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Just Updated 4-4-99
Added more tracks from "Chopper City In The Ghetto"
Juvenile On Conan O'Brien's Talk Show
Juvenile is scheduled for the Conan O'Brien show on 4/14. Check em out tell me how you think Juvenile will act.
The Stun'N' Mega Producer Mannie Fresh
Introducing the label that will take the world by storm in the next year. Cash Money Records, brought to you by super producer Mannie Fresh, is about to blow up the scene. For many years the label has been a force to be reckon with in the underground scene in New Orleans, Louisiana. But now, hot off a national distribution deal with Universal Records, Cash Money Records is about to in bed it's name in the minds of all hip-hop fans.
Keep It Hot message from the Hot Boys
On a balmy afternoon in the Magnolia Homes, the Hot Boy$ are shinin' like ghetto-mined diamonds. Juvenile, Turk and Lil Wayne-three-fourths of the New Orleans rap clique-flash gold fronts, tattoos and requisite iced-out record-label pendants for a photographer while onlookers pour into the project's courtyard. If not for missing fourth member B.G., the portrait would be perfect.
"It was a probation violation," explains Cash Money Records vice-president Bryan "Baby" Williams of the absent, then-jailed rapper. "A friend was riding with a gun, and he was in the car."
Real life frequently collides with the Hot Boy$' intense lyrical tales of Uptown N-O. "I just talk about everything. Whenever I see a murder, this and that," Tab "Turk" Virgil says of his muse. "It's just like any other ghetto, but you gotta love it," adds Teruis "Juvenile" Gray, father figure of the Hot Boy$, who range in age from 16 to 23.
The Hot Boy$' unconditional love for home-and vice-versa-becomes clear as a pack of children tag along during a tour of the Magnolia projects, immortalized on Juvenile's "Welcome 2 Tha Nolia" from his latest solo album, 400 Degreez. At one point, an ambitious 11-year-old shorty named Yamnique insists, "Juvenile's my boyfriend."
Ghetto superstars, sure, but lately the grassroots gangsters have spent so much time touring states like Kentucky, Missouri and Texas that a Thanksgiving concert in New Orleans was the first home show they'd done since June. It's all part of an expansion plan anchored by Cash Money's $30 million distribution deal with Universal Records, which could set them up as Louisiana's next No Limit.
Cash Money's windfall was made possible by the success of acts like Big Tymers, Juvenile and the Hot Boy$, whose 1997 debut album, Get It How U Live!!, sold approximately 90,000 units, according to SoundScan. This spring, Cash Money is expecting to drop the Hot Boy$' sophomore effort, Gorilla Warfare. A B.G. solo album will follow. Each project will be laced with the production of bounce alchemist Mannie Fresh. National exposure has brought change, especially at home. "People go to thinking, `Ah, man, he's probably got a couple of Gs in his pocket. Let's get him, ya dig?'" says Turk. "They got player haters everywhere, but for us they're mostly in New Orleans."
This is hardly paranoia. Just last year, Elton Wicker Jr., president of New Orleans' successful Tombstone Records rap label, was killed in a drive-by shooting, the second person from that camp to be gunned down in a five-month period. Meanwhile, two top-selling artists once affiliated with Cash Money also died violently: Edgar "Pimp Daddy" Givens in 1994, and UNLV's Albert "Yella" Thomas in 1997.
Sixteen-year-old Dwayne "Lil Wayne" Carter has seen plenty of Crescent City drama. "In my neighborhood, there wasn't nothing to do but sell drugs, do drugs or watch TV," he says, his distant gaze wandering. "A kid like me, I watched videos." This interest in music eventually earned him the title of "hot boy." "A hot boy could reach the peak of anything he do," Lil Wayne explains. "He could be the best to his kid if he have a kid." It turns out that Lil Wayne has children on his mind for a reason-his own baby girl is born just hours after the interview.
Bryan Williams, the Cash Money vice president and one half of the Big Tymers, summarizes the name "hot boy" this way: "A hot boy is a nigga about his paper." "Michael Jordan a hot boy. Magic Johnson a hot boy. If you're in school, you're a hot boy. If you're a neighborhood superstar, you're a hot boy," says the New Orleans flosser through a set of gold teeth. "If you're just about your 'fetti, you're a hot boy."
Juvenile Hits Blaze Front Cover ! April 1999
Juvenile the member of the Hot Boy's will be droping another solo record called "G-Code".
