Hip-hop heavyweight Jeezy regaled his fans with the tale of a bad drug deal that changed the trajectory of his life. The icon said he allowed himself to be manipulated by an older relative he had blind admiration for.
The New York Times bestselling author of Adversity For Sale waxed poetic on “The Mavericks” show saying that, as a former military brat who had lived in Japan and on beaches, he was naive when it came to the streets where his cousins thrived. He admitted that he was fascinated with his cousins, who were successful street entrepreneurs, and infatuated with their glamorous lifestyles. Anxious to show that he was worthy to hustle with them, he became susceptible to manipulation by one of them that devastated him to his core.
“My loyalty got me in a lot of trouble. I was going to make this play with my older cousin,” Jeezy, 46, told show host Maverick Carter. “He was like, ‘These my people.’ I was like, ‘Let me bring my strap.’ He was like, ‘Nah, you good.’ But it’s big cuz — you trust him like, ‘Aight cool.’
“We meet these guys in a semi-trailer truck. I give him the money and he gives me this laundry bag, and this laundry bag has the work in it but it’s covered in a blanket.”
It wasn’t until Jeezy left the scene of the drug deal that he realized that he’d been played by his own family. “I get back to the house, me and my man start to cut this s— open … and it’s Sheetrock. This is all my money. I’m broke! I was more hurt than anything because I felt like I had so much respect and admiration for [my cousin].”
When Carter, who is the longtime business partner of LeBron James, asked Jeezy if he believed that his own cousin conspired to swindle him out of his millions, Jeezy nodded multiple times and said simply, “100 percent.”
The consequence of that humiliating and devastating betrayal altered the course of his life and turned him into a violent street boss.
“So along with the trust issues I had before, now I know I can’t even trust the people I respect,” Jeezy continued. “So that turned me into a whole ‘nother animal. At first, I wasn’t really thugging; I [was] just hustling. Now, I’m thugging.”
