After the third album or so, an artist has found his comfort zone and sticks with it to keep his fans happy. Rarely does anyone try to reinvent themselves like Kanye West did with “Yeezus.” On Jeezy’s newest album “Seen It All: The Autobiography,” the Atlanta native tries to walk the narrow line between attempting a new phase in his music and keeping the material that made him so popular in the beginning.
Jeezy starts the album with his most successful formula; a song with a well-crafted beat mixed with his street struggle lyrics. The second song on the record “What You Say,” follows the same blueprint. These two songs sound almost identical when not paying close attention which is never a good thing.
As is the case with many of Jeezy’s albums, “Seen It All” finds its stride in the middle with songs such as “Me OK” and “4 Zones.” This is strongly due to the contributions by producers Drumma Boy and Mike WiLL Made-It.
Continuing on the contribution train, the collaborations between Jeezy and featured artists Akon, Jay-Z and Game to name a few, serve as the life preserver on the record. Whenever the standout songs of the album come with another artist, a certain amount of faith begins to be lost in the main artist. Fortunately Jeezy, keeps up with the ability of those on his tracks and delivers concrete lyrics when he feels the competition for dominance.
Grade: 68/100
Through the 15 tracks on the deluxe edition of “Seen It All,” hints toward a new style of Jeezy are picked up but instead there is an apparent hesitance of exploring a new avenue in exchange of basic drug and gun bars. Jeezy is becoming an artist that people truly want to like because his voice demands attention, but this album can easily be ignored.
It’s possible that “Seen It All” would’ve come across better as a mixtape instead of an album. Sure there are head-nodding moments, but nothing that compels the destruction of the repeat button.
Fans of Jeezy know that he can do better or at least he could do better in 2005. Maybe because he really has seen it all, Jeezy loses sight of telling a story. If “Seen It All: The Autobiography” truly is an autobiography, then we are forced to wonder who’s story we listened to, because it sounds terribly repetitive.