Juvenile, New Orleans' newest hotshot, is catching a nation by surprise. April 1999
Thirty giggly Parisians surround the white piano in the lobby of the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Miami, watching a brown-haired girl dutifully cover Beethoven's "Fifth." Grandparents elbow their way into the circle as the crowd eagerly awaits the song's conclusion. Soon, the spectators burst into applause as the pianist reaches the climax of the 19th-century classic.
The scene is in stark contrast to the one at the same piano just a few hours earlier, when Lil Wayne and Juvenile stood there flinging rhymes back and forth, freestyling about big money, bigger cars and pretty women. Meanwhile, Cash Money Records' superproducer Manny Fresh sat before the keys, tapping out a simple, haunting bass line. There was no crowd of European tourists and no gray-haired onlookers applauding and nodding. There was only the swollen, cornrowed Cash Money entourage banging out beats atop the piano's glossy exterior while Wayne and Juve proved their mettle. Up Top, heads call such forums a cipher-but in the Dirty Bottom, in the urban outback of New Orleans' Magnolia projects, Juvenile terms the display "off the porch." And for Juve, there's no underestimating the power of the porch. From the squat concrete stoop of his old crib near Louisiana Avenue and Seventh Street, Juve would soak up even the slightest details of project life-from the way older women referred to his friends as "Miss so-and-so's boy" to folks' habit of treating almost every sentence as a question. (You went to the store, ha?) He spent years studying ghetto idiosyncrasies, canvassing the 'Nolia with a pad and pen. Nowadays, with his sizzling single "Ha" dominating airwaves nationwide, Juvenile is parlaying those observations into gold...and platinum...and ice.
"This shit is good, I'm loving this life," exults Juvenile as his tour promoter's van carries him to Miami's Club Amnesia. Evidence of the love glints from everywhere on his slender 6-foot frame-from Juve's ostentatious diamond pinky rings to the tumor-sized diamond studs in his ears and the iced-out CMR medallion with the onyx backing. "I met a few stars," Juve continues. "I'm having fun with it." And who wouldn't. "Ha," his first single on Cash Money since the label finagled a $30 million-distribution deal with Universal Records last summer, has become a hit of Sosa-like proportions. A remix with Jay-Z has only added to the song's success, capturing the finicky ears of the New York community. Along with the rest of Juve's newest album, 400 Degreez, "Ha" is quickly transforming Juve into a household name. Now, with the likes of Mack 10, E-40, Spice 1, Teddy Riley and 112 knocking at his door for guest appearances, the 24-year-old sees no limit to his future. "I'm starting to realize that I'm out there with the hard hitters. I'm doing songs with Jay-Z," he says enthusiastically. "I'm a fan of his, so I'm loving the fact that he's on that muthafucka. It's all gravy baby, ya heard?"
But Juvenile isn't a newcomer to the rap game. He's been a fixture on the New Orleans rap scene for years, penning lyrics for Crescent City bounce legend DJ Jimi nearly a decade ago. He garnered his first hit with Jimi in '91, a regional smash titled "Bounce for the Juvenile." He even recorded an album, the unnoticed Bein' Myself, released in 1993 on Warlock Records, a New York indie. After joining the Cash Money stable, he dropped Solja Rags, which sold well throughout the South and Midwest. He also recorded as part of the Hot Boy$ on Get It How U Live!! But now, with "Ha," he's gone beyond regional stardom. These days, Juve is a full-fledged national phenomenon.
Wild Wayne, a leading radio personality on New Orleans' WQUE FM, attributes Juvenile's current success to numerous factors. "First off, he's from the South, and the South is on fire right now," says Wayne. "He's doing something different, and everybody can relate to what he's saying. And Manny's putting down some banging-ass tracks." Even though 400 Degreez has gained steam on the charts after being overlooked for weeks, Wayne believes that Juve has only begun to fulfill his enormous potential. "He's got versatility," says Wayne. "He can rap about anything. Thugging, politics, freestyle-he hasn't even begun to tap all that stuff yet. His album is really tight, but I don't think it's his best work." New York City radio DJ Funkmaster Flex remembers when he first broke "Ha" at the Tunnel, the city's legendary nightclub: "Niggas was looking at me like I was crazy. Booing and everything. Now, I play it and niggas start fighting"-a clear-cut sign that the Tunnel is feeling a record.
