TM:103 Hustlerz Ambition

Background

After initially being announced in 2009, the album was delayed for nearly two years and missed several release dates attached to it, including June 2010, August 2010, December 2010, and July 26, 2011,—exactly six years to the release date of his debut studio album, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101. Def Jam Recordings representatives declared these rumors false, however, Young Jeezy announced through the social networking site Twitter that the album was definitely completed, although at the time a release date—genuine or not—was not attached to the album. The date given was, in fact, the day after Young Jeezy was due to perform the whole of his aforementioned debut album at New York City's Highline Ballroom, on the sixth anniversary of the release of the album. During the show on July 25, 2011, he announced that TM 103 would be released on September 20, 2011. However, Young Jeezy later revealed that the album's release date would be December 20, 2011.

Guests

On November 7, 2011, Young Jeezy confirmed that Ne-Yo, Snoop Dogg, Plies, Eminem, Drake, Bun B, Jadakiss, Jill Scott, Fabolous, T.I., André 3000, Jay Z, 2 Chainz and Wiz Khalifa would be featured on the album. Eminem, Drake, Bun B, Plies and Wiz Khalifa do not appear on the final track listing, however a leftover featuring Eminem leaked called "Talk To Me" and the original version of "I Do" was released as the remix and features Drake. Other guest features that are on the album include Lil Wayne, Trick Daddy, Freddie Gibbs, Mitchelle'l and Future.

Singles

"Lose My Mind" featuring Plies was released as the first single on March 30, 2010. The song has peaked at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100. On April 25, 2010, the music video was released for "Lose My Mind" featuring Plies. The song was nominated for Best Rap Performance By Duo or Group at the 53rd Grammy Awards.

Young Jeezy released two promotional singles, "All White Everything" featuring Yo Gotti which was released on July 2, 2010, and "Jizzle" featuring Lil Jon which was released on August 3, 2010. The songs peaked at number 82, and number 69 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts respectively, however, neither of the songs appeared on the final track listing. On August 2, 2010, the music video was released for "All White Everything" featuring Yo Gotti.

"Ballin'" featuring Lil Wayne was released as a promotional single in the US on May 17, 2011. The song peaked at number 57 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video for "Ballin'" was directed by Colin Tilley, and was released on July 10, 2011.

"F.A.M.E." featuring T.I. was released as the lead single on October 11, 2011, and peaked at number 67 on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart. On November 18, 2011, the music video was released for "F.A.M.E." featuring T.I. "I Do" which features André 3000 and Jay Z was released as the third official single, it had peaked at number 61 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number four on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs.

The final single was "Leave You Alone" featuring Ne-Yo and reached number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. On March 9, 2012, the music video was released for "Leave You Alone" featuring Ne-Yo.

On December 15, 2011, the music video was released for "Nothing". On January 15, 2012, the music video was released for "Supafreak" featuring 2 Chainz. On February 1, 2012, the music video was released for "OJ" featuring Jadakiss and Fabolous. On May 15, 2012, the music video was released for "Way Too Gone" featuring Future.

Critical reception

TM 103: Hustlerz Ambition received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 70, based on 16 reviews. David Jeffries of AllMusic said, "Here he's driven by the hunger to put things back where they were and live up to TM:103's official subtitle, Hustlerz Ambition, along with its unofficial one, Trap or Die Tryin'." Chris Coplan of Consequence of Sound said, "Despite its success, this album gives us some idea as to why Jeezy has caught on and also why he isn't any bigger than he is now. Maybe he'll finally learn his lesson in TM:104?" King Eljay of AllHipHop said, "It's painful to say, but this is nothing more than a good album. Unfortunately for most Jeezy fans, we needed a great one, and this isn't it. Don't get it twisted; this is still a solid album, but it falters to reach the standards he set for himself out of the gate." William E. Ketchum III of HipHopDX said that Jeezy "gives a worthy addition to the series and continues his reign as one of rap's best." Nathan S. of DJBooth said that "despite the delays and false starts and question marks, ultimately Young Jeezy has continued an impressively consistent run of quality albums."

Jayson Greene of Pitchfork said, "Thug Motivation somehow feels both airless and over-inflated, the sound of an artist trying to revisit something gone." Jonah Weiner of Rolling Stone said, "Jeezy stays stubbornly true to form on TM:103, rapping with minimal embellishment about getting rich (and high), treating beautiful cars poorly and beautiful women worse." Steve "Flash" Juon of RapReviews.com said, "Thanks in large part to the beats and the guest appearances, and in small part to Jeezy's frank delivery and raspy voice, it leans more toward the former [enjoyable] than the latter [obnoxious], leading me to give this album a cautious thumbs up." Jon Caramanica of The New York Times gave it an average review and called it "a step forward for Young Jeezy, even if everyone around him is walking much faster." Wilson McBee of Prefix Magazine said it "certainly has its moments, but on the whole it's bogged down by too much middling material." Ralph Bristout of XXL said, "Despite the abundance of features (twelve), Snow's fourth studio album is indeed a win. It's not glutted with a blizzard of coke boasts like his previous projects in the TM series, and offers a little more variety than just street cuts. But rest assured, the album is filled with anthems that'll have you riding around your hood all day with your gun shit."

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, selling 233,000 copies in the first-week. On January 31, 2012, the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipping over 500,000 copies in the United States. As of March 7, 2013, the album has sold 636,000 copies in the United States.

Track listing

Notes

Sample credits