cousins and the culture of Atlanta. I probably went through three or four different phases of Magic City. I went when I wasn’t supposed to go. I used to see this guy Leprachaun from the East Side — he was one of the biggest hustlers — I used to always wanna go see what kinda car he was driving that day out front. Whatever came out, he had it. He was my idol at the time, because he was the guy.

Then I went through a phase hanging with an older cousin and understood this was the ecosystem that was the veins of Atlanta. This is how you know who is who and if they were thorough or not. The girls would know. Magic City was a melting pot. Hustlers from Birmingham, hustlers from Houston, hustlers from Dallas and the Hustlers from Detroit. If you’re in there, people know you. I built up a reputation over time of being a solid young guy. Everyone knew I had my own money. That lasted for about six or seven years, then I went away to figure things out.

When I got serious about music, Magic City Monday, everything happened there. I had all the accolades of a rapper, but I didn’t have the music. I’d go in there with my Rolex, diamond chains and jersey with my name on it, and I’d be nervous. RIP to Nando, who was the DJ on Monday nights, he was really hard on people if their music was wack. Nando would tell you on the mic in front of everyone. There was a few times I went in and my music was wack. It made me shrink. Do I want to go out and risk my reputation to try to be a rapper? I’m looking at T.I. across the club and everyone loving him. Busta Rhymes and Fat Joe in there.

After Trap or Die, I had passed [copies] out for a few months, and Nando called me to come to the club tonight. By the time I walked in the door, I could hear DJ Drama’s drops over the speakers. By the time I walk in, the whole club is singing that s—t. It was surreal, I couldn’t believe it. He did the thing Nando does, “Jeezy in the building, bring him $50,000.” They bring the wheelbarrow out with all that money and he looks at me, “You gotta do it. It’s your time.” I took them 50 bands and made it rain. I definitely wanted to give back to the people who supported me. Those girls got me out of a lot of trouble. I looked at it as marketing. I’m gonna show you I’m living this, and I got the whip outside. Let me be this rap star. Sometimes I’d go and he’d be like, “Jeezy in the building, bring him $30,000.” Hold on, you gotta relax. I got bills, bro. 

How did the Boyz N Da Hood album springboard into your solo album?

It springboarded everything. Rest in peace to Kim Porter. Shout-out to my sister, Eboni Elektra. They call me like, “Come to the studio.” I kinda linked up with Jazze Pha. They called me over there to get on a song, and I end up getting on “Dem Boyz.” I killed the verse. I just remember [Diddy] calling me to get in this group. I didn’t know if I wanted to get in a group, but when I met the guys, I was like, “Yeah, this makes sense.” I just negotiated one album, because I understood. My background in my other job was marketing.

At the time, Kevin Liles and L.A. Reid signed me to Def Jam, and Kevin left about two weeks after he signed me — and Jay-Z was the president. Me and Hov was cool. I told him I wanted to do the other deal and [Jay-Z] was like, “Alright, cool. Tell me how you wanna do it?” I said I wanted to do one album and asked to push my album, Thug Motivation, back four or six weeks, and let the Boyz N Da Hood album come out because I’d be coming off of Streetz Is Watchin, Trap or Die, Boyz N Da Hood and then Thug Motivation.

I think it helped out a lot, because it showed a different side of me and put me amongst a group of guys who were official rappers. Those guys were dope so I had to step it up. I was used to being by myself. We had USDA, but these guys were coming from the streets and actually artists. They were trying to get me to do four albums. I told them they can give me the money for four albums for one album. I was already on the song. Y’all want me on the song in the group or y’all want to pay me? They went for it.

One part from your book that stuck out to me was a conversation with T.I. telling you that you “can’t do the street s—t and the rap s—t.” You didn’t want to sacrifice the integrity for mainstream acclaim?