It's Friday afternoon by the basketball courts in the Magnolia projects in New Orleans' Third Ward. Icy glares and insular grumblings of "Youknowwhodatis?" greet strangers passing through the concrete shantytown (which was renamed the C.J. Peete Housing Development in 1981, although no one calls the project that). Malnourished children play in dirt front yards; the grass looks like it vanished sometime around the advent of color television. Although Magnolia is only a five-minute drive from downtown New Orleans, the housing complex might as well be located in Cairo. With its peeling paint, boarded-up windows and weeds scaling the three-story buildings like Wrigley Field ivy, the 'Nolia reminds one of slave quarters that never quite got news of the Emancipation Proclamation.
This is what Teruis Gray (Juve's given name) called home for most of his life. Opened for business on Jan. 15, 1941, the Magnolia projects were the first low-rent public housing facility constructed in New Orleans. Financed in part by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal," present-day Magnolia hasn't lived up to its end of FDR's bargain. Drugs and violence have turned the project and surrounding neighborhoods into killing fields. According to New Orleans Police Department records, the Sixth District, which includes Magnolia within its borders, had 993 reported violent crimes in 1998. Fifty-five of the violent crimes in the district occurred in Magnolia's short eight blocks. In contrast, the nearby Calliope Projects-which has approximately 500 more residents-had 44 violent incidents. "To live down here is hard as a muthafucka, bruh," Juvenile says.
At the moment, though, he's hundreds of miles from the projects, relaxing in a Little Rock hotel before a show. Still, the bloodshed and the misery seem to reach him even here. "It was four killings down there last weekend," says Juve. "Look at all the poverty around there. Ain't no money, ain't no jobs. Ain't nothing but drugs around there. Broke people like to get high 'cause they be stressed out. They get high smoking on that crack, get fucked up and do crazy shit. And a lot of it result in murders. Fuck with somebody shit, they come kill you. Steal somebody stash, they come kill you."
But somehow, he made a life in the 'Nolia, growing up the youngest of three brothers. Back then, he was Ta'Nut, a nickname his mother gave him and his friends in the 'Nolia still call him. He was a normal kid, aware of, but not withered by, the squalor surrounding him. He was baptized when he was seven at a Southern Baptist church. He saw his first potna murdered when he was 12. Earned a mis-education at Carter G. Woodson Middle School. Boxed from age 10 to 15. Experienced his first heartbreak at 16. Graduated from Booker T. Washington High School. Hasn't spoken to his biological father in 17 years. "He a bullshit nigga. Fuck him," Juve says. He credits his stepfather for making him a man. "He gave me a hard work ethic," adds Juve, who worked construction with his stepfather as an adolescent and, later, removed asbestos for two years. "He would never tell me what to do. He would just tell me my options."
But for all the respect and admiration his stepfather commands, Juve says that no one can match his mother for his affection. "I love my mama," he says. He calls her frequently from the road and tends to her needs even from thousands of miles away. While in Little Rock, Arkansas, for instance, he got on the phone to instruct a friend to give his mother $100 and whatever else she needed. When he was in Los Angeles, he bought her a bottle of Gucci perfume. He also recently purchased a house for her in a nice neighborhood outside of New Orleans. "She wasn't strict, but she still used to give me a lot of ass whippings," Juvenile recalls. His fear of those ass whippings probably saved Ta'Nut's life when he was 12. His eyes riveted to the floor, Juve recollects: "(A friend) had asked me to go to the game room with him. I said no because there had been a killing there the night before, and I was there right before it happened. My mama found out, whipped my ass and told me not to go back there. Anyway, I went home. Ten minutes later they knocked on my door and said he got shot. I'm with you one minute, and then 10 minutes later, ya dead. That hurt me. I been seeing heads get busted wide open ever since."
But while talk of death often permeates daily discussion in the 'Nolia, folks in New Orleans also love to party. There's Mardi Gras, obviously. And every Thanksgiving weekend, thousands of black folk crowd the streets of the French Quarter in celebration of the Bayou Classic, the annual football game between Grambling State University and Southern University. Nearly every other week, there's a "second line" celebration, a block party that sometimes occurs after, well, a funeral. (It's a New Orleans thing, you wouldn't understand.) Other times, neighborhoods throw a "second line" just to let off a little steam. "I throw second lines in the Magnolia a lot now," says Juve. It's his way of giving back, to let the projects know that he still remembers his roots.
