It has been suggested that Digg Patriots be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since January 2011.

Digg, Inc.

Digg logo
Type	Private
Founded	San Francisco, California, United States[1]
Founder(s)	Kevin Rose[2]
Headquarters	San Francisco, California, United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Matt Williams[3] (CEO) Kevin Rose (Founder) (ex-CEO) Jay Adelson (ex-CEO) John Moffett (CFO) Owen Byrne (Co-Founder) Ron Gorodetzky (Co-Founder)
Revenue	US$8.5 million (2008 est.)[4]
Employees	40[2]
Website	digg.com
Alexa rank	185 (June 2012[update])[5]
Type of site	Social news
Advertising	Banner ads, referral marketing
Registration	Optional
Available in	Multilingual
Launched	December 5, 2004 (2004-12-05)
Current status	Active

Digg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems.^[6] The website traffic ranked 178th, behind one of those competitors, Reddit, by Alexa.com as of May, 15 2012.^[5] Quantcast estimates Digg's monthly U.S. unique visits at 4.4 million.^[7]

History and description[link]

Digg started out as an experiment in November 2004 by Kevin Rose, Owen Byrne, Ron Gorodetzky, and Jay Adelson. The original design was free of advertisements, and was designed by Dan Ries. As Digg became more popular, Google AdSense was added to the website. In July 2005, the site was updated to Version 2.0. The new version featured a friends list, the ability to "digg" a story without being redirected to a success page, and a new interface designed by web design company silverorange.^[8] The site developers have stated that in future versions a more minimalist design will likely be employed. On Monday June 26, 2006 version 3 of Digg was released with specific categories for Technology, Science, World & Business, Videos, Entertainment and Gaming as well as a View All section where all categories are merged. Digg has grown large enough that submissions sometimes create a sudden increase of traffic to the "dugg" website. This is referred to by some Digg users as the "Digg effect" and by some others as the site being "dugg to death." However, in many cases stories are linked simultaneously on several popular bookmarking sites. In such cases, the impact of the "digg effect" is difficult to isolate and assess. On August 27, 2007, Digg altered its main interface, mostly in the profile area. The domain "digg.com" attracted at least 236 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com survey.^[9]

Digg CEO Jay Adelson explained at the 2010 "Bigg Digg Shindigg," which is part of the South by Southwest Interactive Conference, that Digg is getting a major overhaul and redesign.^[10] In an interview with Wired magazine, Adelson explained that "Every single thing has changed" and that "the entire website has been rewritten."^[11] Adelson explains that the new Digg will essentially eliminate the duplication problem. It will also help prevent so called 'power users' from dominating the site with their submissions. The new Digg will also offer users a personalized homepage, based on their diggs, that is tailored to their specific interests. The commenting system will be updated to "help fight bad behavior like trolling or group-burying." The entire look of the site will also change. Adelson summed up the new Digg by saying, "We've got a new backend, a new infrastructure layer, a new services layer, new machines — everything." John Quinn wrote in a Digg blog post that the company was going to stop using MySQL and begin using Cassandra, a distributed database system.^[12]

On April 5, 2010, Kevin Rose announced that he would be assuming the position of CEO as Jay Adelson had stepped down.^[13] Although, some time later he has disclosed that he is actively seeking a replacement CEO as the role takes up too much of his time that he would rather spend doing other things, such as angel investing.

On August 25, 2010, Digg released v4. The site experienced a number of bugs and glitches that resulted in a backlash from Digg users in the form of verbal opposition and, initially, heavy posting of articles from Reddit - a competitor of Digg's. Digg's business development director Matt Van Horn left Digg after the official update of version 4.^[14]

On September 1, 2010, Matt Williams took over as CEO, ending Rose's troubled tenure as interim chief executive.

Potential sale[link]

Several reports have come forward claiming Digg has been trying to sell itself to a larger company since early 2006.^[15] While Adelson claims that Digg will meet with any potential buyers, he denies that they will actively begin talks for a sale. The most recent sale talks were with Google in July 2008 for approximately $200 million. On July 25, during the due diligence part of the potential sale, Google informed Digg that they were not interested in the purchase.^[16] As a result of Google's decision, Digg entered into a third round of funding, receiving $28.7 million from investors such as Highland Capital Partners.^[17] With this funding, the company plans to move from their current offices to accommodate a bigger staff base.^[18] On December 2, 2008, BusinessWeek reported "Digg Chief Executive Officer Jay Adelson says the popular news aggregation Web site is no longer for sale, and the focus of the company is to build an independent business that reaches profitability as quickly as possible. That means the four-year-old startup will dial back some of its expansion plans, instead prioritizing projects that generate revenue and profit."^[19] On December 18, 2008, BusinessWeek analyzed Digg's financial statements. They reported that Digg lost $4 million on $6.4 million of revenue in the first three quarters of 2008.^[4]

Features[link]

Facebook Connect[link]

In May 2009, Digg launched a new feature integrating Facebook Connect with Digg.^[20] The Digg integration with Facebook connect allows users of Digg and Facebook to connect their accounts. When a Facebook account is connected to a Digg account, Digg articles can then be shared on the user's Facebook page.^[21] Facebook Connect also allows Facebook users to log into Digg with their Facebook account, thus bypassing the normally required Digg registration.

