Artistry and Legacy in Hip Hop

Support for this podcast and the following message come from Alian's traravel insurance Your flight booked. Y lungs, suddenly battling bronchitis. Travel insurance helps protect your travel budget so you can book again once you feel better Learn more at Alons traravelinsurance. com Bullseye with Jesse Thorne is a production of maximumfund. org and is distributed by NPR. It's Bllseye. I'm Jesin Fn My first guest this week is Juvenile. He's a rapper whose career, I would argue, you could carve into three distinct chapters. Chapter one, Juvenile New Orleans Ten sensation Before Juby graduated high school, he was taking home a steady paycheck as a rapper In fact, he performed on one of the first New Orleans bounce tracks ever You'll hear a bit of it soon. I promise Juvenile even had a record deal back then His debut, Be Myself from nineteen ninety five was received well enough in New Orleans, though it didn't cross over much beyond that So When Juvenile became an adult, he got a day job and figured that was that. But then there was chapter two, juvenile. Cash money, juggernaut The story goes that he finished his shift at a gas processing plant in a car pulled out The CEO of Cash Money Records was driving He offered Juvie a ride and had him freestyle the whole way home And by the time he opened the door to leave He was assigned to the hottest hip hop label in the world In nineteen ninety eight, Juvenile dropped his breakthrough record, four hundred degrees. It featured his biggest probablyroably his signature hit which I mean I don't even need to tell you what it is, right Now Juvenile is in his third chapter. Maybe it started when he was on Twitter one day, and a fan asked him to do an NPR tiny desk concert And his reply basically was No And also direct quote What the fuck is a tiny desk Thankfully, Juvenile changed his mind. He flew to DC, performed live with a full band And it was a huge hit. onene of the most replayed performances on the Tiny Desk YouTube channel Tour dates for Juvy went crazy. He brought a live band with him every time he hit the road. Earlier this year, Juvie released Biling Point H first album in over a decade. Here's a single off of it This is You Mad chips in your bagger. You see me in the vins or you wish you had her? Yeah et you in the camera. We do it back from New Orleans the back ca. Falling night and know you ain't backad Juvenile, welcome to Volseaye. I amm so happy to see you. so happy to have you on the program. Hey man, thank you for having me. So you just turned fifty. I'm not fifty one. fifty one. Cgratulations. fifty one ye. Thank you. You've been out on very ambitious tours lately Yes, I have. What do you have to do now to do a fifty dayate tour that you didn't have to do fifteen or twenty years ago Definitely take my wife with me and to keep me going, she's sitting here with me Definitely keep takeaking my wife with me to keep me going on my daily, make sure I'm taking my vitamins and stuff like that and eating right because if she wasn't around, I'd be wilding eating all the wrong things. I did Juvie Read in multiple places that you're a wrider, the thing that says, you know, what everybody's supposed to do for when you get to the venue and what's supposed to be backstage always has Popeyees chicken in it Which may not be a good thing to eat every day It's not. It's not Hey, Popees need to make some grilled chicken options. Put that out. I'm just putting that out there. We need some grilled chicken options But yeah, every so we have, it's kind of like an addiction. I have to have that popeyes. after every show to bread, beans and rice They's mild chicken. It's an addiction I mean, in a way, it's like, you know, it's the silliest reminder of home, but it is a real reminder of home for a newew Orlinian. have someopeyes on him. It really is, it really is, and we enjoy it You two are with the band these days, right Yeah, I do And how long has that been that you brought a band on the road with you I'm gonna say the last two years where ever since I did the tiny dess Performance on know NPR shout out the NPR Ever since my tiniiness performance, I've been rolling with live band ever since then How did you put together a band My guy, actually, my guy, Trumbone Shudy and my guy C. Smidt helped me put the band together. and it was guys that we've been new in de. Trumpbon show and Ce Smith been new for A long time in They call them min and they just fit in like a glove because they was right from the hometown. How is it different performing with a band than performing with a DJ or performing to a track Oh You know, it's more of a live thing, you know, you have to know the words to your songs You can't be S your fans. You got to really get up there and give them a performance. The other part is the music, man. don I don't know the drums and stuff like that. it does something to people. It does a lot to me. It excites me while I'm on stages It just makes me want to perform You know, and I really get a real kick out that live sound man. It's just it does something to you canan't explain it I mean, I've seen a lot of great hip hop