Juvenile released his newest project a few days ago, with intentions of reviving his career back to the commercial success he very much enjoyed in the early 2000s. Known primarily for his hit single "Slow Motion" back in the summer of 2004, Juvenile has since then slowly lost the attention of hip-hop junkies.

The New Orleans veteran rapper attempted to re-emerge into the mainstream limelight with Rejuvenation, released January 17 by his self-created UTP Records company. While Juvenile has always been a respected player in the game, his most recent project wasn't much anticipated. The rap industry has quickly become younger and more energetic. He may never again see the top of the charts, but his effort is plausible.

Rejuvenation is Juve's 10th studio album and features 11 tracks, which was quite surprising. Juvenile has always been known to release around 18-song albums, and to see the regression of the newest package was a disappointment. Then again, your work should be weighed by quality over quantity, right?

The first single is a classic Juvenile-Mannie Fresh collaboration called "Power," featuring Rick Ross. Mannie Fresh, who's worked with Juvenile for years, usually knows how to bring the best out of him. Unfortunately, this wasn't it. The song is spoiled by a boring and uninspiring beat, and it isn't lyrically creative. The only element that remotely saves the track is Ross, who delivers his usual killer verse. Other than that, the song is a quickskip.

"Sip Champagne" features fellow UTP artists Wacko and Skip. The song actually has a sick rap beat, but is unfortunately ruined by mediocre lyrics. The song is the epitome of one of those pointless songs that many artists tend to pad their albums with just to increase the track-count. Another quickskip.

"Black Card Music" is the proverbial diamond in the rough. The song also features Skip, and takes favourite song honours. The beat is a simple, throwback style of which I am a huge fan. Juvenile delivers his single best verse on the album in it, and the chorus is nicely sung. It's just a shame the song isn't very long.

Honourable mention: "Ready or Not."

Rejuvenation isn't very compelling. The record is desperate for more creativity, inspiration, and polish. Juve's been around for what's seemed like forever. He's released a plethora of studio, independent and collaborative albums in his impressive career, so he really doesn't need Rejuvenation to be his best work. The album is simply a subtle reminder to let us all know that he's still around.

Rating: 2 out of 5