I thought they was tricking me. I thought T.I. was still… That’s the Rubber Band Man. I’m like, “You trying to trick me to get all the money in the city?” You can’t get the rap money and the street money, we gotta figure it out. That resonated with me — and I went home and thought about it. He’s right, it’s all or nothing. Take the island and burn the ships. Tip is one of my close friends, and those words really resonated with me, because that’s where my mind was. I had to choose one and sway one way.

It was another great decision and it was hard at first. I had a lifestyle to maintain. Now I’m not doing what I used to do. Summertime’s coming, and the homies are getting Ferraris and Lamborghinis, and I got the car from three summers ago. People are looking at you like you not doing so good, and I’m doing it for the greater good. Best thing I’ve ever done. When things started happening, the studio kept me out of a lot of trouble. It was my sanctuary. I wasn’t caught up in them. I was making records and doing shows.

I would get little gigs on the weekend and pay my bills for the time being. It was definitely humbling. You eating at all the top sushi restaurants and all these steaks, and now you eating Ramen noodles in the crib. 

No Outback Steakhouse? 

No Outback. I was eating Ramen noodles. I put it all in the music. I sold two or three of my cars and some watches. I didn’t know how long I was gonna sustain this. I had my son at the time. It was a lot of real-life decisions I had to make. If you want something bad enough, you’re gonna have to sacrifice. Ramen ain’t too bad if you put a lot of hot sauce. 

Recording for this album, how did it start to take shape? What were some of the early records?

I was coming out of Trap or Die and I started recording 101 before I had the deal. A couple songs shaping the album was “Trap or Die,” “Get Ya Mind Right” and a couple that were on the mixtape. I was like, “This is bigger than a mixtape. How do I get these off and put them on a project?” Everybody was like, “They’re out, so people aren’t gonna want to hear them again.” I’m like, “I don’t know about that.” I started to shape the album that way.

I got in this mode where I was recording. I knew I was onto something, because Mannie Fresh was my hero. I loved everything about Cash Money. When we did “And Then What,” I was over the moon. Trick Daddy was the same way. I love Trick. We did “Last of a Dying Breed” with him and Young Buck. That was an indicator I’m onto something. I was in the studio and Bu [Akon’s brother] called me to meet him outside. I ain’t even have no shoes on. He gave me a CD, “Akon told me to give this to you.” 

I came back and threw the CD in and there was six songs on there with hooks, and I got to the last one and it was “Soul Survivor.” I was like, “This is crazy.” I put a verse on it before we went to the club. Right when I finished my verse and Shakir Stewart walked in like, “What is this?” I said, “[Akon] sent me this.” I was like, “It’s too big, I don’t really want to go this route for the album.” Shakir’s like, “Yeah, whatever.” We go to the club and when we come back, I like to get new energy, so I throw on whatever inspired me in the club. We went to Visions and I came back to do a record about popping bottles and Shakir was like, “Nah, go back to the record Akon gave you and put a second verse on there.” I go in and put the second verse on there and I’m done with it. I’m moving on to the next thing, but I can see it in his eyes.

The only way I figured it wasn’t too big for the album was that the album got leaked four weeks before it came out, and it was with all the bootleggers. So before I could even decide what a single could be, they already decided. I told Def Jam I’m shooting “Trap or Die.” They were like, “You can shoot whatever you want to shoot, but we’re shooting this video [for ‘Soul Survivor’].” We shot it in Brooklyn and everybody from Hov to Beanie Sigel and Cam’ron and Jim Jones came out. “Soul Survivor” is when I knew this is different. 

What did you think when the album leaked? You told a story about how the engineer got f—ed up.

Yeah. I’ma be honest, that’s why I look at the world the way I do — you gotta just walk in faith. I knew that was designed to hurt me. That took the pressure off, because the world had heard the music. That was the promo. He leaked it. It actually helped me. When I first heard it got leaked, my first thoughts was, “Damn, I gotta go back to the streets.” All you hear is back stories about projects getting leaked. The numbers are low, and labels don’t wanna put money behind you. I remember sitting one night, “Damn, what we gonna do?” Talking to myself. I said, “The best thing to do is to wait it out and don’t make any sudden movements. Don’t start calling people from the streets.” We ran into a couple of bootleggers but that didn’t stop anything.