Digg Dialogg[link]

Digg Dialogg allows Digg users to submit questions to a preselected famous individual who agrees to do an interview with a reporter chosen by Digg.^[22]

Digg Bar[link]

On April 2, 2009, Digg released the Digg Bar, which provides a toolbar above the top of a site allowing the user to produce shortened urls, or access digg comments and analytics without leaving the page.^[23] On April 5, 2010, Kevin Rose announced on the official Digg blog that the controversial DiggBar would be eliminated with the implementation of the 4th version of the website.^[24] This was Rose's first major announcement since succeeding Jay Adelson as CEO.

Digg API[link]

On April 19, 2007, Digg opened their API^[25] (Application Programing Interface) to the public.^[26] This allowed software developers to write tools and applications based on queries of Digg's public data, dating back to 2004. Since then, many blogs^[27][28] have sought to keep up with all of the ongoing Digg API projects.

Digg App[link]

Launched on March 23, 2010 for iPhone and April 1, 2010 for Android, the Digg App allows users to access the Digg site directly through the app. Users can use the app to browse the stories, Digg favorites, and share on Facebook. Currently on Version 2.3, the free app allows users to login using their Digg login, or connect using Facebook or Twitter. The app easily allows sharing with friends through the social media platforms, and allows users to integrate Digg news into their feeds, as well as display their own Diggs or comments.

Criticism[link]

Mob mentality[link]

Unlike the present Digg algorithm, which works on user diversity, in 2006 it was much more dependent on flocking behavior among users to determine the promotion of content. During this period an anonymous user posted a blog accusing an O'Reilly writer of stealing Digg's CSS.^[29] The Digg mob flocked to the story and it was promoted with nearly 3,000 votes. Digg founders Kevin Rose, Jay Adelson and Daniel Burka expressed dissatisfaction on finding Digg's code on Mallett's sites.^[30] Mallett responded and clarified that the unauthorized use of code was committed by the contributors to the open source Digg clone, Pligg, which he was using.^[31] Kevin acknowledged the misunderstanding and notified Pligg developers of the issue.^[32] Adelson contacted Mallett thanking him for clearing the issue and expressed support for his claims. Another O'Reilly blogger in defense of Mallett posted a criticism of Digg's mob mentality.^[33] Digg mob's failure to the Mallett story has also been attributed to groupthink which is different from the wisdom of the crowds which requires independence among the nodes.^[34]

Moderation and algorithms[link]

The purpose of Digg was to give editorial powers back to the masses. However, the second version of Digg began using a secret algorithm that blurs the transparency that was expected by the users. In 2006, the site began to be gamed by their top users.^[35] Supernova17 was banned after agreeing to promote a story for cash to an undercover Digg sting operation.^[36] Another group of users openly formed a niche 'bury brigade' .^[37] The users defended themselves claiming their actions were in accordance with the wishes of Digg users. Digg tried to offset criticism by hiring computer scientist Anton Kast to develop a diversity algorithm to prevent special interest groups from dominating Digg. A townhall was organized and the users demanded the shouts feature be discontinued.^[38] By 2008, Google increased their page rank for Digg and many 'pay for Diggs' startups were created to profit from the opportunity. According to a popular blog a single front-page story was sold for $500 at that time.^[39] Usocial and Diggfront were given cease and desist notices from Digg which they ignored. After the release of Digg v4, there had been more questions with the algorithm.^[40]

AACS encryption key controversy[link]

Wikinews has related news: Digg.com suffers user revolt; Founder will not fight

On May 1, 2007, an article appeared on Digg's homepage that contained the encryption key for the AACS digital rights management protection of HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Then Digg, "acting on the advice of its lawyers," removed posting submissions about the secret number from its database and banned several users for submitting it. The removals were seen by many Digg users as a capitulation to corporate interests and an assault on free speech.^[41] A statement by Jay Adelson attributed the article's take-down to an attempt to comply with cease and desist letters from the Advanced Access Content System consortium and cited Digg's Terms of Use as justification for taking down the article.^[42] Although some users defended Digg's actions,^[43][44][45] as a whole the community staged a widespread revolt with numerous articles and comments being made using the encryption key.^[46][47] The scope of the user response was so great that one of the Digg users referred to it as a "digital Boston Tea Party".^[48] The response was also directly responsible for Digg reversing the policy and stating: "But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you've made it clear. You'd rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won't delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be."^[49]

Organized ideologically motivated censorship[link]

