400 Degreez

Climbing on the burly shoulders of the No Limit record label, New Orleans's Cash Money Records leads the Dirty South's second assault on the ears of the rest of the country. But it wasn't until Juvenile's conversational "Ha," a furiously paced monologue dwelling on the details of everyday life, broke that the label was able to establish itself with a single that would snap northern necks. 400 Degreez, the album from which "Ha" is drawn, marks a high point in the South's musical output. Producer Manny Fresh--who's responsible for all the Cash Money production--rarely strays far from the region's bass roots, blending it with strings, keys, and other layers to make it more palatable to the masses. And it's Juvenile, with his hurried slurs, who dances the shimmy best, from the anthemic "Run for It" to the New York-ready braggadocio of "Juvenile on Fire," on which Fresh shakes it up like maracas on Cinco de Mayo. --Jon Caramanica