As Jeezy noted before playing “And Then What” during his NPR Tiny Desk debut, he goes by a lot of names. There’s Jizzle, which he started going by around 2010. There’s also Bling (favored by the Fort Lauderdale crowd) and the two-for-one deal of Snow and Jeezy the Snowman. The most recent addition he tacked onto the list is the title of New York Times Bestseller. The rapper released his first book, Adversity for Sale, last year, but the lessons written in his memoir were in his music first.
“I’m gonna take y’all on a journey so y’all can see how I got from there to here, to Tiny Desk,” Jeezy explained at the top of his set. “I used to stand on a tiny porch. But if you stick with your dreams and stay about your business, you can get anywhere.”
He launched first into “Standing Ovation,” which recalls the first moment he walked onto a stage and was showered in praise for his work. “I couldn’t believe god was so good,” he said afterward. “Coming from my circumstances, to see people applaud me for what I had been through meant the world. It’s why I kept going and it’s why I’m here today. Because if you believe, you shall achieve.”
Weaving a seamless narrative through the set, Jeezy continued with “Air Forces,” recounting not only where he came from but what he was wearing. In front of an audience of Howard University students (despite their fickle energy levels), the rapper beamed with pride about both.
“I was very proud and fortunate to be from the South. I’m from the deep South and there was a point in time where they didn’t even give us our props for music,” he explained. “I give it up to André 3000, he shifted it. He told them the South got something to say and I was like, you damn right. I wanted to represent that, so I had to make a name for myself.”
Trending
“Bottom of the Map” was up next, followed by “And Then What,” “Go Crazy” and the set-closer “Everythang.” While introducing “Go Crazy,” Jezzy reflected on his humble beginnings and his strongest source of inspiration at the time.
“I was able to connect with my people and my culture because we spoke the same language. One thing I loved when I was doing my first tours with Jay-Z and all these big names is when we went to these cities, I connected with the hustlers,” he said. “I connected with the women that were trying to do better for themselves and their kids. I connect with the people who wanted to strive … when I wrote this song right here, that’s what it was about. I just wanted to inspire and give people the blueprint, people who wanted more for themselves.”