On August 5, 2010, progressive blogger Ole Ole Olson (aka "Novenator") posted a report to AlterNet about a year-long effort of organized burying of seemingly liberal articles from the Upcoming module of Digg by a conservative Yahoo! Groups mailing list known as DiggPatriots and an associated page on coRank; he also accused leading members of the mailing list of participating in behavior which violated the Digg Terms of Usage, such as creating "sleeper" accounts in the event of administrators banning their main accounts for terms-violating behavior as well as vexatious "reporting" of seemingly liberal users for banning.^[50][51] The post was immediately followed by the disbanding and closure of the DiggPatriots list, and an investigation into the matter by Digg.^[52]

Digg v4[link]

On August 25, 2010, when Digg updated to version 4, the site was unreachable or unstable during the launch day and the weeks following. A large number of the site's members have complained about the new design and removed features (such as bury, favorites, friends submissions, upcoming pages, subcategories, videos and history search).^[53] Kevin Rose replied to complaints on his blog where he promised to restore upcoming pages and fix the algorithm.^[54]

In an open letter to Rose, Alexis Ohanian, founder of rival site Reddit, said :

this new version of digg reeks of VC meddling. It's cobbling together features from more popular sites and departing from the core of digg, which was to "give the power back to the people."^[55]

Ian Eure, former Digg engineer, explained on his blog why the update cannot be reverted, but the old features can still be ported to the new architecture.^[56]

Disgruntled Digg users declared August 30, 2010 as the 'quit Digg day' and began digging up stories submitted by Reddit's auto submitting publisher account filling up the front page.^[57][58][59] Reddit also temporarily added the Digg shovel to their logo to welcome fleeing Digg users.^[60]

Digg's traffic dropped significantly after the launch of version 4,^[61] and publishers reported a drop in direct referrals from stories on Digg's front page.^[62] Recently hired CEO Matt Williams attempted to address some of the users' concerns in a blog post on October 12, 2010, promising to reinstate many of the features that had been removed. Digg banned RSS Submissions. Digg said "The simple act of forcing a manual submission helps to combat spam and ensures that quality content appears on Digg."^[63][64]

Timeline[link]

See also[link]

Internet portal

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• Inc. Magazine profile of Kevin Rose

This article has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality. Discussion of this nomination can be found on the talk page. (March 2012)

Kevin Rose
Born	(1977-02-21) February 21, 1977 (age 35) Redding, California, United States[1]
Nationality	American
Website
kevinrose.com

Kevin Rose (born Robert Kevin Rose, February 21, 1977) is an American Internet entrepreneur who co-founded Revision3, Digg, Pownce, and Milk. He also served as production assistant and co-host at TechTV's The Screen Savers. He is currently a senior product manager at Google.

Early life[link]

Rose was born in Redding, California^[1] and lived in Oregon before his family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he spent most of his childhood. He became an Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America.^[2] Rose transferred to Vo-Tech High School in Las Vegas in 1992. He then attended the University of Nevada Las Vegas, majoring in computer science but dropped out in 1998.^[3] He worked for two dot-com startups through CMGI.^[1]

Career[link]

Television[link]

Rose was hired as a production assistant for The Screen Savers. He began appearing on-air, in "Dark Tip" segments, and on Unscrewed with Martin Sargent where he provided information on developing computing activities. He became a regular co-host when Leo Laporte left TechTV on March 31, 2004. On March 25, 2004, Comcast's G4 gaming channel announced a merger with TechTV which resulted in a round of layoffs. Rose moved to Los Angeles to stay with G4. On May 22, 2005, Rose reached an agreement with G4 that released him from his contract and went on to create Systm and later, Revision3, where he co-hosted Diggnation alongside Alex Albrecht for 6 years.

Guest appearances[link]

Kevin Rose appeared on the first episode of R&D TV alongside Diggnation co-host Alex Albrecht.^[4] On November 14, 2007, he was a contestant on a game show at NewTeeVee Live.^[5] On March 11, 2009, April 16, 2010, and November 28th, 2011, Rose was a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon along with fellow Diggnation host Alex Albrecht.

Podcasting[link]

Rose began podcasting on July 24, 2003, with the release of the first episode of thebroken while he was still working on The Screen Savers at TechTV. Rose founded Revision3 in Los Angeles, California with Jay Adelson and David Prager in April 2005.^{[citation needed]} On July 1, 2005, Rose and Alex Albrecht started the weekly podcast, Diggnation, which summarizes top stories submitted by Digg users. On October 3rd, 2011, Alex and Kevin announced that they would be retiring the weekly Diggnation show at the end of the year. The final show was taped on December 30th, 2011 at The Music Box in Los Angeles, California.^[6][7]

Startups[link]

In 2004, Rose, Owen Byrne, Ron Gorodetzky, and Jay Adelson formed Digg, a technology link website. The website was publicly launched on December 5, 2004.^[3][8] In 2007, he was named to the MIT Technology Review TR35 as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35.^[9] On September 1, 2010, Rose was replaced as CEO^[10] by Matt Williams, a former general manager of consumer payments at Amazon. On March 18, 2011, Rose resigned from his position at Digg.^[11][12]

On June 27, 2007, Rose launched a micro-blogging site named Pownce^[13] which was acquired by blogging company Six Apart and shut down not long after. In April 2011, the technology blog TechCrunch reported on the founding of "Milk".^[14] The company is focused on creating mobile applications. The first application to be released was Oink, a tool for ranking real-world items.^[15] In March of 2012, Milk, Inc announced that it would be shutting down Oink in order to focus on other offerings.

