Photos by Tami Weis. Review by Diego Montes.
Back when Jeezy was still Young Jeezy, I remember hearing his song with Akon for the first time and thinking, “I’m not feelin’ this shit at all. I bet it’s gonna be a huge hit.” I had no idea how popular he’d get in strip clubs, or that all these years later, the dude would still be around to tell haters like me to fuck off in person. That’s exactly what happened Thursday night at Stubbs.
“Ten years. That’s a decade my nigga,” was more or less the theme of the night, and by the ninth or tenth time he said so, I realized you do have to hand it to him on two points. First, ten years is a decade, he was adamant about that. Second, he has had real staying power, at least enough that it made sense to drop the Young from his name, a move that most Young rappers don’t rap long enough to make.
Of course, every rapper claims to be the best, and Jeezy is no different. He’s not the best, but he is pretty good at what he does and seems to know what his fans want. Even with threats of rain at an outdoor venue, Jeezy was able to draw a decent-sized crowd with a wide range of people, and those that did show were giving a lot of energy. I only saw one guy make it rain, which was a little disappointing, but since I wasn’t about to step up myself I figured I couldn’t complain. Jeezy certainly didn’t seem disappointed, repeatedly commenting on the crowd’s hype and genuinely giving love to all parts of Texas.
There were a lot of people having fun, so it was easy to join in, and that seems to be what Jeezy wanted his shows to be about. He even closed the show with a motivational speech about keeping good people around you or some shit. Honestly, I tend to have an opposite reaction to motivation, so I mostly tuned that out, but I liked that he did that because it’s good for some people.
Whatever else you may think of him, don’t ever say Jeezy doesn’t care.
