Within the intro of the clear model of “Back Dat Azz Up” from Juvenile’s 1998 opus 400 Degreez, the Magnolia Initiatives maven makes a declaration: “Cash Money Records taking over for the ’99 and the 2000,” he says. Over Mannie Contemporary’s string stabs and swells and clear bass hits, Juvie was shouting out his prolonged household, which consisted of Contemporary, the Scorching Boys (himself, alongside B.G., Lil Wayne, and Turk), Birdman and Slim, the late Soulja Slim, and plenty of extra. The boast didn’t counsel that Money Cash retained underdog standing by the point Juvenile dropped 400 Degreez. Certainly, they’d, simply prior, inked an enormous cope with UMG to distribute all its music, and was rapidly taking up areas within the South. However 400 Degreez preceded greater than even Juvenile may have guessed. In some ways, it’s an album that modified the trajectory of rap music.
Earlier than Juvenile emerged with 400 Degreez, he was a scorching commodity in New Orleans. Rewind to the early Nineties, earlier than he dropped his impartial debut Being Myself. Juvie was a avenue icon, a reputation everybody knew. Moreover, individuals even knew his lyrics earlier than he ever recorded a venture; he was so well-liked at native venues that he would arrive at reveals, and followers would recite his phrases again to him. After fortuitously assembly Money Cash’s in-house producer Mannie Contemporary at a bus cease, Juve signed his first cope with the label and dropped his 1997 debut with the unit, titled Solja Rags. That venture did nicely, nevertheless it was merely a prologue.
400 Degreez options each Juvenile and Contemporary at their peak, and foreshadows Scorching Boys’ main breakthrough with 1999’s Guerilla Warfare. There’s Juvenile’s circulate and the steadiness of shit discuss with diagnosing the every day struggles of life within the hood. He comfortably bridges the hole between Mannie’s bounce beats and extra simple rap kinds. “Back That Azz Up,” after all, is the well-known traditional. However there are additionally big hits like “Ha” and the title monitor.
All of this contributes to 400 Degreez being one in every of rap’s most vital tasks from the Nineties, and one that may maintain its affect into this present period. It’s not an artifact, although it does protect a sure second in amber. It arrived earlier than Lil Wayne grew to become the largest identify in rap, earlier than Money Cash was the world-beating power it will shortly change into. Three years previous to 400 Degreez‘s launch, André 3000 took the stage on the Supply Awards to declare that the South had one thing to say. Juvenile took the torch and sprinted to the end line with it. He stated it, and stated it loudly.
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