ATLANTA, GEORGIA - OCTOBER 08: Jeezy performs onstage during the 2022 ONE MusicFest at Central Park on October 08, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/WireImage)
Jeezy could care less about street cred validation. At least, that’s the picture the longtime rapper painted during an interview on The Breakfast Club. Jeezy dropped by the morning radio show to promote his upcoming album Snofall, but also to discuss his life.
One of Charlamagne Tha God’s questions started as a compliment about Jeezy’s transition surrounding street credit. The host also highlighted Jeezy’s decision to speak on the topic in his music.
“I’m glad that somebody like you who’s glorified the streets for so long. You’ve gotten to the age where you’re like you know what, street cred not important,” Charlamagne said. “You remember the first time you came to that realization?”
In return, Jeezy was an open book–explaining that a stint in jail got him to realize the lack of value behind his street mindset. In addition, Jeezy revealed that being a street legend didn’t translate in business meetings.
“I really think that when you start walking in those rooms and you try and do business. Nobody really care about what you done on the streets,” Jeezy said. “And then as a man, you shouldn’t care about…cause what people think about me ain’t none of my spiritual business. It’s just not.”
Between his career and personal life, Jeezy has transcended the streets–despite making his millions from glorifying them. In 2018, the rapper began dating television personality, Jeannie Mai.
A month before the pair tied the knot in March 2021, they discovered they were expecting their first child together. However, they miscarried. But the couple learned they had conceived again a week after their holy union. Their daughter Monaco Mai was born in January 2022.
In The Breakfast Club interview released on Thursday (October 20), the artist spoke about being secure in who he is.
“But for me it’s just like, I don’t need validation ’bout what you consider to be real for me to be a real man,” Jeezy said. “Just take the rap and the artist and everything out of that. A lot of the things I did because I was trying to get validation. I wanted people to know, I’m ’bout my issue. Imma do this and that.”
In reference to Charlamagne’s initial question about street cred, Jeezy shared that a former arrest got him thinking. In 2014, the rapper was one of six people police arrested for possessing an assault rifle following a deadly shooting at a Wiz Khalifa concert, per Entertainment Weekly.
“And the last time I got locked up in L.A. when that incident happened in the Bay, that’s when I was really like, man you got the world. You successful, you on tour, you doing 30,000 people a night and you in jail,” Jeezy said.”
He said he remembers thinking his career would go down the drain while people kept ringing his line over the situation. But, more than that, he worried that he wouldn’t have the appropriate support if he went to jail.
“And if I do go to prison, ain’t none of these people finna send me no money. They ain’t finna write me,” the artist added. “They ain’t gon’ look out for my kids. Come on, I watched it.”
