This story has been updated with Saturday’s announcement of the contest winner.
On the hit 2005 song “Icy” with fellow Atlanta trap music icon Gucci Mane, the rapper formerly known as “Young Jeezy” told the world that his friends affectionately call him “Jeezy the snowman.”
In order to avoid confusion, he gave a simple explanation.
“I’m iced out; plus I got snow, man!”
Today, the rapper born Jay Jenkins — who years ago dropped the “Young” from his name and goes only by Jeezy — decided he wasn’t completely detached from the powdery, often-cold-hearted nature of his previous career as a street pharmacist.
In fact, he appears to have warmed to a different, more family-friendly interpretation of the “sno” that has been so prominently featured in songs like “BIG SNO” and “Dem Boyz,” one of the original songs that introduced Jeezy to the world as a member of the group Boyz N Da Hood.
To prove as much, Jeezy announced on social media around noon today that he was hosting an impromptu competition to see who could build the best snowman with the bounty of winter precipitation laying all around Atlanta.
“Hope y’all are enjoying the SNO! ⛄️ No pun intended …,” the rapper’s post read.
The rules to enter the contest included following Jeezy on Instagram, tagging the rapper in a post with photo evidence of having built a snowman and including the hashtag #JeezySnowman2025 in the post’s caption.
The rapper born Jay Jenkins told his Instagram audience that the winner would be announced today at 5 p.m. (for all you “Trap or Die” fans, yes, that would be Eastern Time).
Even up to the deadline, Instagram fans had no chill about getting their frosty bids in for the cold cash prize.
Some went with the classic snowman look from Jeezy’s longtime “Sno” logo, worn for years by the rapper in clothing and jewelry form.
One fan took the opportunity to create an ice-on-snow effect, with a snowman rocking a golden chain and gem-studded “G” pendant.
Some took their inspiration from Atlanta sports teams, perhaps unintentionally alluding to the cold reality of the past year’s wintry mix of season results.
Others still took the inclusive route and turned the snowman into a snow lady, with interesting wardrobe selections.
There were even baby snowmen.
With such an overwhelming response, Jeezy told anxious followers just before 5:30 p.m. he needed additional time — and help from his followers — to select the winner of the contest, promising to share the decision by 6 p.m., an hour later than originally planned.
“Y’all went so crazy that I need help picking the winner,” he said in the post’s caption.
Jeezy ended up taking even more time to deliberate, and on Saturday afternoon declared the winner as the Hassell family, a family of six who live in Birmingham, Alabama.
The winning post featured a well-constructed snowman that heavily resembled Jeezy’s simple, frowning snowman logo. In this case the 3D version was surrounded on video by an adorable crew of children, backing up the frosty figure with crossed arms and mean-mug facial expressions — “ice-grilling,” if you will.
“The results are in and I must say, y’all did not make this easy! It was dope to see everyone participate and overall just enjoy the moment,” he said, before asking the Hassell’s to check their direct messages.
Fans and followers of the rapper commented below the announcement with a variety of emoji, including snowflakes, snowmen and hearts.
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