If you know your Jeezy, you know that the Trap Or Die series is a staple in his career. The first was a mixtape he dropped in 2005, the sequel was Trap Or Die 2: By Any Means Necessary in 2010, and last week we saw the mixtape series culminate into an album in Trap Or Die 3. Jeezy now explains why he decided to revisit the series 12 years after starting it.
During his digital cover story with HNHH, Jeezy explained coming back to TOD:
“My last album was Church in the Streets. I felt like that was needed — [with] what was going on in the world at the time, you feel me. So it was like… My music is for the times, so if I feel a way about something, I’m very passionate about it; it’s not rap, it’s life to me. So when I did Church in the Streets, that’s where I felt the world was at. It was probably a little bit before its time. That’s just where my mind state was.
But coming on Trap or Die 3, you know I’m listening, watching the game, listening to how everything goes, and it kind of dawned on me that a lot of these cats are trying to be somebody I was when I came in the game — 10 years ago. And even then, the reason why I went so hard is because I felt like it was being represented in a way that it could’ve been represented a little bit better. So Trap or Die 3 is basically taking the big homie stance and saying, you know, when it comes to this, I’m iconic. I do this shit better than anybody ‘cause this is what the fuck I do. For me, [it was a] real thought process of going in and making something that could and should be an album, but in the rawest mixtape form possible. So, you know, no cut, no outside direction, no outside production, just all Jeezy shit. And that’s what we did.”
Check out his interview on camera below:
