Juvenile
400 DEGREEZ
isn't just hot, it's on fire

Don't let the name fool ya. Cash Money Records' latest superstar Juvenile, is a hot rapper with more than ten years experience of ripping shows, dropping cold-as-ice lyrics and laying it down for "Uptown" New Orleans. 'Juvenile' is the name he got when he was young and thugging, "explains the 23 year-old Terius Gray.

Cash Money Records owners "Suge Slim" Williams and his brother Brian "Baby" Williams signed him a couple of days later after hearing him on the spot. Later on he released his debut album titled "Solja Rag". The album became an underground smash, selling almost 200.000 copies, down south. Juvenile's new group the Hot Boys, whose debut LP, named "Get it how you live". It nearly sold 400, 000 copies and landed in the #25 spot on the Billboard charts. Juvenile is one of Cash Money's hottest rappers with whom they want to compete against the largest record label in the south, No Limit records.
Juvenile's new solo album 400 DEGREEZ proves to be Cash Money's hottest release.

His rhymes are vindictive. If you listen to the lyrics you can feel the aggression, realism he's talkin' bout. His aim is to show you, or make you realize what he has been through and what kind of effect it had on his live. He has a chilling style, like a story- teller. Juvenile got his own style. You can compare him with Mase and Eminem, but you can still see the difference between them. The beats sound kinda like Dre's beats, with bouncing organ chords and very spacy keyboards. Just listen to his songs such as: "HA, Welcome To Magnolia, My Nine Is Gonna Die With Me, Back Dat Azz Up and Run For It". Listening to the album, I think that everyone will get caught up in the high energy and heat.

His sizzling single dominates nationwide in the U.S.A. and their media. Juvenile is parlaying those observations into gold and platinum.

His first single on Cash Money Records, "Ha" has become a hit. A remix with Jay Z has only added to the song's success, capturing the ears of the New York community. Along with the rest of Juve's newest album. "Ha" is quickly transforming Juvenile into a household name. Now, with the likes of Mack 10, E-40, Spice 1, Teddy Riley and 112 knocking at his front door for guest appearances, the 24 years old sees no limit to his future.

Juvenile comes from Magnolia, New Orleans. The drugs and violence have change the project into a killing field. "To live down here is hard," Juvenile says. Still the misery seem to reach him every where. "Look at the poverty around here. Ain't no money, ain't no jobs. Ain't nothing but drugs around here. Broke people like to get high, 'cause the be stressed out. They get high smoking on that crack, get up and do crazy. And a lot of it results in murders". He says.

Juve was the youngest of three brothers. Back then, he was Ta'hut, a nickname his mother gave him. He was a normal kid, aware of, but not bittered by the surroundings around him He saw is first potna murdered when he was 12 years old. Hasn't spoke to his father for almost 17 years. He credits his stepfather for makin' him a man.

The exact meaning of the album's tittle, was that he was on a boiling point during the period he created the CD. He was always under fire with the police. He says that; "the album couldn't be called anything else given the large amount of bubbling bass lines, streamy rhythms and scorching lyrical content that the album brings".

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Reporter: Eric Oehlers