| Cash Money Records latest star Juvenile is a hot rapper with more than ten years
experience of dropping cold-ice lyrics and laying it down for "Uptown" New
Orleans. "Juvenile is a name I got when I was young" explains Terius Gray
[Juvenile]. Juvenile hails from the infamous New Orleans Uptown region and was reared in
the Magnolia projects. Like some other housing projects, the Magnolia projects have a
serious reputation for being rowdy and wild. It's a place where few children survive
unscathed by the horrendous poverty that grips many of the residents there. But not
Juvenile. Like the elders of old, he kept his eyes on the prize - his dream of being a rap
star. "I had my struggles," says a solemn Juvenile when asked about life in the
"wild" Magnolia. "My pops went AWOL on me when I was four, so I had my
struggles and I had peer pressure, but I didn't let things get to me. I always stayed
focused on what I was trying to do." Rapping since the age of ten. Juvenile formed a
group called the UTP, a name that he has tattooed on his stomach in honor of his old
Uptown crew, many of whom are either dead or locked up. "UTP was like a coalition for
Uptown rappers." Through his rap activity, Juvenile became useful in helping shape
New Orleans' hip hop scene. However, by the mid-90's Juvenile's career took a turn for the
worst. Resisting the lure of fast money and cars, he took on a series of odd jobs in
between writing and doing shows whenever he could. His luck changed when he met Ronald
"Suga Slim" Williams and his brother Brian "Baby" Williams (owners of
Cash Money Records). On the way to work, he auditioned for them on the spot. Although the
brothers liked what they heard, they didn't have a spot on their roster for new artists.
They gave him a card and told him to check with them later. Juvenile showed up the next
day, and the day after, and on and on... In fact, he started hanging around the studio so
much that the label finally gave him a shot and released Juvenile's first album titled
"Soulja Rag". Instantly, "Soulja Rag" became an underground smash,
selling close to 200,000 copies in the Southern region alone. It also helped to set the
stage for Juvenile's new group, The Hot Boys, whose debut LP "Get It How You
Live" sold nearly 400,000 copies and landed in the #25 spot on the Billboard charts.
Now, Juvenile returns with his sophomore solo CD "400 Degreez" which will
definitely prove to be Cash Money's hottest release yet. Just listen to the sizzling lead
single "HA" with its rapid-fire rhythm, spacey keyboard and Juvenile's endless
aggression on the mic. Everyone is sure to get caught up in the high energy of
"Welcome To Magnolia" with it's bouncing organ chords and tight rhythms built
around a 70's rim shot, or the spine-chilling tracks "My Nine Is Gonna Die With
Me" and "Back Dat Azz Up." On "Run For It" you can feel the
hunger in Juvenile's voice and the heat coming from producer Mannie Fresh's tracks. Why
400 Degreez? "The area I come from, they call it the 'hot block: when the police come
they draw heat. I'm a hot boy so that 400 Degreez was perfect because that is the boiling
point." Besides given the amount of bubbling bass lines, steaming rhythms and boiling
lyrical content that this CD packs, the album couldn't be called anything else.
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