As the eight-year nightmare known as George W. Bush comes to and end, plenty of Americans have placed their hopes on Senator Barak Obama to lead them out of dark times. In the near decade that “W” has served as commander in chief, the land of the free and the home of the brave has been plagued with everything from absurd gas prices, to home foreclosures, and a recession. One particular person that probably won’t feel the affects of a recession like the working class will is Atlanta adlib master, Young Jeezy.

Naming his third album after one of the most dreaded words in the English language, the owner of two platinum plaques courtesy of Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101 and The Inspiration takes aim at keeping his selling streak alive. Not recognized as lyrical genius in any sense of the word, the majority of Young Jeezy’s success has always been through his excellent choice of production, and this album follows suite.

The Recession gets underway with ‘The Recession’ intro produced by DJ Toomp. Going with theme of the title, Jeezy begins by discussing some financial woes, “Still tryin’ to sober up/wish I had me some money, I’d buy me some better luck.” On ‘By The Way,’ Jeezy takes more a stadium music approach as the production soun ds larger than life, while he does his best to keep up with lines like, “You n*ggas getting’ this sh*t, I talk any slower/any slower would be screwed, and that would be rude.”

Young Jeezy sounds right at home on the Drumma Boy-produced ‘Amazin.’’ The slow tempo of the beat matches perfectly with his long drawn out delivery as he talks about how great he is. Shawty Redd, the man responsible for Snoop Dogg’s 'Sexual Eruption', (both lyrics and production) loans his sound on ‘Who Dat.’ The beat itself is reminiscent of something out of Phantom Of The Opera, but Jeezy still gets a little clever with his wordplay, “I don’t chase no broads, I chase money and vodka/next time I re-up, I’m gonna buy me a chopper.” Don Cannon adds a little different flavor on the album via going away from the organs and keyboards that have surrounded the project thus far by deciding to sample Billy Paul’s ‘Let The Dollar Circulate’ and simply comes up with ‘Circulate.’ One of the better uses of samples in quite sometime, Young Jeezy actually gives the track all he can muster.

The production team, The J.U.S.T.C.E. League provides further soulfulness on ‘Word Play,’ and once again Jeezy picks up the slack on the lyrical end. Jeezy gives his gruff and raspy vocal tone a break from the spotlight and by bringing in Anthony Hamilton on ‘Everything’ and Trey Songz on ‘Takin’ It There.’ Kanye West is featured on ‘Put On,’ but his voice is the only contribution as Drumma Boy takes care of the production. The Louis Vuitton Don tries his hand at using the highly overused synthesizer talk box while speaking of those who owe him and the loss of his mother, “I feel like there’s still n*ggas that owe me checks/I feel like there’s still b*tches that owe me sex/I lost the only girl in the world that know me best.”

Young Jeezy wraps The Recession up with ‘My President’ (feat. Nas), ‘Get Allot,’ the tearful sounds of ‘Don’t Do It,’ and ‘Crazy World’. Every song is concrete, and it looks like this project won’t lead his bank account astray, and right into the very word he named the album after. The ex-hustler from Atlanta is one of those rare characters in a genre filled with copycats. His subject matter isn’t vast, and his material might seem a little too average at times, but there’s a reason why Hip-Hop has treated him so fairly, and that’s because he sticks to what he knows.

No over the top gimmicks, no army of guest appearances, and no risk taking. This album falls in the same vein as his previous projects, exceptional production mixed in with colorful adlibs from start to finish, and for any Jeezy fan—that’s all they can ask for. (YEEEAAAAHHHH!) -Serge Fleury