Google[link]

On March 16th, 2012 Rose announced that he, along with the rest of the Milk team (Daniel Burka, Chris Hutchins & Joshua Lane), would be joining Google.^[16] Kevin Rose started his first day as a senior project manager for Google on March 19, 2012.^[17][18] On May 30, AllThingsD reported that Rose had moved off the Google+ team to become a venture partner at Google Ventures. ^[19]

Investments[link]

Rose invested in Gowalla, Twitter, Foursquare, Dailybooth, NGMOCO, SimpleGeo, 3crowd, OMGPOP, Square, Facebook, Chomp and Formspring.^{[20][21][22][23]}

References[link]

External links[link]

Listen to this article (info/dl)

This audio file was created from a revision of the "Kevin Rose" article dated 2005-12-18, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)

More spoken articles

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kevin Rose

• Kevin Rose's Official Site
• Kevin Rose at the Internet Movie Database

Lynise Walters, better known by the stage name Queen Pen, (born 1972) is a Grammy nominated African-American female rapper.

Her music career started as a protégé of Teddy Riley, a record producer and member of the R&B group BLACKstreet in the mid-1990s. She was a featured rapper, along with Dr. Dre, on BLACKstreet's 1996 hit, "No Diggity". She signed to Riley's Lil' Man label, and released My Melody (1997), her solo debut album, produced by Riley.^[1]

Her first album produced the charting singles "All My Love", "Man Behind the Music", and "Party Ain't a Party". Queen Pen earned a 1998 Soul Train nomination for Best New Artist.^[2] She also gained notice from her song "Girlfriend" (featuring Me'Shell NdegeOcello), where she explored same-sex affairs.^[3]

She took a three year hiatus from rapping, and returned with Conversations With Queen (2001), her second album. She is now a novelist. Her son is also a rapper, who uses the stage name Nefu Da Don.

Novels[link]

• Blossom
• Situations

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• My Melody (1997)
• Conversations With Queen (2001)

Singles[link]

• "All My Love" (1997) - US Rhythmic Top 40 #14, US Hot Rap Singles #11, US Billboard Hot 100 #28, UK #11
• "Man Behind the Music" (1997) - Hot Rap Singles #7, Billboard Hot 100 #84, UK #38
• "Party Ain't a Party" (1998) - Hot Rap Singles #32, Billboard Hot 100 #74
• "It's True" (1998) - UK #24
• "I Got Cha" (2001)^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• A Feisty Female Rapper Breaks a Hip-Hop Taboo

This biographical article related to hip hop music in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Young Jeezy
Young Jeezy in 2006
Background information
Birth name	Jay Wayne Jenkins
Also known as	Lil J
Born	(1977-10-12) October 12, 1977 (age 34) Columbia, South Carolina[1]
Origin	Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, songwriter
Years active	2001–present
Labels	CTE World/Def Jam, Def Jam South
Associated acts	USDA, Akon
Website	http://youngjeezy.defjam.com

Jay Wayne Jenkins (born October 12, 1977),^[1] better known by his stage name Young Jeezy, is an American rapper. He is a member of the hip hop group United Streets Dopeboyz of America (USDA) and a former member of BMF (Black Mafia Family). He began his career in 2001 under an independent label and joined Boyz 'N Da Hood in 2005, the same year his solo major label debut Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 was released. Its single "Soul Survivor", which featured Akon, became a top-ten hit in the US.

The Inspiration followed in 2006, and The Recession followed in 2008; both albums yielded chart-topping singles. Jeezy has also appeared on numerous other rap and R&B singles such as "Say I" by Christina Milian, "I'm So Paid" by Akon, "Hard" by Rihanna, and "Love in This Club" by Usher, the latter being a number one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 2008.

Early life[link]

Jay Wayne Jenkins was born in Columbia, South Carolina^[1] and relocated to Atlanta, Georgia when he was a toddler.^[2][3] Because his parents were separated, custody of him transferred between family members frequently. In an interview with XXL magazine, he described his childhood as "empty". In 1994, he spent nine months in YCA (Youth Challenge Academy), a boot camp in Fort Stewart, Georgia, for narcotics possession.^[4]

Music career[link]

Independent debut[link]

Jeezy released his first independent album, Thuggin' Under the Influence (T.U.I.), in 2001 under the name Lil J.^[5] It featured artists such as Freddy J.,Kinky B, Fidank, and Lil Jon, who also produced some of the tracks. In 2003, Jeezy released (also independently) Come Shop wit Me, a two CD set featuring completely new tracks with some songs from T.U.I. Jeezy signed with Bad Boy Records in 2004 and joined the group Boyz n da Hood, whose self-titled album was released in June 2005 and peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200 albums charts.

