Juvenile Sets It Off With Greatest Hits-Filled Tiny Desk Concert
Juvenile worked that, bounced that, served that and everything else during his NPR Music’s Tiny Desk concert. The rapper appeared on the popular live performance series to run through a 23-minute long set that featured amped up renditions of 10 songs in the top tier of his catalog, from “Set It Off” and “Slow Motion” to “Back That Azz Up” and “Rodeo.”
The New Orleans native brought a fully charged party to the Tiny Desk space with the help of a full backing band and Mannie Fresh, the Cash Money Records producer who helmed nearly the entire slate of hits they performed there. Even the Hot Boys single “I Need a Hot Girl,” which Fresh produced, got a spotlight despite Juvenile only appearing in its music video.
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“Y’all don’t know, that’s my favorite part of the song right there,” Juvenile told the room after trading bars with a hyped up Fresh. “I ain’t even on the song, but I’m in the video. I love that part of the song so much, but I like the part where Turk comes on. And I know Turk don’t like me right now, he really wanna punch me in the face — that’s still my lil bro. But listen, that part of the song had to be the best part of the song, when he come in.”
The rapper kept the party going with “Project Bitch,” the Cash Money Milllionaires record he and Lil Wayne built out around Turk’s “I Need a Hot Girl” verse, featuring special guests Trombone Shorty and Jon Batiste. “Who ever brought two Grammy winners to Tiny Desk?” Juvenile asked. “Give me love.”
To close out the set, Juvenile welcomed a cellist and violinist from the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra to perform an orchestral rendition of “Back That Azz Up.” Before he started, he instructed all the women present to get their stretches in real quick — he wouldn’t want them pulling anything in the process of backing that ass up, of course.
The compact party of Juvenile’s Tiny Desk debut is only elevated by the fact that two months ago, he didn’t want to do it. In April, when someone tweeted suggesting he perform as part of the series, he responded: “Wtf is a tiny desk 😂and no 😂😂.”
The next day, he offered a proposition: “Ok ok 😂😂 All Things Considered, 10k retweets and I will RECONSIDER doing @NPR Tiny Desk while drinking an ice cold #JuvieJuice.” It got close to 12,000 retweets and now we as a people have an orchestral version of “Back That Azz Up.” Maybe the internet really is good for something.
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