It's Saturday night at the Arkansas State Fairgrounds Entertainment Center. The Cash Money Millionaires are about to temporarily take over Little Rock. The crowd is the way a hip hop audience should be-ghetto and lousy with niggas. 'Round midnight, the Cash Money clique hits the stage, armed with bottles of Cristal, Dom Pérignon and champagne glasses. The crowd goes into hysterics, chanting every song nearly word for word. As scantily clad women jump onstage to dance and drink with the CMR crew, the stage looks like one of Juve's lavish Pen & Pixel album covers come to life. About an hour later, the crowd sufficiently rocked, Juvenile is back in his dressing room trying to get at the dynamic behind his newfound popularity. "We givin' 'em what they want," says Juvenile. "Straight nigga ghetto shit, project shit just the way they want it." Just the way that, for all those years in the 'Nolia, Juve saw it.
Newly Signed Artists
Young Buck - Nashville, Tennessee
Paparue - Trinidad
Lac - New Orleans
CT (Certified Thugga)
Leah - New Female R&B aritist
1999 Roster
the B.G. "Chopper City In The Ghetto"
the B.G. "Check Mate: The Underboss"
Hot Boys "Gorilla Warfare"
Lil Wayne "I Ride at Night"
CMB Ballas (Movie)
Big Tymers "Unknown"
Juvenile "G Code"
Turk "Untamed Gorilla"
Turk "Young and Thugging"
Other Info
Juvenile will be on Foxy Brown. He has also done a remix of Ha with Jay-Z and will have a song featuring Jesse Powell. the BG has a remix of "Ca$h Money Is An Army" featuring DMX. Lil Wayne will be featured on Willie D(Geto Boys) on a song called "I Wanna Be Just Like Them Niggas" He will also do a song with Missy.Wayne, Juvenile, and Turk did a song with The Outlaws. Also Juvenile did a song with an female artist under Keith Sweat.Videos They will be shooting in California for the song with Three 6 Mafia called "Hypnotize Cash Money " . Juvenile will shoot either Flossin Season or Rich Niggaz next. He will also shoot a video for a song off his upcoming album called "If You Wanna Get On"
Songs off the B.G. "Chopper City In The Ghetto"
2. On Da Real
4. Playing It Raw
8. Knock Out
11. Cash Money Roll
13. Thugging
16. Bout My Paper
One of the B.G.'s songs off the album "Trigger Play"
Songs off Hot Boys "Gorilla Warefare"
2. We On Fire (Remix)
3. Shoot First
4. What Do You Call?
5. Them Boys At War
6. Clear The Set (Lil Wayne)
7. Bout Whateva (Turk)
8. Young and Thuggin
9. Follow Me Now
10. Tuesdays and Thursdays
News
Juvenile will be on Foxy Brown. He has also done a remix of Ha with Jay-Z and will have a song featuring Jesse Powell. BG has a remix of "Ca$h Money Is An Army" featuring DMX. Lil Wayne will be featured on Willie D(Geto Boys) on a song called "I Wanna Be Just Like Them Niggas" He will also do a song with Missy.Wayne, Juvenile, and Turk did a song with The Outlaws. Also Juvenile did a song with an female artist under Keith Sweat.
Videos
They will be shooting in California for the song with Three 6 Mafia called "Hypnotize Cash Money". Juvenile will shoot either Flossin Season or Rich Niggaz next. He will also shoot a video for a song off his upcoming album called "If You Wanna Get On"
Juvenile "400 Degreez" Tour Dates
April
3rd - Albany, GA at Civic Center
4th - Mobile, AL at Civic Center
5th - Panama City Beach, FL at Club LaVela (Spring Break)
6th - Columbus, GA at Trade Center
7th - Raleigh, NC at Ritz
8th - Myrtle Beach, SC at Attic
9th - Daytona Beach, FL at Ocean Front Band Shell
10th - Akron, OH at TBA
14th - New York, NY at Tramps
16th - New Haven, CT at Palace Theater
17th - Philadelphia, PA at Philly Live
18th - Baltimore, MD at Baltimore Live
21st - Flint, MI at IMA Sports Arena
22nd - Washington, DC at The Ritz
25th - Pittsburgs, PA at Woodsons Station Square
27th - Columbus, OH at Veterans Memorial Auditorium
28th - Milwaukee, WI at Rave Eagles Ballroom
May
1st - Grambling, LA at College Spring Fling
27th / 30th - Cancun, Mexico at TBA
For Booking Info Call : (504) 596-5109 or (504) 258-5911