[edit] Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 (2005)

In May 2004, Jazze Pha's manager Henry 'Noonie' Lee showed Young Jeezy's demo to his friend Shakir Stewart, Vice President Artist and Repertoire (VP A&R) at Def Jam.^[6] Stewart "fell in love with it [the demo] the first time [he] heard it" and took it to L.A. Reid.^[6] Reid recognised the talent and gave Stewart the green light to sign him.^[6] As the "hottest thing on the street" at the time, various labels - including Warner and Interscope – were after his signature. However, Jeezy decided he wanted to be in business with Stewart and Reid. As a result, signed with Def Jam Records.^[6]

Jeezy's major label debut, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101, was released on July 26, 2005. He debuted at #2, selling 172,000 copies in its first week.^[7] It spawned several hit singles such as "Soul Survivor" featuring Akon. It reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Hot Rap Tracks charts. "And Then What" featuring Mannie Fresh, which reached #67 on the Hot 100 and #13 on the Hot Rap Tracks. "My Hood", #19 on the Rap chart. In an interview with HitQuarters, A&R Shakir Stewart said that Jeezy had recorded over 60 songs for the album.^[6]

Jeezy partially wrote and performed on Gucci Mane's song, "Icy". Supposedly, Jeezy was never paid properly for his services. Those in Gucci Mane's camp have suggested that gang members from the Mechanicsville area attacked Gucci Mane to defend Jeezy's honor.^[8] Jeezy put out a track called "Stay Strapped" dissing Gucci Mane to the beat of "T.I.'s" song "A.S.A.P." Jeezy responded to Gucci Mane's, while rapping "even his own momma know, Radric Davis a bitch". In a recent Cutmaster C mixtape, The Hood News Page 3: Jay-Z Boycotts Cristal, Gucci disses Jeezy along with Jay Z in his track, "745". Jeezy addresses Gucci back on the same mixtape. While on the track "Break It Down", featuring Cmillz. On "Streets On Lock", from The Inspiration, Jeezy addressed Gucci Mane again, saying "What type of real nigga name himself after a bag?/Nigga you's a hoe, a Louis Vuitton fag". Towards the end of 2009, DJ Drama brought Young Jeezy to the radio station and called Gucci Mane to settle the beef once and for all. The two stopped feuding but throughout early 2010, the crews of Jeezy & Gucci (CTE & Brick Squad) have been in and out altercations with each other despite the fact Jeezy & Gucci have nothing to do with that. In 2011, Jeezy plans to release a new single featuring DJ Spluge and the rest of the Gangster Brigade.

In interviews and on several records, Jeezy has affirmed his resistance to commercialism in his music.^[9] Maintaining his street credibility, according to Jeezy, is of the utmost concern to him as an artist.^[4] In 2005, Jeezy was featured in several popular hip hop songs including Gucci Mane's "Icy"^[10] and Boyz n da Hood's "Dem Boyz". Due to having a successful solo career, he left the group. From time to time he still keeps in contact with a few of the members, but in early 2010 Jeezy & Jody Breeze (who is still a member of Boyz N Da Hood) began to diss each other which started a new beef between the two.

[edit] The Inspiration, U.S.D.A. (2006–2007)

In 2006, he was featured in Christina Milian's single "Say I". Jeezy's second major label album was The Inspiration, released in 2006. The album's first single "I Luv It" peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Bury Me A G" and "Go Getta" featuring R. Kelly, and "Dreamin’" featuring Keyshia Cole followed.

He also portrayed himself in the hip-hop fighting themed game Def Jam: Icon. In 2007, Jeezy released Cold Summer, an album by rap group USDA which consists of Jeezy, Blood Raw, Slick Pulla, 2Eleven and Boo Rossini.^{[citation needed]}

Jeezy presented a week-long toy drive and charity event series with his CTE family with the first annual Toyz n da Hood toy drive. The series presented 1,000 toys for 1,000 kids at various locations in Macon and Atlanta, which began on December 17, 2007, with the CTE Christmas Kickoff from 10 pm to 5 am at Club Miami. The toy giveaway took place in the Unionville neighborhood of Macon and at the Old Fourth Ward Community in Atlanta.^[11]

[edit] The Recession (2008)

His third album, The Recession, was released in 2008. "Put On" featuring Kanye West was the lead single, which also led to a Grammy Nomination for Best Rap performance by a duo, but it came short. Put On was followed by "Vacation", "Crazy World", "My President" with Nas, and "Who Dat" to complete the Recession's singles. Jeezy appeared on the R&B singles "Love in This Club" by Usher and "I'm So Paid" by Akon (also with Lil Wayne). "Love in This Club" peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Later, he performed on Ciara's single "Never Ever", from her album Fantasy Ride.^[12]