I was laying in bed, depressed, and the news was on. It was FOX 5, “Upcoming next story, the bootleggers…” They’re bootlegging everybody and the first CD I saw when they showed was Thug Motivation. I’m like, “This is crazy.” The cover wasn’t the same, but it was Thug Motivation. Like, “Oh, this is real.” That was the promotion. The bootleggers went to Chicago, Detroit, D.C. — and that’s something I couldn’t do at the time. It worked. Walk in faith and go with the universe. It’s not happening to you, it’s happening for you.

What do you remember about release day for the album? You’re driving down Peach Street seeing thousands of Snowman posters on the wall. 

Yeah, Snowman posters up everywhere. I did an album release party at Visions. Jay-Z and Beyoncé came. Shakir Stewart got on the mic, “Shout-out to Jeezy. He just closed the biggest deal ever. $100 million.” I looked at my homies like, “Hold up.” I’m like, “What are you doing?” He’s like, “Ya gotta sell it.” I don’t know about that.

At 7:30, there was a line around the corner. It was so real. I can’t describe it, because even then I was going through a lot of survivor’s remorse. I was trying to enjoy myself, but I was seeing what it was doing to the people and things around me. I started to feel different. I wasn’t one of them anymore. It’s different now. I didn’t know how to differentiate the two because I’m loyal by default. I wasn’t really as happy for myself as I should be. I was like, “We made it.” They were like, “Nah, you made it.”

In my mind, I was trying to understand what tomorrow’s gonna be like. Now my reality that used to be my reality isn’t my reality anymore. I can’t go back to that. 

Let’s touch on a few tracks. “Go Crazy.”

I went to somebody’s spot and they doing their thug thing. The music in there is T.I.’s mixtape he just put out with Drama. Everybody sitting around listening to it and then the beat comes on and it’s the “Go Crazy” beat. I’m like, “That is crazy.” I hear Don Cannon’s tag on it, and when I leave, I get on the phone with Cannon, “Can you make me a beat like that?” He said, “What beat?” I said, “The beat with the horns in it.” I kept trying to sing it to him. He said, “Why not get that beat? Tip rapped over it but he didn’t buy it.” I go, “I wanna buy it right now.”

He sent me the files and I’m coming to New York for a meeting with Def Jam and I write “Go Crazy” on the plane. I took the CD with me, wrote it on the plane and came back the same night and recorded it. I came to New York that morning and I was back in the studio in Atlanta at about 6 p.m. I wrote three verses and played it for Cannon. Around the time Kevin Liles left and Jay stepped in, me and Jay got really tight. I played it for Def Jam. They came to Atlanta for a listening party and I played it. Everyone’s going crazy. I looked around and they all clapped and I said, “I’m getting Jay-Z on this, by the way. So y’all need to tell him.” Joking, but not joking. 

Three or four months later, I’m in L.A. for the BET Awards and Hov called me to come up to the hotel and we’re sitting on the patio smoking cigars and talking. He goes, “I’m gonna do it, by the way.” I said, “Do what.” He said, “The record.” I said, “Get the f—k out of here!” Mind you, he already did it. I was out in L.A. for another promo run at the radio station with Coach K and Jay sent it. I’m doing an interview and Coach K is like, “I got it.” I gotta go hear this. I tell the guy in the middle of the interview, “I gotta go hear this Jay-Z verse.” Me and Coach K went in the hallway and he played it. I was like, “Oh my God. This is crazy!” I grew up listening to Hov. That was a lot of my inspiration. 2Pac’s my guy for sure, but I understood what Hov was saying about the hustler mentality and how to keep evolving.

