Far removed from being one of the Hot Boys(z, $), New Orleans native Juvenile is nonetheless still HOT, thanks to the release of his ninth studio album Beast Mode. The new album comes, well, HOT, on the heels of the release of last year’s commercially disappointing Cocky & Confident (only reached No. 49 on Billboard 200), which may have shaken his confidence a bit and may have helped and encouraged him to shift into, well, Beast Mode.
Bounce Back: These days, having an artist release two albums in less than a year is as rare as a New Orleans Saints Super Bowl win; both the Saints and Juvenile prove never say never. So, why did he spring back into the studio so quickly? The answer: summer. “The main reason for putting out this record in the summer is that it’s a summer album,” says Juvenile, who goes on to explain, “I made this album for my fans, especially for my female fans out there.”
Juvenile figures if being cocky and confident wasn’t exactly a winning combination, surely the can’t-miss combo of summertime and girls would be a cure all. On Beast Mode he gets right to the point, kicking the record off with “Go Hard or Go Home,” followed by the current single “Drop That Azz,” and the misogynistic manual “B*tch Instructions.” On track 4, “La La La La La,” he brags about smoking the finest weed, then brags about being a stud and steed on “I’m Da Man” and “Nothing Like Me.” He continues the it’s-all-about-me theme on “No Team” and “Drinks on Me.”
Juvenile kicked off his career at the age of 19 with the release of his 1995 debut album Being Myself. Subsequent solo releases include 1997’s Solja Rags; 1998’s hip-hop classic 400 Degreez (over 4.5 million sold); 1999’s Tha G-Code; 2001’s Project English; 2003’s Juve the Great (featuring the No. 1 single “Slow Motion”); 2006’s post-Katrina Reality Check (No. 1 debut on Billboard 200); and 2009’s Cocky & Confident.
In a rare display of modesty, Juvenile once played down his role as an innovator in the world of rap and hip-hop music, specifically the sub-genre known as “bounce.” “I don’t feel like I’ve done nothing yet. A lot of musical styles came from New Orleans.” But the history books don’t lie: at 15, he released what is widely viewed as the first “bounce” track, “Bounce for the Juvenile.” With Beast Mode, he continues to be on the cutting edge of hip-hop, and though still known as Juvenile, he is unquestionably da man!
Drop It Like It’s Hot: Watch the cleaned up, highly edited version of the official video for “Drop That Azz,” aka “Drop That Thang”:
As A Matter of Fact…
* Juvenile was born Terius Gray on March 26, 1975 in New Orleans.
* At 8 or 9 years old, Juvenile already knew he wanted to be a rapper. “I made my decision early. I didn’t wanna do nothing else but rap. I’ve been making music since I was 14-years old.”
* In 1997, Juvenile joined the Hot Boys (also known as Hot Boyz and Hot Boy$), and along with Lil Wayne, B.G., and Turk, they released their debut Get It How U Live!.
* Universally considered the inventor of “bounce” music, Juvenile once said, “Crunk piggybacked off of bounce music.”