Juvenile: Greatest Hits

Album Review

Shortly after Juvenile enjoyed a popular revival, topping the Billboard Hot 100 with "Slow Motion" in summer 2004 following a three-year hitless spell, Cash Money Records released the New Orleans rapper's first hits collection, Greatest Hits. The album title is a misnomer, since only about half of the 18 compiled songs were actually hits, but otherwise, no complaints here, none at all. Plain and simple, Greatest Hits is the perfect Juvenile album. It boasts practically every notable song the rapper had ever recorded, rounded up on one CD without any of the filler that was synonymous with the Cash Money brand name. Moreover, it thankfully doesn't feel the need to balance inclusions from each of Juvenile's albums. About half of the collection is comprised of songs from 400 Degreez, Juvenile's one great album, and there are no inclusions from his substandard debut, Solja Rags (1997), and only a pair each from his average-at-best latter-day releases, Project English (2001) and Juve the Great (2003). The handful of bona fide hits here on Greatest Hits includes "Slow Motion," "Ha," "Back That Azz Up," "Set It Off," "In My Life," and "Mamma Got A*s." There are two bonuses, neither of which are worth getting excited about: a "Slow Motion" remix featuring Wyclef Jean and the Ying Yang Twins, and the previously unreleased clean version of "Back That Azz Up," titled "Back That Thing Up." It would have been much more worthwhile if Cash Money had included some of Juve's Hot Boys collaborations. Either way, Greatest Hits isn't only an ideal introduction to Juvenile's back catalog as of 2004, it's beyond question the only one of his albums to date you'll truly need. Everything fiery the hottest of the Hot Boys ever recorded is here on this one disc, for once sans filler. [Cash Money made a clean version available with edited profanity. It cuts "Back That Azz Up" (leaving the radio version, "Back That Thing Up") and replaces it with "Soulja Rags," a token inclusion from Juvenile's debut album of the same name. Furthermore, the 2006 reissue doesn't include "Set It Off," which had been included on the original 2004 edition.]