Jeezy opens his latest group effort in the same fashion he has started both of his solos. This time around “Focus” serves as the bass heavy horn hawked pledge of allegiance to the trap as Jeezy outshines his counterparts with nearly no effort. Producer Drumma Boy was responsible for most of 101’s sonically whelming sound beds and wastes no time staking his claim here as he helms the album’s first single “White Girl” which easily turns out to be the epiphany of the collection. After a listenable verse from Blood Raw and a reasonable verse from Slick Pulla Jeezy makes his first mistake on the album has he ill-fatedly attempts to deliver a tongue twisting verse on the otherwise satisfactory “Get It Up”. Young Jeezy must live closely by the term “if it aint broke, don’t fix it” as evidenced by the practically remixed “Corporate Thuggin” which doesn’t sound bad just all too predictable. On “Throw This Money” Slick Pulla, Blood Raw, and Jeezy close down shop and head for the nearest night spot over Midnight Black’s also predictable bass lines, drum patterns, and of course horns.

From the strip club it goes straight to the room with the likes of “Pam” and “Quickie” where Jeezy cleverly spits “I ride like a rap star/ live like a trap star/ party like a rap star/ and fuck like a porn star”. After being the weakest link for most of the album Blood Raw shows up for an impressive solo shot with the Alfred Gaines Jr. helmed “Ride Tonight”. On “I Keep Tellin Myself” Jezzy, Raw, and Pulla struggle to find a balance between the lusts of the trap and the other side of life. Producer Sanchez Holmes of Grand Hustle fame pieces together a romping arrangement of machine gun funk and a couple of classic chunky basslines on the shit starting “Respect Da Shield”. Young Jeezy makes a strong selling point by placing the “Go Getta (remix)” on the album, with appearances from Jadakiss and Bun B, and a reworked beat courtesy of Drumma Boy you can chalk the closing offering up as a check.

Even though USDA manages to put together a sonically fit debut album Cold Summer still ends up a disappointment. After all the madness that Slick Pulla was stirring up on the mixtape circuit he didn’t show up the way he should have here. Blood Raw has several issues to work out before he’ll be able to come from behind Jeezy’s shadow. Jeezy himself could probably use a year out of rap so that he can focus on returning to the sharp wit that he displayed on his first album and he could also use the time to retool some of his production likes. Outside of the first single USDA hasn’t really done anything significant enough to warrant an all out snow storm by the 4^th!   

VERDICT – 12 / 20
LYRICS: 3
PRODUCTION: 3 
DELIVERY: 3
CONSISTENCY: 3