shows where people are performing with DJs or performing to tracks. and I'm by no means putting that down But There is something about the kind of leg flexibility and presence of the band being there, that you feel like something different could happen right now. And I can extend a song. I can make a song up on a spot. I could take your favorite song and break it all the way down to just drums and just me in the audience. It's so many different things I could do. I can give the guitar player a solo. onn a song that you've been listening to. I could take a break on a song actually. You know, you can't do that on with a DJ on a DJ record. It just it just can't happen You mentioned that NPR tiny desk concert. This is an NPR show, but I'm all the way out in Los Angeles three thousand miles from Washington, DC I've never met Bobby Carter, the man that programs the NPR Tiny G concert. I hear he's wonderful. He is Do you remember what you wrote on Twitter when someone asked you to do a tiny Dk concert the first time. I can't see how I actually said it, but the direct quote, I think the letter, I think I'm allowed to use the letters. It was somebody said, willill you do a tiny Dk concert? You replied to them WTF is a tiny desk and no exclamation mark. He was not thking boy my daughter jumped down my throat. She said, You got to take that down And you got to fix it. I say, well, I really don't know what I don't know what tiny is. I really don't know what it is. so She said, now you messed up. You got to take that down. Now you got to really do the show So you need to apologize and So I said, okay, if we get ten thousand retweets, I'll do tiny this And that's how it all came about. But my daughter really got on me hard about it. Were you nervous about it? Did you know what to expect didnid't know what to expect. I was I wasn't nervous until I got there And I'm like, wait hold up. I'm wpping in the office. Beause it really I've been like I go to the NPR offices every few years. I go and visit, you know, and say hi everybody and just shake hands and everything And like the tiny desk concerts happen at what used to be Bob Boylland's desk. They moved it from the old NPR office. And you know, now to some extent, it's the set for tiny desk concerts, but it is just in the office. L it's in a full operational functional office. Like they pick up the phone and go like and you know, press the intercom button and say like so and so is gonna do a tiny desk in forty minutes if you wna come down and then hang up the phone, you know Crazy partot worst It was kind of like the millennials all came up there. L the office was full of millennials because they knew every song. And that was making it interesting. Now, you know, I was drinking a few juvy juices. I don know if you see I have my drink in my hand. So I was feeling real good but just having my guys that it really kind of like pushed me into have Also John Batiques that was an advantage there too. That was kind of like a cheat code having him and Trump on sh of there And Manny Fresh. that was kind of like cheat codes right there too because I was kind of feeling like I had the X men with me, you know, like I feel like nothing couldn't beat us. Once everybody showed up, I feel like, okay. She about to get the real juvven now When you started touring and you started working and visiting outside of New Orleans What surprised you? the reaction from people on our music, you know, how they were so and how people were so aware of our culture You know, Mardi Gas or second line bands or The food in You know, how people have this great southern hospitality, how we we don't walk past each other, right? If I see you Coming out the street, my m momaught me to just speak to him. You don't have to spend the night with him. You know you know what I mean? You have to be with him tomorrow or spend a day with him but people when you pass them You know that's something that stuck with me through my life. That's who I am. That's who I really am in life. I live my life and try to live a neighborly life, try to be cool with people You know, until they try to cause some harm to me and my family, then that changes everything Well than that, man, um Traveling the world and seeing people just love my music and our culture, it was something that really touched me to my heart that stuck with me for life We have boatloads of stuff still to talk about with juvenile. One of his closest collaborators was and is the producer, Manny Fresh. Manny made the beat for Back That Th thing Up, among other songs And the two of them didn't always agree. Not even on the beat for back that thing up Who won the argument? We'll find out after the break. It's buullseye from maximumfund. org and NPR This message comes from Progressive inssurance. You're listening to this podcast, so you've got a curious mind. Did you know that drivers who switch and save with prorogressive save over nine hundred dollars on average? Visit progressive d. com and get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by Progressive casualty insurance compompany and affiliates, National average twelve month savings of nine