00:00See, I had to start recording because we got to make sure.
00:03Wait, show me real quick again.
00:05Yeah, we have my little morning cup.
00:07It's my morning light right here, you know?
00:09It's real life.
00:10I love that.
00:11I love that.
00:12Well, good morning.
00:14I am talking to the hip-hop icon, entrepreneur, author,
00:18and all things incredible.
00:20We got JGZ Jenkins on the line.
00:23How you doing, friend?
00:25I'm good.
00:25I'm blessed.
00:26Blessed.
00:27How about yourself?
00:28I'm doing great now that I'm talking to you.
00:30It's been a good morning.
00:31I feel like my vibes were right,
00:33so I'm going to try to give you as much as my energy as you need
00:36because I know that you've got a busy week coming real soon.
00:40Yeah, yeah.
00:41I'm excited.
00:43Las Vegas, Nevada.
00:44You know, I need Detroit to pull up.
00:46The Legend of the Snowman residency is live.
00:49It's real.
00:51It's one of those things where, you know, this is for culture.
00:55This is for us.
00:56And a shout-out to Detroit because for the 20-year anniversary
01:00residency run, Detroit showed up.
01:02And when I say they showed up, they showed up.
01:04And when we did the 20-year anniversary in Detroit,
01:08the show, Detroit showed up.
01:10So, you know, I love Detroit.
01:11It's my second home.
01:12And at the end of the day, it's just like,
01:14I don't care what show, what stage I'm on.
01:17What I got to do is say, it's Detroit in the building.
01:20And you're going to hear some people saying, yeah.
01:23We love you real bad up here, okay?
01:26Yeah, and I love y'all back.
01:27And that's the truth.
01:29Well, first, congratulations on this historic run
01:32that you've been on for years now
01:34and culminating with this residency.
01:38How does it feel?
01:39Like, take me back to younger Jeezy,
01:41when you were first putting out the Motivation 101
01:44and now having this residency culminate the 20 years.
01:49Like, how does it feel?
01:51It's surreal.
01:52You know, then definitely doing my first album,
01:56my first mixtape, Trap or Die, you know, Thug Motivation.
02:00It was more so about being heard
02:02because there was a lot of things going on in real life.
02:04I didn't know how that was going to work out,
02:06so I put everything into the music,
02:07which was the best decision I ever made.
02:09And 20 years later, you know,
02:11I told them back then I was corporate thugging,
02:13you know what I'm saying?
02:14So nothing changed and I was still motivating the thugs.
02:16So 20 years later, you know,
02:19you know, we still on the same path,
02:20but this is more about, you know,
02:22inspiring and elevating culture.
02:24For me, that's important, you know what I mean?
02:26And I feel like we deserve to be in Las Vegas, Nevada.
02:30We deserve to show up in black ties and evening gowns.
02:35We deserve to sit and watch this with an orchestra
02:38on a sophisticated level.
02:40So when I look from back then to now,
02:44I think it's one of the same.
02:46You know, back then I was trying to motivate,
02:48nowadays I'm inspiring.
02:50I like that.
02:52And you've definitely created a new wave of culture
02:56because I feel like now everybody in the hip hop game
02:58wants to have an orchestra,
03:00like a 20 piece orchestra with them.
03:03So what is the differences between the show that we saw
03:07for the 20th anniversary here in Detroit
03:09to what we're going to see at this Vegas residency?
03:13Yeah, it's, you know, the show that was in Detroit
03:18was a 20-year anniversary of Thug Motivation 101.
03:22That was my first debut album.
03:24This is the legend of the snowman.
03:27So this is from beginning to where I'm at present day.
03:30So this is the whole entire discography
03:33of what I've done over the last 25 years.
03:36You're getting an experience rather than an album.
03:41You're getting the whole thing, you know, everything that I am.
03:44And it's elevated and it's not a show, you know,
03:49and I want people, that's important for me
03:50to let people know this is not a rap concert.
03:52This is an experience.
03:54This is something that you have to come see yourself
03:58and that you can tell somebody else,
04:00you got to go see this.
04:01This is different.
04:02This is not the regular everyday,
04:05I'm just going to see my man because he in town
04:07or he's performing somewhere.
04:08This is, this is like, this is the real deal.
04:10You know, this is the Rat Pack in Vegas,
04:12but I'll wait, you know what I'm saying?
04:14Okay.
04:14Yeah.
04:15Yeah.
04:16Let me go get my tickets now as soon as we're finished
04:18because I need to be there.
04:21You can get them at legendofthesnowman.com.
04:23We get your tickets at Ticketmasters.
04:25And I, and Detroit got to be in the building.
04:28We got to.
04:29It's only right.
04:31It's only right.
04:32I do have a question though,
04:33because you were just talking about the entire deep catalog,
04:36like you have hits and album deep cuts
04:39that the real Jeezy fans know.
04:42Was it hard to pick the songs for like,
04:45cause I can only imagine it's 25 years of legacy.
04:48So was it hard to pick songs?
04:50And was there a song that you wish made the set list,
04:54but probably we probably won't be hearing it this time around?
04:59Well, I think it wasn't hard once you,
05:03you know, pick the song that told the journey.
05:06You know what I'm saying?
05:07Express the journey.
05:09Now there were a few songs and I was just like,
05:12man, you know,
05:13but that made it even better to me
05:14because if you had to cut some things that you love,
05:17you know, the show was what it's supposed to be.
05:19You know what I'm saying?
05:20So I'm excited about that.
05:23And I'm also excited about,
05:25you know,
05:26the fact that I get to do records that
05:29I haven't done before live myself.
05:31Ooh.
05:33Yeah, that, that, that's, that's exciting.
05:36I must say that.
05:37Yeah.
05:37Well, that's an even better draw for people to show up
05:40because if you've never performed them before,
05:42they gotta see this.
05:43Yeah.
05:44Yeah.
05:44I never performed them before.
05:45So to me, it's just like,
05:47they feel new.
05:48Okay.
05:49I'm saying.
05:50Yeah, they feel new.
05:51I like this.
05:52I love this new era for you.
05:54And because I'm thinking of it as a new era,
05:57what are some,
05:58if you could put it in three words,
06:00how do you feel like this era of Jeezy is in 2026?
06:06I mean, peaceful, clarity,
06:08and just resuminating.
06:12Oh.
06:13You know what I'm saying?
06:13Like, I'm, I'm, yeah, re-inspired.
06:16This is, this is real.
06:17You know, I think the times
06:19when you get caught up in entertainment,
06:21you think that it's, it's a job.
06:25This is my life's work.
06:27I understand what I'm doing here.
06:29I understand why I'm here,
06:30why I'm doing it.
06:31And, and that's to, you know,
06:33elevate culture.
06:34To me, yeah.
06:36This is, this is great.
06:37I love all those words.
06:39Las Vegas, Nevada.
06:39Y'all pull up.
06:41Me, Detroit, gotta be in the building.
06:42It's going down.
06:43You're gonna get your tickets now.
06:46Ticketmasters, legendofsnowman.com.
06:47And we just announced 11 more dates.
06:49I was about to say.
06:52Shout out to Payroll.
06:53It's my brother.
06:54Love.
06:56Thank you so much for your time.
06:58Like Jeezy said,
06:59run and get your tickets.
07:00Don't have FOMO.
07:01This is not the time to have FOMO.
07:03There it is.
07:04There it is.
07:05Love, be safe.
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