One thing Def Jam does know about it is creating and controlling the image of its artists. The illusion of grandeur on display in magazines and music videos fuels the imagination of fans and drives record sales. Jeezy, however, has found success by stripping away the glitz and giving listeners the other side of the game. “Everybody ain’t living like that,” he says of the glamorous street lifestyle popularized by record companies.

Some “experts” believe, with the growing lack of parental guidance in the home, rappers have begun filling the void created by absentee mothers and fathers. Young Jeezy doesn’t dispute this claim. “Real talk… UGK and No Limit raised me,” he says. “You can’t go to the big homie and ask him how much this cost or how much you should be charged for something. Even if he did tell you, it don’t mean he’s going to give it to you [at that price]. Rap music hipped me to the streets.”

Jeezy uses the stage he’s been given to dispense “real talk” to the young listeners that cop his CDs. His music, while unapologetically explicit, is laced with the time-honored values of hard work, honesty and self-reliance.

“Everybody gangsta until they get incarcerated,” Jeezy offers when asked about the negative influence so-called “gangsta rap” has on today’s urban youth. “I got to ease truth into them. Ain’t nothing like having everything and knowing it could all be taken from you the next day – along with your freedom.”

Rappers as role models might be an unavoidable reality, but what happened to the “village” that was supposed to be raising the seeds?

“They all living the same nightmare,” says Jeezy in describing the ghetto mindset. “So why should they help you?”

One thing is for sure, Young Jeezy had no trouble finding people to help with his major label debut. Tried and true heat makers like Jazze Pha, Mannie Fresh and DJ Smurf lace the beats, while southern flame throwers T.I., Trick Daddy, and Young Buck blaze the tracks.

“I’m a huge fans of all those cats,” Jeezy says of the stellar guest appearances on Let’s Get It. “On all the records, I knew what I wanted from each artist… the beat – everything. For them to fuck with me on GP like that, it’s really crazy. We smoked a couple of blunts, talked shit and hit the booth. Then we kicked it later. A lot of these artists out here are doing collaborations with people that don’t even like them.”

After talking to Young Jeezy, you begin to wonder why a straight shooter like him would even bother with an industry notorious for BS.

“Exposure,” answers Jeezy when asked to explain his reason for jumping to Def Jam despite his lucrative success in the independent game. “I’m taking one for the team because I got a lot of people I want to bring up. Plus, bootlegs was killing me because I couldn’t drop everywhere at the same time.”

They say business makes strange bed partners. While his move to a major makes perfect business sense, Young Jeezy is well aware that his no nonsense attitude will ruffle feathers in corporate America’s ivory towers.

“Industry don’t want street niggas in this shit,” Jeezy states matter-of-factly. “I kinda slid through the cracks and they like, ‘Ain’t nothing we can do about it now.’ But they don’t want no street niggas in this shit. If you let one in, all of ‘em coming.”