Back in the early-2000s, Juvenile wasn’t getting much time to just chill. The New Orleans rapper was spending most nights on stage, both playing shows around the city and touring heavily.
He’d head out of town at the end of the week and typically spend Mondays coming back to New Orleans. By Wednesday, he’d be getting ready to set out again. That left Tuesdays as his day to do what he wanted.
“My first day home would be Monday, and I would want to sleep that out. Tuesday, I’d want to party,” Juvie says. “And it’s been like that for 20-plus years.”
That free night turned into Juvie Tuesdays, a popular community party with music and food now closing in on 20 years. Juvenile hosts Juvie Tuesdays each week at the Treme Hideaway, and he will celebrate his 49th birthday at the next edition starting at 7 p.m. March 26.
People pack into the Treme Hideaway and its outdoor space each week for free crawfish along with food sold by D Nola’s Kitchen and Lion Heart Catering. Several DJs can be heard both inside the bar and outside during the night, like DJ Poppa, DJ Jubilee, DJ Lil Man and TwoScoops. There’s occasionally other live music — the Big 6 Brass Band and 10th Ward Buck recently performed, and Hot Boy Turk will perform March 26. And guest hosts usually emcee the night, but Juvenile will occasionally jump on the mic to talk to the crowd.
There’s also a dominoes table and other games. Juvie Tuesdays are free to enter from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., and then there’s a $10 cover after 9 p.m. There’s also a $10 drink-what-you-can deal at the bar until 9 p.m. The Treme Hideaway is a 30 and up club.
“It’s a lot of New Orleans going on in the building,” Juvenile says. “I think the main thing is it’s full of New Orleans culture.”
It’s hard to put an exact date on when Juvie Tuesdays started, Juvenile says. But at some point before “Nolia Clap” — his hit with UTP — dropped in 2004, Juvenile was spending his Tuesday nights at Ceasar’s in Gretna.
“It started off as a little seafood night with us doing our little thing on a Tuesday, just me and my people,” he says. “We turned it into something else.”
More and more people started showing up to Ceasar’s to party with the lauded rapper, and Juvenile jumped on WQUE-FM to promote the event. Q93’s Wild Wayne was an early host for the event, and DJ Slab1 would spin at Juvie Tuesdays.
The New Orleans icon on 40 years of DJing, producing and making it fun.
There have been breaks in Juvie Tuesdays over the years due to life changes and things like Hurricane Katrina and the Covid-19 pandemic — which hit right after Juvie Tuesdays restarted at the Treme Hideaway in early 2020. But it’s an event Juvenile has kept going back to.
Afterall, it’s his chance to drink and smoke a little bit, talk some shit while playing dominoes and see both locals and people from out of town.
In the last couple of years, Juvie also has used Juvie Tuesdays to preview projects he’s been a part of. It was the first chance to try Juvie Juice, his hard iced tea and lemonade collaboration with Urban South, and the 400 Hot Degreez CheeWees.
“I wanted every rapper in the city of New Orleans that made a name for themselves to constantly stay active in the community, giving back and doing stuff like this,” says E. Chris Young, who manages Juvenile and organizes Juvie Tuesdays with the rapper. “So when he came to me with this and said, ‘I want to do this again,’ my only thought was, OK, how can we stay active and how can we use this to make the community understand that we’re with them?”
Juvenile in the last few years has been putting a new emphasis on Juvie Tuesdays, even as he’s hitting major career milestones. Last year, he rocked NPR Music’s Tiny Desk with Mannie Fresh, Jon Batiste, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews and a band of New Orleans musicians in Dickies and camo bandanas. He received commendations from Congress, the Louisiana Legislature and New Orleans City Council. And he and Mannie Fresh have been selling out shows across the country.
This year, his quadruple-platinum album “400 Degreez” will be reissued on March 29 with two new tracks. He’s planning another tour, and there have been rumors about Hot Boys activity now that rapper B.G. is back in public.
There’s a lot going on, but Juvenile and Young want Juvie Tuesdays to continue because of “motivation from the people around you,” Juvenile says, “and realizing it’s not about you because your name is on it. Realizing it’s not about me, it’s about the people around me. And I’m grateful for that. That’s the reason for going 20-plus years.”
Juvie Tuesdays start at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays at the Treme Hideaway. Free entry until 9 p.m., and there’s free crawfish until it’s gone. Find more on Instagram, @juviethegreat.
The Music Box season includes performances by local and visiting musicians.
Keep up with the latest events at calendar.gambitweekly.com.