hundred and forty six dollars by new customers surveyed who save with progressive between june twenty twenty four and may twenty twenty five. Potential savings will vary This message comes from NPR sponsor Shopify. No idea where to sell, Shopify puts you in control of every sales channel. It is the commerce platform revolutionizing millions of businesses worldwide, whether you're a garage entrepreneur or IPO ready. Shopify iss the only tool you need to start, run, and grow your business without the struggle. Once you've reached your audience, Shopify has the interternet's best converting checkout to help you turn them from browsers to buyers. Go to shhopify dot com slash npr to take your business to the next level today This message comes from Rince, who knows that mastering the perfect house party table spread takes time So does laundry. So Rinince takes your laundry and hand delivers it to your door, expertly clean And you can take the time once spent sorting and waiting, folding and queueing to finally pursue your real passion, rolling delicate roses of Capca colola alongside meandering ribbons of Amon Serrano, transforming a humble plank of weathered barnwood into a show stopping charcuterie spread Rinse, it's time to be great. Support for this podcast and the following message come from strawberry. me Be honest, are you happy with your job? Are you stuck in a job you've outgrown or never wanted in the first place Are your reasons for staying really just excuses for not leaving? Let a career coach from strawberry. me help you get unstuck. Discover the benefits of having a dedicated career coach in your corner and get fifty percent off your first coaching session at strawberry. m slash npr This message comes from Better Help Summer can feel like a sprint Kids home, trips to plan, routines flipped upside down It's easy to slip into survival mode, just trying to get through it. Then suddenly, it's over. and you're wishing you enjoyed the days just a little bit more therapy can help you slow down and actually be present for the moments that matter betterter Help, you can connect with a licensed therapist from anywhere on your schedule. Don't just survive the summer Trive, visit betterterhelp d. com slash and PR Welcome back to Bullseye I'm Jessse Thorne. My my guest is Juvenile. He is, of course a legendary rapper from New Orleans a veteran of cash money records and a pioneering MC in New Orleans bounce music Earlier this year, Juvie released Boiling Point his twelfth album, his first in over a decade You can buy or stream it pretty much anywhere Let's get back into my conversation with juvenile I want to take you back to the beginning of your career You had a record deal when you were A teenager, right? I did. I did In fact, like what some people say is the first bounce record that was ever made, which is a sort of sub genenre of New Orleans hip hop very important sub genenre of New Orleans hip hop was one that you rapped on as practically a kid board, keep this slg in up Tom Do that get you a rep in the neighborhood? Well, not necessarily but the neighborhood followed me. you know, they supported me to the fullest. The birnt the Juvenile was like the first bounce bounce record, bounce for the juvenile. And yeah, I was kind of, I was in high school And the weird thing about it was Not only did my neighborhood guy behind me The other schools and the other school kids got behind me because they started cutting class coming to my school trying to find what class I was in. So it was it got out of hand for a little for a minute or two, but it was fun. It was a great experience, especially for somebody as young as I was That first rap career that you had as a teenager, I mean, it worked out enough that you were making more money than your high school teacher But it also it also didn't work out didnid't man, I pretty much signed a bad record deal. didn't have what you call entertainment lawy no way in my area. They had lawyers, but they didn't understand, you know, those couldn't read those real contracts And basically a company up here named Wallock. They They did me in. did me in. which was a great learning experience for me because I learned the ropes from that So you started rapping as a teenager, How old were you when you quit rapping that first time when you quit rapping Hmmm, That's a good question. I must say seventeen, eighteen. I really don't know.. That's one of those things I always try to think back to put that number together. I'm gonna think think like Maybe eighteen, nineteen, something like that Were you sad about it Not really because I was still making money. I got a good job I was still making money. I was one of those people as long as I was financially straight Nothing really bothered me like that. Nothing got to me. Then I didn't have people around me that was criticizing me on my back like You fell off and stuff like that. Then we didn't have social media didn either. So I'd have to deal with it like like somebody right now would have to deal with it. You didn't miss the art part of it, the like part where you get to make things Yeah, but I still was doing shows and stuff too. let me say that part. here and there I was still getting concerts and stuff out of town. so it wasn't me all the way away from it. I was still making a few dollars The job was just great. justust that great What was the job R was a foring at on site environmental You know, and I was a catalyst worker What does that mean You know those furnace that you see on those plants that's burning? Yeah, sure. They like a big giant tower. