U.S.D.A.

Atlanta-based rapper Young Jeezy, fresh from a pair of solo platinum releases and multiple Top Ten guest spots, maintained his street credibility by linking up with longtime associates Blood Raw and Slick Pulla to launch the crew U.S.D.A., whose full name is United Streets Dopeboys of America. The trio had shared living quarters at one point, and both Blood Raw and Slick Pulla had already made names for themselves on the underground mixtape scene—Blood Raw through the DJ Drama-hosted Indictment Papers and Slick Pulla via 4th Ward Day. The pair also contributed guest verses to Jeezy’s late-2006 Def Jam project The Inspiration: Thug Motivation 102. Half a year afterward, in spring 2007, the crew issued its first album, Cold Summer, on the same label; subtitled The Authorized Mixtape, the set emphasized raw street energy through hard-hitting production from Drumma Boy and Midnight Black. Jeezy’s website briefly generated headlines—later revealed as a prank—by soliciting applications for an all-female, all-white street team to push the project’s lead single, “White Girl.”