Juvenile Teaches New York City a Thing or Two...
New Orleans native and former Hot Boy Juvenile is back with his second mixtape of the year
, Nino the Magnificent. A prelude to his upcoming ninth studio album, Rejuvenation, Juvie the Great is looking to rediscover his lane in today’s hip-hop game, which has changed significantly since his Cash Money’s glory days.
“I feel like I have something to prove on every project,” he said. “I look around and I realize that I’m not the most important person in the room anymore.”
Make no mistake, however, Juvenile has embraced the game‘s new heavyweights. The rapper recently shot a video for his mixtape’s lead single, “Power,” featuring Rick Ross, produced by longtime collaborator and friend Mannie Fresh. Along with Ross, Juvenile also named Wiz Khalifa among the newbies that he listens to.
In celebration of the release of Nino the Magnificent, Juvie hosted a show/release party at S.O.B.’s in New York City. Delivering a plethora of hits from “In My Life,” to “Set it Off,” “Slow Motion,” the audience reacted to every word Juvie spit. The shining moment of the show, of course, was his performance of the monster-hit, “Back that Ass Up.” Juvenile also performed new songs from Nino the Magnificent as well.
“I know people been wondering where I been,” he told the crowd. “I had some family ties, you know, had to make sure everything as home was straight.”
NYC showed Juvenile his due respect, as girls danced to his booty-shaking hits and guys rapped his lyrics, word-for-word. Dancing around, the NO rapper thanked the crowd for making him feel at home. He left the show on a notably hype note:
“Before I get off this stage, I gotta show y’all what made me who the f--k I am!” he said, as he proceeded to close the show with “Ha” off of his 1998 album, 400 Degreez.
“I’m just going to act my age,” he said. “I’m not out here trying to keep up with anyone else, I’m just trying to do me.”
While fans will not see a Hot Boyz reunion on Rejuvenation, Juvenile has confirmed that he will be working with Lil’ Wayne again in the near future.
“Yeah, for the ‘Power’ remix, if that’s what you’re getting at,” he laughed as he confirmed.
--Iyana Robertson