Nobody believed that I had the verse either. When the album came out and they saw Jay-Z on there, it was game over. New York had love for me. I used to go to Rucker Park and Spanish Harlem. These my friends. The Jay-Z co-sign really locked it all in. It was surreal. The crazy thing is Don Cannon told me recently that was his first placement ever. So he owes me a lot. You got Jay-Z on your first placement. 

Do you remember what you paid him for that?

Probably a couple of thousand, if that. 

What did you think about the Snowman t-shirts that were everywhere? Schools were banning them. Kanye hit you up; he wanted his own one. 

Going back to Tip, I was driving down 20 and he called my phone. He said, “That’s great marketing. Your logo is great marketing.” I was like, “What you talking about?” He said, “The Snowman.” I more so thought that’s the name they call you. He goes, “Nah, that’s genius.” I remember sitting in Def Jam with my project manager and I’m talking to her and holding my [Snowman] chain. We’re both like, “Wait, let’s do this.” I said, “We’ll put it on CDs.” She said, “We’ll put it on shirts.” Even better. We put them out, and it got so crazy in Atlanta and you might see a homeless person with one on. It was that real, which I loved. It was one of the longest-lasting symbols and icons, outside of the Wu-Tang Clan and the Cash Money tank. 

It didn’t hit me until one day I was shopping in Harlem and the first five stores had bootlegs. I went to the magic show with Jay-Z and he was doing the Rocawear thing and we took a stroll in Vegas and everybody running up to me, “Jeezy, we love you. Everybody’s eating.” I’m like, “Hov, what they talking about?” I asked a guy and he said, “These Snowman shirts, they moving.” You go to their booths and they’re stacked up to the ceiling in different colors. The Snowman I had didn’t have bandanas on and AK-47s. I can see why they tried to ban those.

I knew what I was doing, because it was a symbol that represented the oppressed. It was the ultimate hustler, thinker and leader. It was something a 90-year-old or a two-year-old could recognize. My daughter running around wants to build a snowman. I’m like, “I am the Snowman.” To me, that was inevitable. It had to be bigger than me. You have no idea from a kid that grew up wearing his cousin’s clothes to school and switching out so we could have different outfits and you have a shirt in these stores that represents you and the struggle and the evolution. All of it is fashion. Ain’t nobody wearing something they make in Atlanta in Harlem. I couldn’t believe it, and neither could Def Jam. 

20 years later, when I’m on stage or at a convention, you see 50 Snowman shirts on people. You sit there like, “These are adults that still believe, and they’re supporting.” It’s almost like a team. I love to see it. I might be on tour with different people, but you can tell who my people are.  

For me, TM:101 is the seminal trap album ushering in a new era. What does it mean to you when you look back at its legacy?

I think it was the blueprint. When I look at 2Pac’s All Eyez On Me and Makaveli, more so Makaveli, it was the blueprint for me — because it just had real rules and guidelines in it. Beliefs, values — he was a revolutionary. For me, I believe that I was a corporate thug. At least I was going to be. I believe I was able to motivate because of what I had been through, and what I had to motivate people through. Everybody’s not as strong as you, and I learned that a long time ago. People will self-destruct or they just can’t take the pressure or pain.

hat’s how I knew early on I was a leader — because you’re not a leader if there’s not pain involved. You have to make decisions. Not as if they can’t think for themselves, but to make sure you guys stay aligned. That’s a 24-hour, 365 [day] job. Everyone can’t take that pressure. That’s what let me know I had something great and that was my purpose.

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. I told you what I was gonna do. Corporate thugging and being a soul survivor. 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.

If you listen to the song, it sounds different because it means what it means now. If you listen to “Get Ya Mind Right,” it means that. Last time I checked, I was the man on these streets, that’s real. “Standing Ovation,” you think not? I think it’s the blueprint. He evolved over 20 years, from Young Jeezy to Jeezy to Jay “Jeezy” Jenkins. We owning it all. We’re not separating the man from the art; we don’t have to.