After 25 years, the Foxy 99 Summer Jam is still going strong, with Young Jeezy as the big name this year. Featuring both big names and local musicians, the Summer Jam draws thousands of people every year, fi lling up the Crown Coliseum. This year, the artist lineup is quite impressive, featuring not only Young Jeezy but Elle Varner, Yo Gotti, Kstylis, Driicky Graham, Shaggy, Sterling Simms, Pleasure P and Joe Moses.

North Carolina native Driicky Graham of Oxford is most famous for his song “Snapbacks and Tattoos” which fi rst was aired on NYC’s Hot 97. Since then, he has worked with eOne music (formerly Koch Records) and reached No. 63 on Billboard. With his new mix-tape, Ya Gotta Start Somewhere, available for download, he has to be on cloud nine. Hosted by DJ Ill Will, the mix-tape has 15 songs by Driicky, and word on the street is that he spits like Kid Ink and is a breath of fresh air in the rap world. There is sure to be more from him in the near future with his growing fan base and new mix-tape, Ya Gotta Start Somewhere.

When Summer Jam started becoming a large attraction for hip hop and rap enthusiasts, Foxy 99 decided to pull major artists into its lineup. With past performers such as J Cole, Rick Ross and Ludacris, Foxy 99 got into a major bind last year. They weren’t able to come up with any major artists for their 25th year of Summer Jam, so they postponed it, then cancelled the whole event. Cancelling wasn’t what Foxy liked doing, but the big names were on tour and weren’t going to be available in time. With that discouraging note behind them, Foxy 99 has decided to continue its tradition of Summer Jam this year by revamping the whole concert into a bigger event than years past, their intention is to attract more people and bigger names to perform in future Summer Jams.

With Young Jeezy as the headliner, people are excited about the concert. His career started in 2001 under an independent label, he joined Boyz N Da Hood in 2005, the same year his solo major debut Lets Get It: Thug Motivation 101 was released. With several records to pull from such as The Recession, Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition and several others, Jeezy can always surprise the audience with the songs that he chooses for the night. Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition debuted at No. 3 on Billboard 200 in December of 2011, selling 233,000 copies in its fi rst week. Needless to say, people are pretty excited for this event.

Summer Jam 2012 will be held in the Crown Coliseum, like previous years, and it will start at 6:30 p.m. July 28. Tickets cost anywhere from $10 to $60 and can be purchased on the Crown Coliseum’s website at www.atthecrown.com, or at www.Ticketmaster.com.