In the summer of 2008, Jeezy was at the center of a controversy over his choice for president. While he had previously endorsed Barack Obama, he spoke about meeting and supporting John McCain during an interview with Vibe magazine. The statement caused a stir, and Jeezy quickly clarified his choice, via a viral video. In the four-minute explanation, Jeezy made it clear, Obama was his main choice. "I represent the Democratic party. ... I've never been nor do I ever plan to be a John McCain supporter", the rapper said. "I support Barack Obama."^[13] Jeezy and Jay-Z performed in a concert to celebrate the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 18, 2009.^[14] On The O'Reilly Factor, commentator Bill O'Reilly criticized their performance as a "rant that offended people",^[15] but Jeezy responded: "I got white friends. It's nothing like that. I'm a taxpayer, I got a right to voice my opinion at any point in time. I don't think he really understands my struggle."^[16]

[edit] Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition (2011-present)

Jeezy is working on Thug Motivation 103, his latest LP, as of November 2009.^[17] In March 2010, it was reported that Young Jeezy dropped "Young" from his stage name.^[18] Later, Young Jeezy denied the name change and claimed it was just a rumor:^[19] however, on the cover for his single "Lose My Mind", his name is printed as "Jeezy". On May 17, 2011, Jeezy released the first single for Thug Motivation 103, "Ballin", which features Lil Wayne.

On March 4, 2010 Jeezy released the track "Illin", featuring the group Clipse; specifically Pusha T. On the track Pusha T raps, "No amount of record sales could derail this ...Stuffing dead prezzies in the wall like that Yale bitch..." The line was controversial and many felt the line was in bad taste and demeaned Yale student Annie Le, who was murdered in 2009, by making light of a crime that had grabbed a lot of media attention due to its extremely upsetting and tragic nature.^[20] On July 22, 2011, Young Jeezy released the second single off TM103, "Shake Life". On July 26, 2011, Young Jeezy announced a September 20, 2011 release date for TM103.^[21] However the album was pushed back yet again, this time to December 20, 2011.^[22] On September 29, 2011, Young Jeezy released the third single off TM103, named "F.A.M.E. (Fake Ass Mothafu*kas Envy)",^[23] featuring T.I. This is the first official song T.I. was featured on since his latest stint in prison.

Personal life[link]

He is a personal friend of fellow Atlanta rapper Yung Joc.^[24] After Hurricane Katrina, Jeezy opened his house to the victims in an effort to help them have a place to stay. In October 2005, the mother of his 9 year old son used this as the basis to petition for child support. Early in the year, she had claimed that she had little income, no assets and did not even have a house.^[25]

On March 11, 2005, Jeezy was arrested after an alleged shooting involving some of his friends in Miami Beach, Florida.^[26] He was charged with two counts of carrying a concealed firearm without a permit; however, prosecutors dropped his charges two months later over lack of evidence.^[27] In the early hours of September 29, 2007, Jeezy destroyed his Lamborghini when it was hit by a taxi crossing Peachtree Street, outside of Justin's, Sean Combs’s restaurant in Atlanta. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported his claim that this gave him "a new appreciation for life".^[28] In Atlanta on June 18, 2008, police arrested him for DUI.^[29]

Discography[link]

