If it wasn't for New Orleans native and rapper Juvenile, we'd never have cultural anthems like "Back That Azz Up," or "Ha." This man certainly doesn't get the credit he deserves for his contrinutions to Black music. Luckily, the folks over at NPR have been taking note. The outlet recently tapped "Juvie the Great," for one of the iconic "Tiny Desk" performances to close out Black Music Month.
The entire connection was actually happenstance. You see, after all the other great Black Music Month acts—Baby Face, Charlie Wilson, Tank and Afrobeats star Amaarae to name a few—a Twitter user by the name @theylovemyke asked NPR to feature the "Slow Motion" rapper on one of their concerts.
"WTF is a Tiny Desk? And, no," Juvenile initially replied when fans tagged him in the original post. But after some explanation and lots of coaxing by way of 10,000 retweets, the rapper signed on.
While social media was certainly in a frenzy over the news that the concert would take place on the last day of Black Music Month—June 30, 2023—things were even crazier once the full concert was released via NPR's platforms that day.
Featuring a small, live band with saxophonists, trombone players, guitarists and his original roll dog and DJ—Mannie Fresh—Juvenile gave fans the perfect nostalgic set to take them into the Fourth of July weekend.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it's your boy, Mannie Fresh, and I'm here with my brother, Juvie," DJ Mannie Fresh said to open the set. "And he's from the Magnolia, home of the soldiers."
Sporting an all-white set, Juvenile began the 28-minute show with an early hit, "400 Degrees" before immediately going into "Bling Bling".
"We gotta take them back," Juvenile says before going into a live rendition of "Ha".
The concert moved through "Set it Off", a jazzy version of "Slow Motion" and "Rodeo," which featured the angelic vocals of background duo, Amours. To close things out, the Magnolia Projects native brought the heat for his classic hit, "Back That Azz Up".
Catch the entire set below and thank us later.
