Juvenile continued that momentum into 1998, when he released 400 Degreez, a bona fide national hit, thanks to singles like “Ha” and “Back That Azz Up' (which features Lil Wayne and Mannie Fresh). In 1997, Juvenile released his first album for the label, Solja Rags, though the year would become more significant for the artist as he joined the Hot Boys, alongside B.G., Turk, and Lil Wayne.
Juvenile parlayed that early success into a deal with Cash Money Records, which, by the mid-’90s, was a major force in Southern rap music. Born Terius Gray in the notorious Magnolia Projects of New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1975, Juvenile began his career as a teenage prodigy peddling bounce music, highlighted by propulsive basslines and electro synths.
Juvenile’s name may not be as ubiquitous as that of his Cash Money peer Lil Wayne, but that doesn’t mean that the rapper’s impact on South Coast hip-hop is any less critical.