Juvenile (rapper)
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Juvenile (born Terius Gray, 25 March, 1975) is a gangsta rapper from New Orleans, Louisiana. At the age of 19, he began recording in a distinctive southern style with Being Myself (1995, Warlock Records). The album's hit song "Bounce for the Juvenile" gave name to the southern sing-songy rap style known as "bounce".
In 1997, Solja Rags, Juvenile's debut with Cash Money Records, was an underground hit. In 1999, Solja Rags was re-released nationally to ride the wave of popularity Juvenile was enjoying with the release of 400 Degreez and its smash lead single, "Back That Azz Up", which eventually became a pop crossover hit in early 2000. Warlock Records released a remixed version of Being Myself at the same time. After the lackluster reception of The G-Code and Project English (2001), which only contained the very minor hit single, "From Your Momma", Juvenile left Cash Money Records, releasing The Compilation in 2002 with the UTP (Uptown Project Playas) crew. Juvenile returned to Cash Money in 2003. His latest album is Juve The Great(2004). He has released a total of nine albums.
In the summer of 2004, his Juve The Great album spawned a massive hit called "Slow Motion". The song topped Billboard's Hot 100 chart on August 7, 2004 knocking Usher's "Confessions" (part 2) out of number one after only two weeks. It is Juvenile's and guest artist Soulja Slim's first No. 1 on the Hot 100. The song has managed to achieve this feat essentially on the strength of urban radio airplay alone as it has not yet had massive pop crossover success. However, such crossover success seems imminent, as new mainstream radio stations continue to add the song to their playlists every week.
Following critical and commercial acclaim for "Juve The Great", Juvenile and his UTP crew went on to create the hit song "Nolia Clap" and Juvenile was able to use this as leverage in getting a new deal for himself and UTP with Atlantic. Now off of Cash Money and taking on the role of both CEO and artist, Juve is preparing for the summer release of his much anticipated new album The Reality Check. The first single off the album is Animal.
Discography
- Being Myself (1995)
- Solja Rags (1997)
- 400 Degreez (1998)
- Being Myself [Remixed Version] (1999)
- The G-Code
- Project English (2001)
- The Compilation (2002)
- Juve The Great (2003)
External Links
- Official Site (http://www.mtv.com/bands/az/juvenile/artist.jhtml)
- Juvenile Lyrics (http://lyrics.rare-lyrics.com/J/Juvenile.html)
- Atlantic Records Website (http://www.atlanticrecords.com/juvenile)