Jeezy is all about ambition

U.S.D.A.

“Young Jeezy Presents: U.S.D.A.: ‘Cold Summer’ the

Authorized Mixtape” (Def Jam)

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For Young Jeezy, there’s apparently nothing more important than the almighty “grind,” the blood, sweat and tears of dealing cocaine and selling music.

This ruthless work ethic made Young Jeezy the “it” rapper of 2005, when he burst on the Southern rap scene with his strained sneer and his infinite ways of describing dollar bills raining down on strippers shaking their wares.

There’s more of your garden-variety misogyny and ignorance on this so-called mix tape by Jeezy’s group USDA, which is actually a major-label release.

They guide listeners through a narcotics netherworld, replete with vivid details about rubber bands, plastic-wrapped bricks of cocaine, and rental cars with out-of-state tags, as on “Check.”

Over a slowed-down 808 and a spare handclap, they have fun with word play on “White Girl,” which is also slang for cocaine. “Pam” is about a neighborhood strawberry, or a female who will trade sex for drugs. And on “Quickie,” Jeezy offers to pleasure his partner so quickly, “I’ll even leave my Nikes on.”

Rapping over rolling, marching-band style beats and triumphant horns, Jeezy veers dangerously close to substance on “Corporate Thuggin’ ” when he explains his commitment to his materialistic management style. On closer inspection, USDA’s simplistic rhymes about blind ambition amount to nothing but a quasi-Republican, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps ideology on crack. Don Imus would be proud.

Serena Kim

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Former rivals now a formidable team

KRS-One & Marley Marl

“Hip Hop Lives” (KOCH)

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Since his emergence in the mid-1980s as the frontman for Boogie Down Productions (BDP), the politically minded KRS-One has remained one of rap’s best and most respected rappers. Marley Marl was rap’s first super-producer, churning out early hits for Biz Markie and Big Daddy Kane, among many others.

Now the former rivals (BDP got a career jolt by dissing another Marl protege, MC Shan) deliver a potent collaboration that harks back to the music’s past promise and shows the potential rap still holds as a social mouthpiece. Marl’s intense, drum-driven work remains rock-solid and serves as a perfect complement to KRS-One’s examination of hip-hop culture’s history and its standing in the world, both good and bad.

The collection’s jewel, the somber, piano-accented “Kill a Rapper,” features KRS-One detailing the long list of rappers whose murders remain unsolved, leading him to proclaim that a good way to get away with murder is to kill a rapper. It’s a sobering moment, commenting both on the rap world’s fixation with conflict and on law enforcement’s lack of follow-through on rap murder cases.

KRS-One’s tendency to rap about the art of being a rapper and his own admittedly impressive pedigree makes a few of the songs sound too self-serving, but “Hip Hop Lives,” nonetheless, stands as one of the best rap albums of the year.

-- Soren Baker

Albums are reviewed on a scale of four stars (excellent), three stars (good), two star (fair) and one star (poor). Albums reviewed have been released unless otherwise indicated.