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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
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The Recession
by Young Jeezy
The latest album for the Atlanta-born rapper includes guest appearances by Nas and Kanye West.
| LABEL: |
Def Jam |
| RELEASE DATE: |
02 September 2008 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
Rap |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
The Phoenix
Elsewhere we get lots of the usual earthquake bass and keening synth arpeggios and staccato horns, and, of course, Jeezy’s hypnotically commanding flow, all of it amounting to one of the hardest mainstream rap albums in years.
85
RapReviews.com
Jeezy manages to keep a strong unified album together without ever getting monotonous or tired.
83
Entertainment Weekly
Jeezy has assembled a politically tinged disc that will sound spectacular blasting out of dashboard speakers for the rest of the year...assuming anyone can still afford to drive a car by then.
80
Billboard
Young Jeezy balances commercial/ pop aspirations with core hip-hop sounds on The Recession, getting a lift from DJ Toomp, Drumma Boy, Midnight Black and longtime collaborator Shawty Redd on this sonically enjoyable follow-up to 2006's "The Inspiration."
80
Slant Magazine
There's a unique pleasure in hearing a once one-dimensional rapper discover complexity, and for that Recession is nearly indispensable.
80
PopMatters
With the expectations set high, The Recession doesn’t disappoint, though as with any of his albums, it would benefit from some truncation.
80
Village Voice
His first two albums were well-crafted, uncompromising in their focus, and exceptionally entertaining. The Recession makes it three.
80
The Guardian
The album touches upon economic issues without dwelling on them, and it captures the spirit of the times with an unerring precision.
75
cokemachineglow
Relistening, the porousness and vapidity of the material makes it pretty obvious that rapper Jeezy’s personality is one note, gruff and brash, forever and ever. But in the album’s waning moments, 'My President' erases any genuine qualms, sporting the record’s best Toomp impression.
75
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Recession is silly, repetitive, and wildly unoriginal. Yet thanks to Jeezy's razor-blade rasp and goofy charisma, it's also strangely infectious.
70
The Wire
Jeezy may have the most charismatic voice in rap now--a fierce but fine-gravel shout that hits your ears soft like a whisper--and his beat selection remains pitch perfect--but Jeezy still doesn't realise that selling drugs was good only for Jeezy. He's a cartoon, a proforma thug, and when he tries to relate he fails miserably. [Dec 2008, p.74]
70
Blender
If recession-era Jeezy sounds a lot like boom-time Jeezy--describing coke cooking and the cars one gets in reward—that’s because he has always fancied himself an educator, a Learning Annex lecturer, an inspirational-desktop-calendar hustler.
65
Pitchfork
Bolstered by a gimmick and a catchphrase, the album is by-and-large Jeezy qua Jeezy, and the new fissures aren't enough to keep pundits gabbing.
60
Rolling Stone
While the usual approach is still good for a certain seductive brawniness, there's not much here that Jeezy hasn't done before.
60
All Music Guide
Even if it falls a distant third out of the first three, the scattershot Recession is still a welcome and even risky step forward, one carried by its highlights and the newfound awareness that the cocaine grind isn't everything.
60
Hartford Courant
The Atlanta crack rapper's third album is largely a faithful rehash of his first two platters, which transformed him from unrepentant hustler to unlikely inspirational figure.
58
Paste Magazine
The Recession's singles are exceptional, but the filler suffers from a detached and dispirited sound.
45
Prefix Magazine
Putting out an album called The Recession right now, and draping the American flag over your head on its cover, comes with expectations of politically conscious ruminations. Instead, we get more of the same
40
Tiny Mix Tapes
The Recession, then, is a portrait of the artist as an over-his-head young man.
37
Los Angeles Times
Jeezy's sonic sins would be partially pardonable were The Recession to flash any hint of fun or humor. Instead, the street-cred-consumed caricature is more content to rip off Tupac Shakur ("Hustlaz Ambition") and write abominable hooks.
The average user rating for this album is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 17 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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