Terius Gray, better known as Juvenile, was born March 26, 1975, and raised in New Orleans' Magnolia housing projects. He began rapping at age ten, and by the early 1990s had made a name for himself in the city's bounce scene, appearing on tracks by bounce artist DJ Jimi before releasing his own debut album, Being Myself, on the local Warlock label in 1995.
Juvenile signed with Cash Money Records, owned by New Orleans natives Ronald “Slim” Williams and Brian “Baby” Williams, releasing Solja Rags in 1997 to strong underground success. That same year he joined fellow Cash Money artists B.G., Turk, and a teenage Lil Wayne to form the Hot Boys. His 1998 album 400 Degreez, distributed nationally through Universal, broke him wide open: its singles “Ha” and “Back That Azz Up” both topped the Billboard charts, and the album became a foundational text of Southern hip-hop. He continued a prolific run through the following decades, releasing Tha G-Code (1999), Project English (2001, certified gold), and Juve the Great (2003), which spawned the No. 1 hit “Slow Motion.” His Slidell, Louisiana home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, an experience that shaped his 2006 Atlantic Records album Reality Check.