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I used to do the turnaround on those What's the turnaround That's like the overnight cleanp Exactly They take the catalysts out, put the catalyst in Stuff like that. Yeah, it's a long story, but I was a f mon I imagine you don't become a foreman without Get certifications or something like that? I had to get a lot of certifications for that. ye Yeah I was in school for u Cose to a year. Host to year What did you have to learn Well, of course you had to take, you know, the safety classes and stuff like that, but I had to learn about pumps, catalysts, and All kind of stuff, asbestos chemicals It was mostly chemical training and stuff like that was dangerous, what not to do. You know, a lot of stuff like that. Then I had guys on my crew that was under me. So as a foreman, I had to learn a little bit more than what everybody else learned It was it was it was a good experience Do you think that if you hadn't been approached You know, to have a new chapter in your rap career you would have let your rarapping Be done onnce the show offer stop coming in N because I was saving up money to go to studio. So my plan was I was going to be my own CEO. I was going to finance my own project So I was saving my money up anyway. so When I was approached by cash money I had saved up and it already to go to the studio, but I had to think about everything pressing my album up and album covers. You know, putting this on on the radio. it was a lot of other things I had to save up money for. so It was a process. I was willing to go through it The story that I heard is that you signed to cash money while getting a ride home from work. I was. Well, I didn't sign that night. They made me rap all the way home. How did they arrange this pickup? Like, didid they just pull out exxcuse me, are you juvenile They saw me and look I had my helmet and my fire retorting suit on. And I just came home from off six day run So it was kind of raz. The law works in mysterious ways. I felt like that was a blessing for them to bump into me They saw me standing there and went around a block and came back and picked me up Just standing at the bus stop waiting to go home. Yeah. they saw me standing at the bus stop Get waiting on the bus, get ready to go home. And I had like four checks in my pocket How long did you rap in the back seat of that car I'm gonna say about twenty five, thirty minutes. You know, it was traffic time. It was like five o'clock. We was going to the West Bank. So probably like twenty five, thirty minutes But it was Awesome though. I mean, the stuff I was saying to them in that car, it was just so much different than what anything they ever heard because I specialize in being a hip hopper. I was like, man, I'm New Orleans, but I'm not going sound like nobody from from New Orleans That was my whole thing What do you mean by that? Everybody in New Orleans was kind of like doing the same thing You know, like bounce music And I had already built a reputation on making that kind of music. So I wanted to build a reputation of making great music. and be respected for not just one thing or be locked in a boxer for making one kind of music I want to be respected and making all kinds of music artists. The guy could go in and just just give him a microphone. You know and I I did that Cash money gave me that opportunity. That's what I respect about him because when I got my first conversation with him was, I don't want to be a bounce artist Like I'm not doing it, you know? No. They worked out Bounce music, and other dance music of the time from the Southeast bass music in Florida like When you're rarapping on those tracks, like part of what you're doing is the party record. like you're just trying to put something fun on the record. sometometimes you're repeating yourself you know, all the girls to the front or whatever it is, right? It's like a fun thing. And it sounds like what you're describing is that you wanted to retain that thing that was special also You felt like you could really rap And cash money gave me the opportunity to do that. My first single on cash money that came out was called Soldier Aags. and it was rap. and I loved them for that. Well now were plan to the finish up and make a killen or your villain, which is a billing making me. Rra know, you planing Heord Chapel. you a man? I love you. won't stop in Don't being afraid to all even though you know and dan L here It opened me up. It made me say, you know, I'm do this, I could do that, I could do this. And that's how back that thing up came. You know, that's a bounce record. I felt like, you know, it's time. When I did that record, I felt like, you know, now's time to just