Jeezy has an extensive catalog filled with many iconic records, but the Atlanta rap legend has settled the debate once and for all over which is his greatest song.
The Snowman sat down with the Rap Radar Podcast to discuss his new memoir Adversity For Sale, and while sharing details about the book took a moment to say that he believes “Done It” is his crowning achievement as an artist.
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“Hall & Oats was taking some time to clear the sample, and I kinda felt like it didn’t belong on there because it sonically sounded so different,” he said of the song, which was recorded for his 2008 album The Recession but ultimately didn’t make the cut.
“I put it on the mixtape Trappin’ Ain’t Dead. And I went to Detroit one day, and some type of way my DJ played that shit — and man, it was unfucking real! I was like, ‘Yo, could we put on the album?’ And that’s how it got on to [streaming]. I love the song, but it didn’t sound like a rap song. It sounded like it was in its own sandbox.
“So we put it on the end of the record [as a bonus cut], and if you ask me what’s the best record I ever recorded, I’d tell you it’s ‘Done It All.’ Because I felt every bar on there.”
That era certainly holds a special place in Jeezy’s heart as he also crowned The Recession his best album.
“To me, my best body of work,” he said while reminiscing on the project. “My best body of work because of the effort that I put into it and it was also a time of a shift in my life because that’s when I was overweight, I wasn’t drinking water. Something just snapped in me around that time.
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“I started drinking water and taking care of myself and getting rest. I dropped like 60 pounds on my own! I started running and doing all types of stuff. I just felt better. And that’s when I was going in to write The Recession. I was just in such a good space.”
“Before then, between Trap or Die and up until The Recession, I was going through a lot of survivor’s remorse and I was real depressed — and I didn’t know the word for ‘depression’ then. I was real anxious and paranoid, so I wasn’t clear in what I was doing.
“The Recession was the first time I was clear on: I’m going in to write this project, I’m going to do some research, I’m going to understand it, I know what I want the album cover to look like, I know how I want it to sound … The minute I was done — it only took me about four weeks to do it — I knew I was done.”
Released in September 2008, The Recession debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, moving 260,000 copies in its first week. The project was supported by five singles including “Put On” featuring Kanye West, “Who Dat” and the triumphant “My President” with Nas, which coincided with Barack Obama becoming the first Black President in U.S. history.
The album eventually went platinum in July 2020, with its sequel, The Recession 2, arriving months later.
In a separate sit-down with Good Morning America earlier this week, Jeezy elaborated on his new book Adversity For Sale and said the memoir was meant to inspire people to follow their dreams and deal with failure..
“I think people always tell you about their success stories, but one thing that I’ve learned about life is that in every failure there’s a lesson,” he said. “And every time I ever failed it set me up for my next task. I think to share your failures with your community and your peers and people that love you.
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“They’ll just start to understand that it’s never too late, and that they can always push through, because sometimes you get in situations where you think it’s the end when it’s really the beginning.”
