Mini-Mixtape Review-Mardi Gras 2 by Juvenile

by Dan-O

I have been on the craziest Juvenile binge lately. I’m talking Solja Rags, Tha G Code, Juve The Great, Reality Check and that was before he dropped his newest mixtape Mardi Gras 2. What has already been said is that Juvenile reinvented where the catchy part of a rap song is, where most songs had the most earwig lines and melodies stuffed into the hook…everything Juve said felt like a hook. That’s why he could do songs like U Understand and HA when others couldn’t (most times constant repetition is boring but Juvenile makes it awesome!). What doesn’t get talked about enough is how great he is as a song constructer and rapper. His guest verses burn songs down and his songs, even his worst songs, are fully formed and ready for repeat listening.

I think most folks will be talking about Uptown D-Boy from Mardi Gras 2 because it teams Juve back up with Birdman but that prospect isn’t that big a deal for me. The collaborations with Mannie Fresh sound much more energized and fun; full of hilarious sex jokes and home depot-wood-erection phrase turns. Those guys should just camp out in the studio and crank out albums again. I Show Love is a fantastic remix and the always dynamic Mike Maven provides the boom on the beat. Mardi Gras 2 is 20 songs long and full of gems, the only clunkers are times when Juve doesn’t get enough time and we are left with second tier guys.

The funny part of my newfound love of Juvenile is that I had the chance to love him the first time. In the Army one of my best friends was a gold grilled Cash Money believer and broke down the skill set of everyone in the crew, I just never bought in(this was at the height of the bling bling era). If you listen to that stuff now…it sounds so damn ahead of its time you might as well have discovered Da Vinci’s plans for a color printer. So go ahead and appreciate him now, your just losing time.