Fahamu Pecou unveils painting of Jeezy at gallery event
Credit: Ernie Suggs
On Tuesday, less than a week after celebrating the 20th anniversary of his debut album “Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101” with a sold-out symphonic concert at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, trap music pioneer Jeezy stood in a very different kind of spotlight.
Instead of thundering trap beats on a stage, he was at the Johnson Lowe Gallery tucked away in Midtown.
The thunder outside was real, but the soft hum of conversation, camera shutters, and servers carrying trays of McDonald’s filled the room as a massive portrait of the rapper — now a certified cultural icon — was unveiled before a crowd of admirers, collectors, and fellow artists.
The piece, titled “School of Hard Knocks,” is the latest work by acclaimed visual artist Fahamu Pecou, whose signature style blends fine art and hip-hop swagger to chronicle Black masculinity.
For both artists, the painting represented a full-circle moment. Pecou is also celebrating his 20th year as an artist, having made his gallery debut in December 2005, just five months after Jeezy dropped “Thug Motivation.”
But even before they both exploded, Pecou was designing fliers and mixtape graphics for some of Jeezy’s early projects in the late 1990s.
Credit: Ernie Suggs
“So to reconnect after his career evolution … after my own career evolution, to be back in the same place to create and connect together has been a great experience,” Pecou said.
Jeezy, who has become an avid art collector, calls Pecou his favorite artist.
In May, Jeezy decided to reach out and secure a deal to buy several existing pieces.
“I thought, ‘How cool would it be for him to help me connect art and culture, and make it a testimony?’” Jeezy said.
At the unveiling, the crowd at times appeared stunned, gazing at the blinding white painting that sparkled in the light. Jeezy, seeing the painting for the first time, was speechless.
Credit: Ernie Suggs
In the portrait, Jeezy is dressed in a white suit and white Nike Air Forces — a nod to a track on his debut album. He holds a clear book bag between his legs, visibly containing an image of Jeezy’s iconic snowman, as
he’s reading a book titled “We Didn’t Realize We Were Seeds.”
Pecou said with book title he flipped the familiar quote, “They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds,” into an inward lament and quiet awakening to acknowledge generational struggle, and the radical beauty of surviving it and growing anyway.
“It gives us back agency in how we see ourselves and understanding the power that we have in being those seeds,” Pecou said.
Pecou called the portrait a “meditation on people who come from marginalized spaces and have something brilliant and beautiful to offer the world.”
Credit: Ernie Suggs
“I read his biography and I listened to his discography,” Pecou said of his process. “And what resonated with me was this: We as Black people — who come from situations of marginalization — find ways to create paths that didn’t exist. We don’t need anyone to validate us. We’re all we got, and we’re all we need.”
Jeezy, born Jay Wayne Jenkins, released “Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101” on July 26, 2005. The album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and quickly sold more than two million units, cementing Jeezy as a staple of trap music — a genre rooted in lived experience and entrepreneurial hustle.
Now 47, Jeezy has evolved into a businessman, bestselling author, community figure and art collector — but he hasn’t stopped performing.
His recent orchestral show at the Fox Theatre, featuring the Color of Noize Orchestra, was a bold reimagining of the album’s hard-hitting sound, layered with strings, horns and a sense of legacy.
Credit: Ernie Suggs
The painting is now in the hands of Jerry Thomas, an Atlanta-based collector and dealer, whom Jeezy credits as his art mentor and from whom Pecou sought advice early in his career.
Thomas and his wife, Andrea Young, purchased the piece at auction for $21,000. Proceeds from the sale will go to the foundations of both Pecou and Jeezy.
“This was really easy,” Thomas said of the purchase. “It was a tribute to Fahamu, a tribute to Jeezy, and an expression of love to my wife.”
After the unveiling, Thomas praised both artists for their evolution, while Young said she was excited to see what they would create next.
“When we know who we are, when we know what we have, we know what we’re capable of,” Pecou said. “Everything moves out of the way.”
About the Author
Ernie Suggs is an enterprise reporter covering race and culture for the AJC since 1997. A 1990 graduate of N.C. Central University and a 2009 Harvard University Nieman Fellow, he is also the former vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists. His obsession with Prince, Spike Lee movies, Hamilton and the New York Yankees is odd.
