By Aishwarya Ramesh | February 18, 2014 1 Comment

NET WORTH: $15 million

PROFESSION: Rapper, RnB artist, Record Label Owner

 

Originally Jay Wayne Jenkins, he began his musical career in the year 2001 as an independent rapper. Shortly after which, he joined the band “United Streets Dopeboyz of America” (commonly abbreviated to U.S.D.A) as its lead singer in 2005. He produced his debut album under an independent label. The album was titled ‘Lets Get it: Thug Motivation 101’ and its song Soul Survivor (which featured famous African singer Akon) became well renowned throughout the world of RnB and rap music. The band and this single finally gave him the recognition that he had been waiting for and working towards. ‘Soul Survivor’ was featured in the list of US top ten singles and was internationally recognized.

There was no looking back for Young Jeezy after this. After the success of his first album, he went on to release a second album in 2006 titled ‘The Inspiration.’ The album was very well received by audiences world over who had, by now grown to like the rapper and his style.  ‘The Inspiration’ topped the billboards top 200 within the first week of its release in December, selling nearly 3,52,000 albums in that period of time.

In 2007, Young Jeezy released their debut album ‘Cold Summer’ alongside U.S.D.A. Sales peaked immediately as the album debuted #4 in the billboards, selling almost 95,000 copies within its first week. This added exponentially to Young Jeezy’s popularity, giving him the appeal that audiences looked for.

In 2008, he released ‘The Recession’ which topped the Billboards top 200 in its first week, selling over 2,60,000 copies. By this time, Jeezy had begun associating himself with big names in the industry. So naturally, this album saw him do collaboratory tracks with big names such as Kanye West, Nas, Usher, Akon and post the release of the album, he went on to collaborate with other artists on their albums, resulting in a give and take situation of popularity, record sales and appeals.

After repeated delays,  his album ‘Thug motivation 103’ was released in December 2011. It debuted at #3 on the billboard 200 and first week sales swept 2,33,000 copies. The next year, Jeezy had different plans. He confirmed on October 2012 that he indeed did have plans of creating a mixtape. It was called ‘It’s Tha World’ and it released on December that very same year. The mix tape was hosted by the famous DJ Drama and it features songs from artists such as Trey Songz, 2Chainz, Lil Boosie, Birdman and so on.

 

Last year (2013) Jeezy released a compilation mixtape with CTE world- a record label that was founded by Jeezy himself. The mix tape saw him work with various CTE world artists including Doughboyz Cashout and YG. The tape was called ‘Boss Yo Life Up Gang’ and he was featured on singles by both the artists involved. On September, he announced plans to release his next album ‘In My Head’ on iTunes on October 8 2013, involving collaborations with major artists such as Future, Usher, Ludacris and Don Cannon.

CONTROVERSIES

March 11 2005 saw Young Jeezy arrested for being involved in an alleged shooting in Florida which involved some of his friends.

In September 2007, he destroyed his Lamborghini in an accident that nearly killed him- Young Jeezy claims that this accident gave him a new perspective on life; namely on how to appreciate it

However, the most remarkable of all his controversies- one that truly risked ruining his career, was when he wrote lyrics that were both offensive and completely inappropriate. On March 4 2010, when Jeezy released the track “illin” with his group the Clipse, he was in hot water. The track had Pusha T, one of the collaborators on the album rap the following controversial lines

“No amount of record sales could derail this …Stuffing dead prezzies in the wall like that Yale bitch…”

This was in reference to a Yale student Annie Le, who was murdered in 2009. Young Jeezy was criticized for using this widely publicized case in a manner that demeaned the victim in the worst possible fashion.

BRAND ENDORSEMENTS

Young Jeezy has been named the mutli cultural advisor for the luxury brand of liquor called Avion Tequila.

He also has a partnership with luxury lifestyle brand “Gourmet footwear”

RIDES

Young Jeezy had quite a penchant for his Ferrari California, and recently, he picked up his second car, a white Bentley Mulsanne. He is also the proud owner of a white Lamborghini Gallardo 20” custom painted wheels.

PHILANTROPHY

In 2007, Young Jeezy took charge of a week long drive called Toyz n da Hood that gave away 1000 toys to 1000 children at various places in Macon and Atlanta in the United States of America. He donated over $5000 to the Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless charity run by rapper and fellow member of the RnB community, rapper T.I.

When hurricane Katrina struck, many celebrities helped out in various ways, but Young Jeezy was the only one who opened the doors to his home, allowing the hurricane victims to stay there, providing them with food, water and shelter while they awaited rehabilitation.