Juvenile

New Orleans-based rapper Juvenile is one of the best-known exponents of bounce, a much-criticised sub-genre of Southern hip-hop. His best known song is “Slow Motion” featuring Soulja Slim, which topped the Hot 100 in 2004.

Juvenile released Being Myself (1995), and Solja Rags (1997), which featured an unknown guest rapper called Lil’ Wayne, on smaller independent labels to gather some local buzz. Solja Rags was particularly popular and earned him a major label deal with Universal imprint Cash Money Records. His first album for them, 400 Degreez (1998), got to No.9 on the Billboard 200, and eventually was certified quadruple platinum. Tha G-Code (1999) topped the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart on its way to platinum sales, but Project English (2001) was considered an underwhelming follow-up and Juvenile took a break. He left his label and formed UTP with mates Wacko and Skip. They released one album and two minor hit singles, most notably “Nolia Clap”, in 2004.

By this time Juvenile had decided to return to Cash Money, and released Juve the Great (2003). It was a successful comeback, going platinum off the back of the success of Hot 100 chart-topping single “Slow Motion”. He used this as leverage to earn a better deal at Atlantic, and released Reality Check (2006) with them. The album was his first album chart-topper

In 2008, Juvenile was hit by a terrible tragedy when his 4 year old daughter Jelani, her mother Joy, and her half-sister Micaiah, were all found dead from gunshot wounds. A man is under investigation on three counts of first-degree murder.