open up and just do music for everybody I mean, that was a time when It was still very much the mainstream national discourse that you did not turnurn to anybody in the South. rapping that like if you were if you're a rappy rapper, you gott to be from New York Even Los Angeles was question mark. Can you be, you know, Tupac was changing things, but like But if you're a rappby rapper, you got toa be from New York, maybe Philadelphia or something. Pretty much And it was just as like The getetaways in Texas and outcast in Atlanta and the rest of the Dungeon family just starting break into the national idea that if you were a southerner, It was okay to be a rapper like a for real wrapper I give it up to people like The Ghetto boys You know, sccarface Andre three thousand You know, TI It's a lot of catchs that help pave the way MasterP did this thing too It's a lot of people in the South. weren't granted the opportunities like like like you say, a New York artists work So when we got our opportunities, I think we took took advantage of him when you started recording for cash money Did you feel like you were part of a movement? Was there a moment when you realized, oh, this isn't just going to be records that get played at clubs in New Orleans This is a lot more than that It was, man. I'm sitting in there in the studio with them. And I'm sitting there and I'm looking around. And I see Wayne over there in this corner, Turk in this corner, BG in this corner Man on the other side of glass making a beat And we all have songs that's already That's playing in the clubs, playing on the radio. We already popular already and I realized that day know, we're sitting there listening to the beat Man They'll turn us into a group. We wasn't a group y You know, he wasn't a groupet. I said, man, they' going turn us into a group. It's kind of like likeike you see something coming And, uh They turned us into a group. and Exactly what I thought happened. like we went from being just some regular kids going to studio making songs trying to be, you know popular amongst our peers in our city to kind of like Southern superstars, like Sex symbols and all and everything, like they're telling us to take our shirts off fedia is like, take your shirt. takeake your shirt off. We sex symbols. so That alone sold me. We made that big transition Long before we got the record deal, the big thirty million dollars record deal What did you learn from Manny Fresh who was both, you know, the primary producer of a lot of those records and also in terms of making the beats but also seemed like he was really He was really doing A and R and helping shape a lot of the artistic choices beyond just turning in a beat and having somebody rap over it Yeah, Manny would always give you an idea, especially if if it was like a club beat or something like that, he would pretty much have the hook on the idea of how the song should be. Manny was one of the most creative guys I've played a piano. DJ playay the drums and just had a large range of what kind of music that he would make being that his father was a DJ and he just grew up around music, you know, his whole life been around music. A real creative cat You know, how hard it is to make a album make F albums for four different artists Nothing Sounds the same, you know, it's a big difference on what he makes for me or what he makes for BG or Wayne I just thought that alone made made him somebody special and should people should give him more more More flowers than need do right Mu and Manny Fresh are now, you know, fifty year old men who have been friends for thirty years. Yeah And you know, you twoour together. You guys seem to get along famously have a podcast together Yeah Was that always true twenty five and thirty years ago? Did you always agree with what he wanted He no. Eemy number one, hell no Enemy number one, me and that guy didn't see out. but it always worked out Yeah, we didn't see our dye in the studio What's an example? that thing up biggest example He kept changing the beat. Man has let you rap on something in the back of his mind, he just eat already and made his mind up He changing the whole beat I'm not even I'm just getting you to put the lyrics down and then I'm gonna change it Well, me In my mind, I like to follow the music I don't want you to change because' I'm the first thing gonna come out my m is n I didn't No, You gotta let me rarap again to that I'm not going even say that the same way to this music So that that was always our clash all the time. I mean, all the time So you laid down the vocals to back that thing up And he took the beat out and put in a new beat. He did and um We was in Nashville the day before well, yeah, the day before we had to turn the album in and he did it slick You know, he knew I wasn't going to be able to really change it. But I fooled him. I went in the room and I say Sim He did it again You to change the beat He walkking in the door while I'm saying like, yo, he' coming here crying. ain't coming here whining. S about the wine. I said, now, man, you did it to me again Let me try one more time And he let me go back in and you got back b