Jeezy said he wants his new memoir Adversity For Sale to motivate others to pursue their aspirations, and that he hopes it would show that failure is never the end of the path, but rather the beginning.
“I think people always tell you about their success stories, but one thing I’ve learned about life is that in every failure, there’s a lesson,” Jeezy said. “And every time I failed, it prepared me for the next task.”
I believe in sharing your shortcomings with your community, peers, and those that love you.
They’ll simply start to realize that it’s never too late, and that they can always push through, because sometimes you think it’s the end when it’s really the beginning.”
“This book is for people who want to do better today than they did yesterday,” he said, “because growing up, especially as a Black man in America, we always had to fight to get our voice heard, and I think this book can help anybody who has to fight to get where they’re trying to be.”
Because you must begin from the bottom in order to reach the top. But once you reach the top, you must know how to maintain your position. It is all about you.”
Jeezy reminisced on his difficult musical debut, which coincided with his shift from a drug dealer to a full-time rapper, in a separate interview about the book.
The Snowman’s drug kid hustling had won him a lot of money and reputation, but with that success came an unshakeable anxiety as he traded the streets for the studio to pursue his rap goals. A young Jeezy, like his idol 2Pac, was on the verge of death.
“I just knew there wasn’t going to be any other way if I didn’t figure it out,” he said. “Like the rest of my friends, I was going to end up in prison or dead.”
“A lot of my music… was simply me wanting to be heard.” I was making music as though I wasn’t going to be there any longer. So I thought, ‘This better be the finest thing I’ve ever said.’ And thus Trap or Die and Thug Motivation were born, since I was bracing myself for the worst.”
“And when it popped, I understood,” he said, “and now I was like, ‘OK, I gotta sustain this.'” So I basically used the same spirit to all of my future efforts.”
