00:00See, I had to start recording
00:02because we got to make sure.
00:03Wait, show me real quick again.
00:06Yeah, my little morning coffee.
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,
00:16entrepreneur, 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
00:29now 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
00:34as much as my energy as you need
00:36because I know that you've got
00:37a busy week's 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
00:48is live, it's real.
00:51It's one of those things where,
00:54you know, this is for culture.
00:55This is for us.
00:56And it's out after Detroit
00:57because for the 20-year anniversary,
01:00residency-run Detroit showed up.
01:02And when I say they showed up,
01:04they showed up.
01:04And when we did the 20-year anniversary
01:07in Detroit, the show Detroit showed up.
01:10So, you know, I love Detroit.
01:11It's my second home.
01:13And at the end of the day,
01:14it's just like,
01:14I don't care what show,
01:16what stage I'm on,
01:17what I got to do is say
01:18is Detroit in the building.
01:20And you're going to hear some people saying,
01:23yeah.
01:23We love you real bad up here, okay?
01:25Yeah, and I love y'all back.
01:27And that's the truth.
01:29Well, first, congratulations
01:31on this historic run
01:33that you've been on for years now.
01:35And culminating with this residency,
01:38how does it feel?
01:39Like, take me back to younger Jeezy
01:41when you were first putting out
01:43the Motivation 101
01:44and now having this residency
01:47culminate the 20 years.
01:49Like, how does it feel?
01:51It's surreal.
01:53You know, then definitely
01:54doing my first album,
01:56my first mixtape,
01:57Trapper Die,
01:58you know,
01:59Thug Motivation.
02:00It was more so about being heard
02:02because there was a lot of things
02:03going 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,
02:11you know, I told them back then
02:12I was corporate thugging,
02:14you know what I'm saying?
02:14So nothing changed
02:15and I was still motivating the thugs.
02:17So 20 years later,
02:18you know,
02:19you know,
02:19we're still on the same path,
02:20but this is more about,
02:21you know,
02:22inspiring and elevating culture.
02:24For me, that's important.
02:26You know what I mean?
02:26And I feel like we deserve
02:28to be in Las Vegas, Nevada.
02:31We deserve to show up
02:32in black ties
02:33and evening gowns.
02:35We deserve to sit and watch this
02:37with an orchestra
02:38on a sophisticated level.
02:40So when I look
02:42from back then to now,
02:43I think it's one of the same.
02:46You know,
02:46back then I was trying to motivate.
02:48Nowadays, I'm inspired.
02:50Mm-hmm.
02:50I like that.
02:52And you've definitely
02:53created a new wave of culture
02:56because I feel like now
02:57everybody 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
03:04between the show
03:06that we saw
03:07for the 20th anniversary
03:08here in Detroit
03:09to what we're going to see
03:11at this Vegas residency?
03:13Yeah.
03:14It's, you know,
03:15the show
03:17that was in Detroit
03:18was a 20-year anniversary
03:20of Thug Motivation 101.
03:22That was my first debut album.
03:24This is the legend
03:26of the snowman.
03:27So this is from beginning
03:28to where I'm at present day.
03:30So this is the whole
03:32entire discography
03:33of what I've done
03:34over the last 25 years.
03:36So you're getting,
03:37you're getting an experience
03:39rather than an album.
03:41You're getting the whole thing,
03:43you know,
03:43everything that I am.
03:44And it's elevated
03:46and it's not a show.
03:48You know,
03:49and I want people,
03:49that's important for me
03:50to let people know
03:51this is not a rap concert.
03:52This is an experience.
03:54This is,
03:54this is something that
03:56you have to come see yourself
03:58and that you can tell
03:59somebody else,
04:00you got to go see this.
04:01This is,
04:01this is different.
04:02This is not
04:03the regular everyday.
04:04I'm just going to see my man
04:06because he in town
04:07or he's performing somewhere.
04:08This is,
04:08this is like,
04:09this is the real deal.
04:10You know,
04:11this is the Rat Pack in Vegas,
04:12but I'll wait.
04:13You know what I'm saying?
04:14Okay.
04:14Yeah.
04:15Yeah.
04:16Let me go get my tickets now
04:17as soon as we're finished
04:18because I need to be there.
04:21You can get them at,
04:21you can get them
04:21at legendofthesnowman.com.
04:23We get your tickets
04:24at Ticket Masters.
04:25And I,
04:26and Detroit got to be
04:27in the building.
04:28We got to be.
04:29It's only right.
04:31It's only right.
04:32I do have a question though,
04:33because you were just talking
04:34about the entire deep catalog.
04:37Like you have hits
04:37and album deep cuts
04:39that the real GZ fans know.
04:42Was it hard to pick the songs
04:44for like,
04:45cause I can only imagine
04:46it's 25 years of legacy.
04:48So was it hard to pick songs?
04:50And was there a song
04:51that you wish made the set list,
04:54but probably it,
04:56we probably won't be hearing it
04:57this time around?
04:59Well,
05:00I think it wasn't hard
05:02once you,
05:03you know,
05:04pick the song
05:05that told the journey.
05:06You know what I'm saying?
05:07Express the journey.
05:09Now,
05:10there were a few songs
05:11that I was just like,
05:12man, you know,
05:13but that made it even better
05:14to me because if you had
05:15to cut some things
05:16that you love,
05:17you know,
05:17the show was what
05:18it's supposed to be.
05:19You know what I'm saying?
05:20So I'm excited about that.
05:23And I'm also excited
05:24about,
05:25you know,
05:26the fact that I get
05:27to do records that
05:29I've done before live myself.
05:32Ooh.
05:33Yeah,
05:34that's exciting.
05:36I must say that.
05:37Yeah.
05:37Well,
05:38that's an even better draw
05:39for people to show up
05:40because if you've never
05:41performed them before,
05:42they gotta see this.
05:43Yeah.
05:44Yeah,
05:44I've never performed them before.
05:45So to me,
05:46it's just like,
05:47they feel new.
05:48Okay.
05:49You know what I'm saying?
05:50Yeah,
05:50they feel new.
05:51I like this.
05:52I love this new era for you.
05:54And because I'm thinking
05:56of it as a new era,
05:57what are some,
05:58if you could put it
05:59in three words,
06:00how do you feel like
06:01this era of Jeezy
06:03is in 2026?
06:06Man,
06:07peaceful,
06:08clarity,
06:08and,
06:09uh,
06:11just resuminating.
06:12Oh.
06:13I'm saying like,
06:14I'm,
06:14yeah,
06:15re-inspired.
06:16This is,
06:16this is real.
06:17You know,
06:18I think,
06:18um,
06:19the times when you get
06:20caught up in entertainment,
06:21you think that it's,
06:22it's a,
06:24it'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,
06:32and that's to,
06:32um,
06:33you know,
06:33elevate culture.
06:34To me,
06:35yeah,
06:36this is,
06:36this is great.
06:37I love all those words.
06:39Y'all pull up.
06:41You mean Detroit gotta be
06:42in the building.
06:42It's going down.
06:43You're gonna get your tickets now.
06:45Ticketmasters,
06:46legendofsnowman.com.
06:47And we just announced
06:4811 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
06:57for your time.
06:58Like Jeezy said,
06:59run and get your tickets.
07:00Don't have FOMO.
07:01This is not the time
07:02to have FOMO.
07:04There it is.
07:04There it is.
07:05Love.
07:05Be safe.
07:05Be safe.
07:05Be safe.
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