Young Jeezy
“The Inspiration”
(Def Jam/Corporate Thugs Ent.)

3 1/2 Stars

Professor Jeezy is back, and class is once again in session.

The Snowman may have taken a one-year sabbatical after the release of “Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101,” but he was busy readying the syllabus for sophomore release “The Inspiration.”

The course—Thug Motivation 102—really hasn’t changed that much. It’s just slightly more advanced: the guest speakers are a bit more famous (Timbaland, R. Kelly, and Keyshia Cole) and Jeezy has recruited friendlier, more knowledgeable TFs (the production has jumped up a notch). Yet Jeezy may have already taught us all he knows.

Granted, it’s still interesting subject matter, and Jeezy gets downright interdisciplinary. He explores topics as diverse as religion (“I hope heaven got a V.I.P. line), philosophy (“C.T.E., that’s the label that pays me / I own that, so I pay myself) and, of course, economics (“Still count a quarter mill with my fuckin’ eyes closed / With a hand behind my back and a fuckin’ blindfold”).

Like so many other famous professors, Jeezy’s mostly inaccessible. But when he does open up, on the album’s eclectic second half, the results are fascinating. “Bury Me A G” has Jeezy rapping about getting shot over a Kanye-inspired track provided by J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League. It’s “Through The Wire” with even more bombast and even less verisimillitude (the unpunctured Jeezy’s no 50 Cent).

On “Dreamin’,” Jeezy gets personal, trying to reconcile his job as a dealer with his mom’s habit: “She addicted to the high, I’m addicted to the cash / Almost put my hands on her when I caught her in my stash.” It’s the most harrowingly autobiographical rap track since Jay-Z’s “December 4th.”

But it’s a candor that Jeezy rarely displays. Mostly he just relies on his schtick, spouting syrupy trap-hop aphorisms and yelling “Yeeeeaah!” and “Ha ha!” so many times that Jeezy almost verges on self-parody. Luckily, even a bored Jeezy isn’t boring; his standard fare still swaggers.

Plus, Jeezy slaps three absolutely massive tracks together right in the album’s middle. The Southern synths of “I Luv It” sound like “What You Know”-lite, which is no shame: T.I. set the bar high for 2006 singles. Jeezy gets close to clearing it with “Go Getta,” using R. Kelly more effectively than he’s been used in a long while. And then there’s “3 A.M.” This being the Year of the Timbo, it’s only fitting that the year’s most consistent producer gets a last hearty laugh before New Year’s. Timbaland’s multi-tracked beat-boxing peppers Jeezy’s breezy flow: “Got that Will Ferrell, we call it “Old School” / Then we mix it all up: call it Pro Tools.”

Still, there’s no reason to go to class every day, and if you enrolled in “Let’s Get it,” you’ve heard half the material before. Jeezy’s polished his act, and he’s close to deserving tenure: when he wants to be electrifying, he can be.

—Reviewer Jake G. Cohen can be reached at jgcohen@fas.harvard.edu.