Studio albums 2005: Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 2006: The Inspiration 2008: The Recession 2011: Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition Filmography[link] 2009: Janky Promoters [30] Awards[link] BET Awards 2010, Viewer's Choice Award ("Hard") with Rihanna [Won] 2009, Best Male Hip-Hop Artist [Nominated] 2008, Best Collaboration ("I'm So Hood [Remix]") with DJ Khaled, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, Lil Wayne, Fat Joe, Birdman, & Rick Ross [Nominated][31] BET Hip-Hop Awards 2008, Best Hip-Hop Video ("I'm So Hood [Remix]") with DJ Khaled, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, Lil Wayne, Fat Joe, Birdman, & Rick Ross [Nominated][32] 2008, Best Hip-Hop Collabo ("I'm So Hood [Remix]") with DJ Khaled, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, Lil Wayne, Fat Joe, Birdman, & Rick Ross [Won][33] 2008, People's Champ Award ("Put On") with Kanye West [Nominated][34] 2006, Hip-Hop CD of the Year ("Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101") [Nominated][35] 2006, Hip-Hop MVP of the Year [Nominated][35] Grammy Awards 2009, Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group ("Put On") with Kanye West [Nominated][36] 2010, Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group ("Amazing") with Kanye West (Nominated) 2011, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group ("Lose My Mind") with Plies (Nominated) Ozone Awards[citation needed] 2008, Best Rap Artist [Nominated] 2008, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("Love in This Club") with Usher (Won) 2007, Best Rap Album The Inspiration (Won) 2007, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration ("Go Getta") with R. Kelly [Nominated] 2007, Best Video ("Grew Up a Screw Up") with Ludacris [Nominated] 2007, Best Group with Slick Pulla & Blood Raw as USDA [Nominated] References[link] ^ a b c Kellman, Andy (2008). "Young Jeezy: Biography". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p640485/biography. Retrieved 2009-01-16.  ^ Reid, Shaheem (June 1, 2005). "Young Jeezy". You Hear It First. MTV News. http://www.mtv.com/news/yhif/young_jeezy/. Retrieved April 1, 2010.  ^ Reid, Shaheem (August 1, 2005). "Young Jeezy: Putting His Mouth Where His Money Is". MTV News. http://www.mtv.com/bands/y/young_jeezy/young_jeezy_inw_050801/. Retrieved April 1, 2010.  ^ a b Thompson, Bonsu (October 2005). "I'm a King". XXL. http://www.xxlmag.com/magazine/2005/10/im-a-king/. Retrieved January 13, 2011.  ^ "Thuggin Under the Influence". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00005M96X/. Retrieved November 29, 2006.  ^ a b c d e "Interview With Shakir Stewart". HitQuarters. November 14, 2005. http://www.hitquarters.com/index.php3?page=intrview/opar/intrview_ShakirStewart.html. Retrieved Jun 22, 2010.  ^ Ethan Brown (May 4, 2006). "Black Mafia Family – Mo' Money, Mo' Problems". http://www.vibe.com/news/magazine_features/2006/05/bmf_mo_money_mo_problems/. Retrieved November 29, 2006.  ^ "Beef with Gucci Mane". http://atlanta.about.com/od/celebrityprofiles/p/guccimane.htm. Retrieved November 29, 2006.  ^ "My Hood lyrics". http://ezsonglyrics.com/lyrics/young-jeezy/my-hood.html. Retrieved November 29, 2006.  ^ "Popular single "Icy"". http://atlanta.about.com/od/celebrityprofiles/p/guccimane.htm. Retrieved November 29, 2006.  ^ "''HHWorlds.com'' – Young Jeezy Hosts 'Toyz n da Hood' (December 14, 2007)". Hhworlds.com. 2011-05-08. http://www.hhworlds.com/f11/12-14-07-young-jeezy-hosts-toyz-n-da-hood-10052.html. Retrieved 2011-08-05.  ^ Ciara's New Single Confirmed Rap-Up.com. Retrieved December 19, 2008. ^ Starbury, Allen (2008-07-02). "Young Jeezy Clarifies McCain Comments, Pledges Support For Obama". BallerStatus.com. http://www.ballerstatus.com/article/news/2008/07/5016/.  ^ St. Pierre, Jay (2009-02-19). "Get Sillay: Young Jeezy enforces country's racial segregation". The Daily Reveille. http://www.lsureveille.com/opinion/get_sillay_young_jeezy_enforces_country_s_racial_segregation-1.1485034.  ^ Reid, Shaheem (2009-01-22). "Young Jeezy Defends 'My President' Against Bill O'Reilly". MTV News. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1603361/20090122/jeezy_young.jhtml. Retrieved 2009-03-15.  ^ Reid, Shaheem (2009-02-13). "Kanye West Explains 'Jockin' Jay-Z' Sample, Drops Exclusive Freestyle, More In Mixtape Monday". Mixtape Monday (MTV News). http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1605130/20090213/west_kanye.jhtml.  ^ Reid, Shaheem (2009-07-09). "Young Jeezy Is Working On Thug Motivation 103 'Right Now'". MTV News. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1615584/20090708/story.jhtml. Retrieved 2009-07-27.  ^ Young Jeezy Changes His Name. Island Def Jam. Retrieved March 19, 2010. ^ Jeezy denies name change says he still Young Jeezy | Young Jeezy. Rap Basement (2010-04-13). Retrieved on 2010-12-27. ^ Gendreau, Leanne. (2010-09-20) Rap Lyric Makes Light of Annie Le Murder. NBC New York. Retrieved on 2010-12-27. ^ "Young Jeezy Announces ‘TM103’ Release Date". Rap-Up.com. 2011-07-25. http://www.rap-up.com/2011/07/25/young-jeezy-announces-tm103-release-date/. Retrieved 2011-08-05.  ^ Iandoli, Kathy (2011-09-20). "Rap Release Dates: Young Jeezy, Mac Miller, Bow Wow, DJ Drama | Get The Latest Hip Hop News, Rap News & Hip Hop Album Sales". HipHop DX. http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.16909/title.rap-release-dates-young-jeezy-mac-miller-bow-wow-dj-drama. Retrieved 2011-10-31.  ^ "Young Jeezy – F.A.M.E. (Fake Ass Muthaf*ckas Envy) f. T.I". Fashionably-early.com. 2011-09-29. http://fashionably-early.com/2011/09/29/young-jeezy-%e2%80%93-f-a-m-e-fake-ass-muthafckas-envy-f-t-i/. Retrieved 2011-10-31.  ^ Krista Desens (July 11, 2006). "Yung Joc". http://netmusiccountdown.com/inc/news_article.php?id=10617. Retrieved November 29, 2006.  ^ "Jeezy helps hurricane victims". The San Francisco Chronicle. October 21, 2005. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=7&entry_id=1409. Retrieved November 29, 2006.  ^ "Young Jeezy arrested after Florida shootout". Associated Press. March 16, 2006. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/11808183. Retrieved June 27, 2010.  ^ "Young Jeezy weapons charges dropped". Associated Press. May 19, 2006. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/12818427. Retrieved June 27, 2010.  ^ 40/40 Club Stabbing. SOHH. Retrieved October 10, 2007. ^ Harris, Chris (2008-06-18). "Young Jeezy Arrested In Atlanta". MTV News. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1589553/20080618/jeezy_young.jhtml. Retrieved 2009-02-03.  ^ Kuperstein, Slava (2008-07-10). "Jeezy Talks Movie With Ice Cube, Remix With Jay-Z". Hiphopdx.com. http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.7285/title.jeezy-talks-movie-with-ice-cube-remix-with-jay-z. Retrieved 2011-08-05.  ^ Best Collaboration. BET Awards 2008. ^ Best Hip-Hop Video. BET Hip Hop Awards 2008. ^ Best Hip Hop Collabo. BET Hip Hop Awards 2008. ^ Alltel People's Champ Award. BET Hip Hop Awards 2008. ^ a b Adaso, Henry. "2006 BET Hip-Hop Awards". About.com. http://rap.about.com/od/awards/a/BETHipHopAwards.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-10.  ^ "The 51st Annual Grammy Awards Winners List". NARAS. 2009. http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/51st_show/list.aspx#07. Retrieved 2009-04-10.  External links[link] Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Young Jeezy Official website Young Jeezy at the Internet Movie Database Young Jeezy Interview at prefixmag Young Jeezy Circulate Music Video Young Jeezy Talks About Nas v t e Young Jeezy Studio albums Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 The Inspiration The Recession Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition Independent albums Thuggin' Under the Influence (T.U.I.) Come Shop wit Me Collaboration albums Boyz n da Hood Cold Summer Singles "And Then What" "Soul Survivor" "Go Crazy" "My Hood" "I Luv It" "Go Getta" "Dreamin'" "Put On" "Vacation" "Crazy World" "My President" "Who Dat" "Lose My Mind" "Ballin'" "F.A.M.E." "I Do" "Leave You Alone" Featured singles "Icy" "Get Throwed" "Say I" "Grew Up a Screw Up" "Diamonds" "5000 Ones" "100 Million" "Love in This Club" "Louie" "I'm So Paid" "Never Ever" "Amazing" "Better Believe It" "Fed Up" "Hard" "Put Your Hands Up" "(Ha Ha) Slow Down" Collaborative singles "Dem Boyz" "White Girl" Other songs "I'm Goin' In" "Be the One" Related articles Discography Boyz n da Hood United Streets Dopeboyz of America v t e Def Jam Recordings Founders Russell Simmons Rick Rubin Current artists 2 Chainz Ameriie Asher Roth Big Boi Big Sean Brutha Chrisette Michele DJ Clue? The-Dream Electrik Red Fabolous Fast Life Yungstaz Ghostface Killah Jadakiss Jennifer Lopez Jeremih Juelz Santana Kanye West Karina LL Cool J Ludacris Method Man Method Man & Redman Nas Patti LaBelle Pusha T Redman Rick Ross Rihanna Ron Isley Sheek Louch Shyne The Roots Triple C's U.S.D.A YG Young Jeezy Former artists 3rd Bass Ace Hood Alyson Williams Ashanti Beanie Sigel Beastie Boys B.G. Knocc Out Bobby V Boss Cam'ron Capone-N-Noreaga Case Chingy Cormega Cru Davy D Def Squad The Diplomats DJ Richie Rich DMX Domino Downtown Science The Dove Shack Dresta Dru Hill EPMD Fam-Lay Flatlinerz Foxy Brown Funkmaster Flex Flesh-n-Bone I-20 Ja Rule Jay-Z Jayo Felony Joe Budden  · Jonell Keith Murray Kelly Price Lady Gaga Lady Luck Lil Ru Lil Scrappy Lloyd LovHer Megan Rochell MoKenStef Montell Jordan Musiq Soulchild Ne-Yo Nikki D N.O.R.E. Nice & Smooth Nicole Wray N-Dubz Onyx Oran "Juice" Jones Peedi Peedi Pete Nice Playa Rell Rev Run Richie Rich Rocko Scarface Selan Lerner Shareefa Shawnna Sisqó Slayer Slick Rick South Central Cartel Terminator X Terri Walker Unladylike Warren G WC Y?N-Vee v t e Def Jam South Founders Russell Simmons Current artists Mannie Fresh Ludacris Rick Ross DJ Khaled The-Dream Troy Gentile Yung Berg Ace Hood Young Jeezy USDA Slick Pulla Triple C's Big Sean Willy Northpole Brutha TK N CASH Unladylike Lil Fate Fast Life Yungstaz Former artists Bobby V Scarface Jarvis Lazy Eye LeLe Serius Jones Shawnna Blood Raw Shareefa Steph Jones Lil Scrappy I-20 Lil Ru Related articles and record labels Def Jam Recordings We the Best Music Group Disturbing tha Peace Slip-N-Slide Records Persondata Name Young Jeezy Alternative names Short description American rapper Date of birth September 28, 1977 Place of birth Columbia, South Carolina Date of death Place of death