thinginger. I mean, the thing of it is that like on a hip hop record, The vocalist, the rapper, that's the soloist on a jazz record or something, right? Like you have the beat is relatively static and the performer, the one who's giving you the big surprises the one who's really the most expressive is the person who's rapping And That's not to say that there couldn't be surprises in the B of a hip hop record, but like the person who's Miles Davis on the trumpet is the rapper. And if you imagine a Miles Davis record where they just took Miles Davis' trumpet track, took out, you know Max Roach and whatever and just brought in new guys. Yes, man. Eactly. Thank you. You're on my side sound like That's when h in me. Here's the thing, Juubie, though It's hard to argue with the track record. Back that thing up did work out pretty well And that's his thing he always said, I was right though. I was right though That's an amazing record, not just because it's, you know One of those generation defining dance songs that you could play at any wedding or Bot Mitzv or whatever. Also I think one of the most distinctive things about it is it has this outro from Lainne Wh I mean it's like more than ad liibbs and just short of rapping Yeah. It's just him saying some different stuff and making some noises. It's amazing Wayne was going be on that song, he didn't care what was going on. He was gonna be on that song. And you know by him sticking around and always being that, he didn't care what song I was doing. He was trying to be on every song. we say that. But by him always hanging around, I felt like he deserved to be on that record shhouts out to him for always being at the right place at the right time I like typed it into the internet This morning And I was like, Oh He was sixteen He wasn't twenty one or something hanging around the studio. This was a four real teenager hanging around with these grown upps being like Hey, can I get on this record? Hey can I get on this record? Hey can I get on this record? try to get on every record here Every song he here try to get on. What was it like having a teenager hanging out Well you're trying to be a grown man Well, one thing that I can give to him They say that I was in there with teenagers They pretty much were sell on some adult kick though. You know, they wasn't doing those teenage stuff like they riding nice cars and They was doing some adult stuff, man You wouldn't know it if you met him, you wouldn't know it. I have to be honest with you I remember that time You know I'm about the same age as Wwayne And I remember so vividly peopleeople being like, You know who's a good rapper? Low end And this was when he was making the first few squad mix tapes. You' still a teenager, I think and me being like When are you talking about the kid rapper from cash money He's not good rapper. How can he possibly be a good rapper? You're talking about the kid rapper from you know what I mean? Like this was like the time of littleittle Romeo and stuff. L no shade till littleittle Romeo making good records. but like This was like a time when cute kid rappers could still get on the radio. and as far as I was concerned, that's still what Lil Wayne was. ad wrong Yeah, you had him you was dead wrong. Wayne was a different animal back then. We were toning him now because his situation had happened to him when he was younger So we was kind of like toning him down because we felt like it wasn't a good look for him being atest. He was somebody that had a whole bunch of young kids following him and loving him to debt. So it was it was putting us in a situation where We just had to keep him as young as possible and, you know trying not to let the world see him as somebody trying to grow up too fast It' first opportunity. I mean, when we did blink blink, Bird man said In the year two thousand, we ain't going to te the game up And they ignored it. People thought it was a joke. I remember coming coming to New York and They're interviewing us and we're telling people, Wayne the future, Well, Wayne really is the future. Y'all don't hear what we're hearing in the studio And he looking at us I'm like, okay. Okay, like yeah, the little gu guys saying the same thing. the little kid like you talk about the little kid Like yeah, that little kid the future bro Listen to me. and now, you know Hey I'm a great predictor What was it like for you to be, you know, here you are You're the lyrical one You're the one who was the super rappinist. U on cash money. That was how you got signed. You know what I mean? You went in and proved that you had the lyrics and And you're looking at this teenage kid and a few years into his career, maybe you are realizing that he is literally changing the way that people rap in a way that like only a few, you know, Kool Modi and Rockim change the way people rap, you know And Lil Wayne changed the way people rap in that same way. Well I feel, you know, I feel different about Wayne than a lot of people because I feel like I have a lot to do with the influence of him being who he is because I was a cid that came in the studios talking real reckless You trash, you're not about