Deep Album Cuts Vol. 312: Juvenile
I did a Lil Wayne deep cuts playlist years ago, but I've always wanted to do playlists for some of the other classic Cash Money artists like Juvenile, B.G., and the Big Tymers. And last month Juvenile announced that he'd be doing a Tiny Desk Concert with NPR, so that motivated me to finally work on his playlist.
2. Livin' In The Project
3. Take If Off Your Shoulder (with the Hot Boys)
4. 400 Degreez
5. Off Top (f/ Big Tymers)
6. U.T.P. (f/ the Hot Boys and Birdman)
7. You Dig (with the Hot Boys)
8. Tha Man (f/ Turk)
9. Take Them 5
10. They Lied (f/ Big Tymers)
11. Hope Y'All Ready (f/ Playas Dynasty)
12. Cock It
13. Juve "The Great"
14. Don't Start (with Wacko and Skip)
15. Sets Go Up (f/ Wacko)
16. Rock Like That (f/ Bun B)
17. I'm Shining
18. Go Hard Or Go Home
19. Bad Guy
20. Tales From The Hood
21. Just Another Gangsta (with Birdman)
Track 1 from Being Myself (1995)
Track 2 from Solja Rags (1997)
Track 3 from Get It How U Live! with the Hot Boys (1997)
Tracks 4, 5 and 6 from 400 Degreez (1998)
Track 7 from Guerilla Warfare with the Hot Boys (1999)
Tracks 8 and 9 from Tha G-Code (1999)
Track 10 from Project English (2001)
Track 11 from 600 Degreez (2002)
Tracks 12 and 13 from Juve The Great (2003)
Track 14 from The Beginning Of The End... with UTP (2004)
Track 15 and 16 from Reality Check (2006)
Track 17 from Cocky And Confident (2009)
Track 18 from Beast Mode (2010)
Track 19 from Rejuvenation (2012)
Track 20 from The Fundamentals (2013)
Track 21 from Just Another Gangsta with Birdman (2019)
Juvenile was already 19 by the time he released his pre-Cash Money album Being Myself, so we've never really heard him as a juvenile, but his voice and delivery really changed between that record and his Cash Money debut, Solja Rags, two years later. Some songs on Being Myself sound pretty New Orleans, but my favorite track on there is the most G-funk beat on the record, "U Can't C Me," a reminder that the west coast was still heavily influencing southern rap in the mid-'90s.
Obviously 400 Degreez looms large over Juvenile's career, it went quadruple platinum in two years and remained Cash Money's biggest album for about 20 years until some Lil Wayne and Drake albums finally surpassed it. I feel like the title track of 400 Degreez has really grown in stature over the years, I hear DJs throw that song into sets more now than I did when that album was current.
Juvenile was the first of Cash Money's stars to notice that its business was sketchy and leave, but he's come back multiple times, even releasing a duo album with Birdman as his most recent project. Despite the ups and downs, though, Juvenile's built a pretty solid catalog, getting his only #1 single on Juve The Great and only #1 album with Reality Check. I think because he didn't grow and grow creatively and commercially like Lil Wayne, Juvenile's become a little underrated, but he made amazing music with Mannie Fresh. "Take Them 5" has some of Juve's best writing ever, Tha G-Code is really full of gems.
Last year I posted a Ginuwine deep cut from 2003 with 'zero setting' AutoTune in an R&B context two years before T-Pain's breakthrough, and the uncredited backup singer on Juvenile's 2001 track "They Lied" is also using AutoTune in a similar over-the-top way at a time when few besides Cher were known for that sound. "Sets Go Up" made the rounds on mixtapes and radio mix shows before Reality Check came out and I wish it had gotten a big push as a proper single, by far my favorite track on that album, great post-"Lean Back" beat from Scott Storch. "I'm Shinin'" is produced by Mouse On Tha Track from Trill Entertainment, who was really the guy who kind of felt like the next generation Mannie Fresh when he was on his hitmaking run with Boosie and Webbie, cool to hear him do a Juvenile track. And Juvenile reunited with Fresh for a few tracks on Rejuvenation, including "Bad Guy."
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