Jeezy Brings his ‘Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101’ tour to Detroit’s Fox Theatre

On Friday night, over 5,000 hip-hop fans dressed in tuxedos and evening gowns attended Jeezy’s “Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101” tour at the Fox Theatre. The show was a celebration of the 20 year anniversary of Jeezy’s third studio album of the same name.

After performing with an orchestra for the first time three years ago in Atlanta, Jeezy decided he wanted to be the first hip-hop artist to tour with one and says he faced challenges early on from music industry peers who had preconceived notions of what a hip-hop show with an orchestra entailed.

“…when you hear [orchestra], you think opera,” Jeezy said in a press conference held after the show inside the basement of the Fox. “You think you’re going to hear the music, nobody’s going to perform and you’re going to sit there and look cool with a tuxedo on. So [the hard part] was convincing people it was a party, it’s still snow, I’m still pulling up.”

If Atlanta and Detroit are first cousins, then Jeezy and Detroit are blood brothers. The Atlanta native started his music career in the late ’90s before “trap music” had a name. He received an early push from Detroit native and BMF founder Big Meech. In 2013, Detroit supergroup Doughboyz Cashout signed onto Jeezy’s CTE Imprint. Although the business part of that relationship was short-lived, the brotherhood stayed and Jeezy has since recorded tracks with Payroll Giovanni, Icewear Vezzo, and 42 Dugg. And then there’s Jeezy’s catalog, nearly 40 albums and mixtapes of street narratives which Detroit hip-hop fans can never get enough of.

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“You don’t go to cities where everybody wants to show you love and make sure you’re good […] I don’t say I rock with Detroit because it’s something cool to say, but I have a real love for Detroit and I know they have a love for me,” he said.

After DJ Drama warmed the crowd up, Jezzy hit the stage a few ticks past 9 p.m. dressed in an aqua colored tuxedo performing “Standing Ovation” and worked his way through much of the Thug Motivation 101 album. The crowd was amped and full of energy right away. No one was seated and it seemed that everyone knew the lyrics to every song. Jeezy never took an actual intermission but did incorporate three five-minute interludes accompanied with video montages of various aspects of his life playing on a LCD screen. The second one built up tensions as it showed newspaper headlines of Jeezy’s many run-ins with police, court cases, divorce, and accusations. Once the video clips stopped, the emcee launched into classics “Trap Star,” “Go Crazy,” “Survivor,” and “Dey Know,” which took the energy of the show to a higher level.

After Jeezy spent an hour on material from Thug Motivation 101, he changed into jeans and a sleeveless T-shirt and gave the crowd 30 high-powered minutes performing other hits from his catalog including “Supa Freak,” “Loose My Mind,” “Corporate Thuggin,” and “All There.”

Jeezy says he plans on increasing the size of his orchestra to 101 pieces for several shows on the west coast this year, he’s also doing a residency in Las Vegas at Planet Hollywood starting in October, and he announced there will be a new project with DJ Drama.

“I just got inspired on the road to this tour and I just couldn’t contain myself,” he said, adding, “and I just went and made magic.”