By shelz.

Jeezy says we have been waiting and waiting and waiting… and waiting on the hook of TM:103’s aptly titled opening track, “Waiting.”  Truer words have never been spoken as the delays for this album were starting to approach Detox severity, eliciting jabs from an MMG camp that seemed to revel in Jeezy’s lack of expediency.  Not deterred, Jeezy has brought the 3^rd and allegedly final installment of his Thuggerism course to fruition just in time for his legion of thugs and thuggettes to search for it in their Christmas stockings.  Will TM:103: Hustlerz Ambition be worth the unwrapping?  If you’re already a fan, yeeeaaahhhhhh!Non-believers who trounce on Jeezy’s pedestrian lyrical ability will have another collection of songs to turn their noses up at.  It’s hard to imagine that anyone thought Hustlerz Ambition would be the birth of dictionary Jeezy but six years removed from TM:101 there appears to be very little development.

The Snowman is still that, the snowman.  He moves white.  He snorts white.  He kills white, bitches that is. However, the continued success of that operation is a double-edged sword.  Once you get the money, then you get the power.  And once you have the power, then you get the women.  But the flip side suggests mounting anxiety complete with ever ready fire power, death threats and painful walks down memory lane.

The ladies get recognition on songs like the Lex Luger inspired “Supafreak, “All We Do” and “Leave You Alone.”  The songs play in a row and give you an idea where a relationship with Jeezy will go.  “Supafreak” is pretty self-explanatory while “All We Do” begins and ends with getting high and getting laid.  The sample is some lady wailing and is more reminiscent of a horror movie than a theme song for getting some.  Plus reciting this hook in public:

All we do is smoke and fuck, smoke and fuck, smoke and fuck…

… is reserved for those without good judgment. This is a definite low point. Then once all the smoking and fucking  gets old he will “Leave You Alone.” Ne-Yo is great on this hook and Warren G’s track has great movement. Jeezy’s shock that he didn’t sneak out of her bed in the middle of the night is as amusing as him admitting he tricks off.

As expected, Jeezy rolls out the red carpet for an all star cast of features from Jill Scott and Ne-Yo, to 3 Stacks and T.I. The featured singers are especially appreciated because Jeezy crooning his own hooks can be painful to listen to. Especially since that’s were the most simplistic of his writing is found.  Repeating the same word over and over again makes for a memorable chorus, it also makes for a bad experience when Mr. Jenkins is foregoing the vocoder. “Everything” is a perfect example.  This chorus is like nails on a blackboard.

The production on TM:103 is hit and miss.  J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League’s contributions are worthy of praise.  The somber, full-bodied foundations for “Trapped” and “F.A.M.E.” sit perfectly under Jeezy’s raspy-voiced regret.  A more hopeful sounding  section complete with rising synth and piano tinkering in “F.A.M.E.” makes T.I.’s verse about redemption  almost believable.  M16’s soul sample-heavy “I Do” has been blazing around the nets for a while and sounds like signature 3 Stacks.  Jeezy talking marriage with drunken broads in the club is laughable.

Many of the other tracks like Drumma Boy’s “Just Like That,” Lil Lody’s “Nothing” are predictable, moving slowly with eerie synth and extra low lows.  Lil C’s “Higher Learning” sounds like plenty of other funk laced weed songs. Nothing all that exciting here.

Jeezy continues with his Pac homage, even snatching a quarter of a bar from “Staring at the World Through My Rearview” for “F.A.M.E.”  Pac’s dichotomy still eludes Jeezy, but a move to the more thoughtful material presented in “F.A.M.E.” and “Trapped” would be a logical move for him as he gets older.

TM:103 Hustlerz Ambition has some bright moments, but is dotted with mediocre tracks and dull lyricism. Jeezy hasn’t progressed much as a lyricist and relies heavily on his guests.  If you were waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting for something great, you will be disappointed.

2.75 out of 5

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