"Scotty" may have lived on D4L's debut album Down for Life, but it is all Fabo. In its wake, Tigallo and Pooh became two vanguards of the culture in the 21st century. The Minstrel Show was a reminder that the South contains multitudes and stood as a defiant work of art that flew in the face of anyone who wanted to point to the region as a vapid landscape of low-carb silliness. The trio from North Carolina built a masterpiece of an album that doubled as a social commentary on Black identity and capitalism, and they did so while embracing their Southern roots in the middle of the Crunk era - when distancing themselves as too intellectual for such a movement would have been the easy choice.
Little Brother mixed that Soulquarian, coffee-shop coating with a particular Southerness that made them stand out upon the release of their debut LP, The Listening, but it was the follow-up though, 2005's The Minstrel Show, that sealed Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh as cultural critics who laid their essays over 9th Wonder's beats. The Soulquarians were also associated with a Northern, more highbrow persona despite the fact their biggest star, Erykah Badu, was from Dallas. Little Brother is the intellectual offspring of acts like the Soulquarians - the collective of eclectic artists including Common, The Roots and D'Angelo who eschewed the trappings of popular music in favor of a more underground aesthetic. It's hard not to respect the approach and even harder not to listen. While the majority of his peers at the time (and still to this day) weaponized their fortune against those without, the sole purpose of TM101 was to offer a playbook to the hustlers and go-getters. Looking back with the understanding of capitalism that we have now, one might say that these messages are easy to dispel, but there's immense value in Jeezy's intent here. He preaches that putting your head down and working both smart and hard will get you everything you want in life. Though the subject matter was specific, the lessons were universal - a reminder to us (and maybe himself, even) of the long, trying process of the climb. And in the process, he pioneered dramatic, personalized ab-libs as absolute essentials in rap, as well as changing the meaning of a snowman from a wholesome winter fixture to a demonized symbol of drug trafficking in pop culture. In regaling listeners with his colorful tales of the trap and the spoils of war, he framed his life as a true American rags-to-riches success story. Thug Motivation 101 continued to build on that ethos, but its lessons felt accessible, polished and primed for wide consumption.
"I talk that shit to let n***** know, man, it's out there for you to get," he proclaims in an interlude. The mixtape was grittier and unvarnished with its hustler's mentality devouring everything in sight. The distinction comes into focus with Jeezy's Trap or Die mixtape and the album it birthed, Thug Motivation 101. On tapes, rappers were allowed to color outside of the lines - reimagining beats that their peers glided over commercially, while making sure they were prioritizing their core base's wants and needs. At that point, mixtapes and albums had clear lines of distinction, but both had equal significance to an artist's credibility. When Young Jeezy came onto the scene, hip-hop was at a special intersection of underground and mainstream culture. With cadences that never feel duplicated and production that translates as pure, unvarnished crunk, Savage Life encapsulates Southern rap at its most indefatigable. He's consistent in his imperturbable nature, choosing to turn up when and how he sees fit and keeping the momentum hurtling forward from song to song. On "How U Ridin'," he asserts dominance through his cars, and on "Mind Ya' Business," he applies pressure to his enemies in a flurry of taunts. Save for a handful of detours to speak directly to the women listening - with tracks like the desirous lead single "Give Me That" and the timeless twerk anthem "Like That," which has been interpolated by underground artists like SpaceGhostPurrp and Robb Bank$ and mainstream supernovas like Megan Thee Stallion and Beyoncé (who's actually shouted out on the song) - most of the album is spent flexing on his contemporaries. Arrogant, self-assured and subtly menacing, the Baton Rouge rapper wanted it to be known that he was an MC to be taken seriously. "Tell me what you know about me? W-E-B-B-I-E." It's the first bar Webbie spits on his debut solo album, Savage Life, and his attitude even in that short introduction immediately sets the tone for the rest of the album.
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