#470: Juvenile, ‘400 Degreez’

Cash Money, 1998

I lived in Louisiana for 8 months. 

I learned to speak slowly because my “Colorado cowboy” accent was too thick. 

I loved the smells, the stickiness of the heat on my skin, and the taste of Tony’s on the tip of my fork. 

The storms create survivors and the sun makes people resilient. 

I learned that the rain did not care that I talked to God everyday. The police didn’t care that I didn’t know about the rules and the pitbulls didn’t understand when I told them I loved them.

A lot of people don’t get out of Louisiana. 

The state still thrives on segregation and claims Creole culture as its own even though property taxes are spent oppressing it.

The descendants of plantation owners scheme to keep their Black neighbors fenced off their property while claiming that “Louisiana is different. People from outside can’t understand.” 

These elite great grandchildren rely on their rituals of white supremacy to keep the floods from their neighborhoods while the government pretends that they never received the complaints that South Baton Rouge is full of potholes and overwhelmed sewage systems. 

Louisiana is messy. 

A lot of people don’t get out. 

It’s musical, it’s creative, it’s historic and it’s funny and loud and spiritual and brave. 

A lot of people don’t get out. 

But when they do, they bend the rules and create their own space.

because nowhere else will fit if left as is.

Juvenile got out. He changed hip-hop with his track, “Ha.” He changed the cadence and the energy of the genre. That extra “Ha” in each phrase is gritty, hard and fun. 

It’s Louisiana. 

Top tracks: Run For It feat. Lil Wayne, Rich Ni**az, Ha - Remix Version feat Jay-Z

*Special note* I am not saying Louisiana is the epicenter for America’s problems. It’s just very loud about it. Don’t worry, we will talk about Arizona and all those quiet and sneaky places soon enough.