to do not about to win this song. This is going to be my song. I don't even know why you're in here Well only why I actually should do that And I used to build a courage up like that. make them go make them go a little bit harder than anybody would go and know Always talk tell him he was the best. I always told him that, even when he tried to like because he loved J Z. He was a real big JZ fan, real big on Andre three thousand and real big on Miss. Elliot. And I' always tell them like, manan or put them on the pedestal, put me on the pedestal. Put yourself on a pedestal And he just he didn't see hisself as dead Now, you know, I always tell people I think he the greatest rapper of all time And if you don I'm not talking about awards and stuff like that, but I'm talking about f lr, lyrics I put them up against anybody We're going to take a break when we return even more with juvenile. Keep it locked It's Bullseyi from maximum fund. org and NPR This message comes from Whole Foods Market The ultimate cookout starts with the ultimate ingredients. At Whole Foods Market, no antibiotics ever burgers and kebabs are prepped and ready to throw on the grill. Fire up a juicy ribeye creamy potato salad and savory flatbreads from the prerepared Foods department, and round it all out with three hundred sixty five brand condiments, chips, and dips at everyday low prices Whole Foods Market, makeake your summer sizzle. This message comes from Rinince, who knows that greatness takes time So does laundry. So Rinince will take your laundry and hand deliver it to your door expertly cleaned, and you can take the time pursuing your passions. Time once spent sorting and waiting, folding and queuing, now spent challenging and innovating and pushing your way to greatness. So pick up that Irish flute, or those calligraphy pens, or the daunting beef Wellington recipe card and leave the laundry to rinse. Rinse. It's time to be great This message comes from NPR sponsor Carvana. Carvana makes car buying easy. one hundred percent online, prices down to the penny, delivered to your door. Why make car buying hard when it could be easy? Visit cararvana. com today. Terms may apply International Waters is back, baby. Do you like fun silly conversations? Do you like fun silly games? We got 'em both And it's on International Waters. I am the host, Dave Holmes. This is a panel show that pits American and British comics against each other in a lively and hilarious competition. What is Gentlemen's relish? Who is bag puss? Why is the Oscar Meyer Wiener moobile so emotionally resonant? And why doesn' an American cheese have its own anthem? Get the answers be left with numerous questions about that and so much more nonsense, and or cod swwallow. Tice a month International waters. Catch international waters on maximumfund. org or wherever you get your podcasts H bull'sey I'm Jesse Thorne. I'm talking with Juvenile. I was listening to your new single, which is called triple B I like how you say that. Well, you know, here here we are on public radio. Yeah. The first B stands for big. I know I can say that. And then there's two more bees I think I say the first B stands for big and then the second B stands for another B word and the third word stands for a third B word But it's a great record and I was listening to you rap on this record. And you know The content of this record This is not groundbreaking cont I'm not saying it's not great I'm just saying It's a thematically ot a lot of big surprises, right? It It's party record stuff. It's fun, it's fun stuff And As your verse went along, You got to a kind of second flow halfway through this first verse And I thought This is why juvenile juvenile that You're rapping about butts largely, not exclusively But you're mostly rapping about butts in this song. and You found these ways to express yourself as a rapper in your flow that like electrify. the record And I wonder if that's something that you're like conscious of and proud of that you can make a party record that's about something silly, and I'm not saying butts aren't important They're very important. Yeah, but like you can you can make a song like back that You can make a song like backack that thing up. No He say it not me. That Bota got him, y'all. But you have Tw. craftsanship Tue artisanship. in the flow when you are rapping about something silly. You are truly offering a soloist's performance when you're rapping about something silly. It's also when you're rapping about something serious, but like, That flow never misses and is always surprising always is going to a new direction that you didn't expect Hey man, I appreciate that. You know, my thing is just enjoying having fun Did you hear a fun in it When you listening to it, do it sound like I'm smiling while I'm saying it. You know? L I want you to envision what I'm feeling when you're listening to my songs. That's my happy voice. Like backack that thing up is my happy voice That's my happy voice. When you hear me sound like that, slow motion is my serious voice You My happy voiceices when I'm like that, you know, It's just one of those things where I was making that song. My