In the midst of the Great Recession of 2008, Jeezy—then still billed as Young Jeezy—released The Recession, an album overflowing with anthems of resilience like “Put On,” “Who Dat,” and the miraculously prescient “My President.” As the Atlanta MC's third studio album, The Recession broke from the Thug Motivation naming convention of his first two, making it clear that there was more at stake. Twelve years and seven albums later, Jeezy follows up his TM104: The Legend of the Snowman with The Recession 2, the MC emerging as the trap’s biggest sociopolitical advocate once again.
He’s fired up out of the gate, using album opener “Oh Lord” to shout out murder victims George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Atlanta rapper Lil Marlo, before describing the social climate in America as “racism, no chaser” and calling out President Trump by name. He attempts to reconcile his own success with his country’s history on “Modern Day,” rapping, “All these chains on, feel like a modern-day slave,” but takes a second to address anyone second-guessing his street cred on “Back” (featuring Yo Gotti), clarifying, “They say I left the hood, but I got it on my back.” Jeezy sounds like he’s having a lot of fun on songs like “The Glory,” the E-40 collaboration “Da Ghetto,” and “My Reputation,” which features the eyebrow-raising tandem of Demi Lovato and Lil Duval. But he’s back kicking the real on album closer “The Kingdom,” distilling his come-up thusly: “Yeah, they called me a dealer, then they called me a killer/When I went to the bank, they called me a n***a.”