intentions was not to Be be overbearing, right? J sound like somebody just having fun You know and I think it came across like that I mean, I think that that's something that New Orleans and maybe, you know, Atlanta to some extent really brought back to hip hop Wh is a kind of. It's too serious, Nanniess cats won'. I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna get you the facts I've be in concerts with some of these cast who can rap. I'm a great rapper me you know, off camera. forget let's forget any the booty music MC wise, if you knew me, you met me, you know how Don't pay the bills, man. It doesn't. I know a lot of great MCs I be in concert with them And they get on stage and It don't work. It don't work, man. It's not entertaining when you're on stage in front of a bunch of people that come there to be entertained. I've wrapped my whole entire life, man and I've seen I've seen some of the greatest ra or some of the greatest MCs. I've seen some of the greatest battle rappers and all that stuff, man. K't Packle show. can't get five hundred people in a concert And if they did have five hundred people at the concert, they're not coming there to see them probably somebody else that's in the show And they don't have no kind of effect on how to perform You know, you have to be an entertainer when you're in this business. This is an entertainment business. So I focus on entertaining the people that that get my music As the lyric part of being the greatest MC Y I let I let the spectator spectate I gota tell you like I've been doing this show twenty five years since I was nineteen years old And wow. Maybe twenty years Thank you. Maybe twenty years ago, maybe even a little more than that, I interviewed one of my favorite rappers of all time Boots R Reiley of the coup Oakland Rp grou And now filmmaker. Yeah, go see I love boosters in theaters. Boots Rilly wrote and directed it. Wow But I don't think there's anybody that can beat boots on lyrics. like I think one of the most underrated rappers of all time in general, but like lyrically incredibly powerful writer For fun stuff being funny in addition to being moving and so forth, right? One of my favorite rappers of all time, like I said I interviewed him when I'm twenty three years old or whatever I said boots Who are the rappers who inspire you? And this is a memory from that's stuck in my head for decades, you know Who are the people that really exxcite you. And he said Well, Iice cube. That one on my list. I was like, well, that makes a ton of sense. you know, his style is similar to Ice cubes. you know, the content is similar to IceCubbe. Boots is funny, funnier than Cube generally. mean Cube is a great funny actor, but ub's lyrics are pretty. I'm' so fine as the whole of me. But I was like, oh, that makes perfect sense. And he goes, and juvenile Oh wow Stars Bh shout out to Both. Let you do. What I'm saying is I don't want you to sell yourself short that because you have hit records that are rapping about booty, that that makes you any less of a rapper Right? Like your records that are about booty You go off on those records And you're rapping about booty. For sure I like you you say b. But that's thank you. But that's only that's only a portion of what rapping is like A great rapper if they were going bub, bop, bah, b, bop. could still be a great rarapper. You know what I mean You're still an instrument, you're still expressing yourself on the track even if you left the words aside I always said, just tell your story. Everybody got a different story to tell. J tell your story What did you think were the things about your story that you really needed to tell? Theaha video told my story for me and shout out to the director that, you know that did that Mark Classville. It kind of told my story. I just want people to see where I came from. and I think that pretty much tells you My story You know, my H video, just looking at it tells you everything there is to know about me and where I come from my culture It's a little bit everything in. That was of one of the big moments of my music career at H video I mean, I feel like the fact that cash money and no limit became International phenomena at the same time is so telling because You are from a place with such a specific and vibrant culture and story to tell that had not been told nationally and internationally. like New Orleans really, truly had something to say Hell, yeah. I mean, our city is not big You know, the crazy part about MasterP and, you know, cash money in no limit We from the same area, from the same part of the city, all from the third wall. So we pretty much when they blew up And we blew up, we pretty much was people from the same neighborhood getting opportunities to go out there and show the world You know, what our city was about. So our city is just so much different Th everywhere else our culture is so much different. Once people started seeing that, they gravitated toward us What's a record where you're proud of the verse that you laid down. And I don't just necessarily mean the lyrics, but I'm talking about As a stylist, like as a rapper your flow, your cadence