Thursday, January 17, 2013

Mixtapes : Juelz Santana : God Will'n

Mixtapes : Juelz Santana : God Will'n

Listen To : Juelz Santana : God Will'n

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Who Is Juelz Santana?
LaRon Louis James (born February 18, 1982), better known by his stage name Juelz Santana, is an American hip hop recording artist, producer, actor and member of East Coast hip hop group The Diplomats. He appeared on Cam'ron's 2002 singles, "Oh Boy" and "Hey Ma". In 2003, his debut album From Me to U was released by Def Jam Recordings; his next album What the Game's Been Missing! contained the top-ten single "There It Go (The Whistle Song)". He is currently working on his long awaited third studio album Born to Lose, Built to Win set to be released in 2013.

LaRon James was born in New York City and raised in the Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem. He is of Dominican and African American descent. He began rapping at the age of five and at age twelve started duo Draft Pick, which was signed to Priority Records. In 2000, at the age of 17, he made a guest performance on a track on Cam'ron's album S.D.E. and eventually joined The Diplomats.

After the signing of The Diplomats, also known as Dipset, to Roc-a-Fella Records in 2002, there was an influence of mixtapes, features on other artists' records, television and radio interviews, in which Juelz achieved mainstream recognition not previously gained through the various Diplomat mixtapes, and his solo mixtape Final Destination, that was sold in late 2002. After being featured on fellow Diplomat member Cam'ron's two singles, "Hey Ma" and "Oh Boy". Juelz started working on his debut album. In the summer of 2003, Santana released his debut album, From Me To U, which peaked at #8 in the Billboard 200. "Dipset (Santana's Town)" peaked #70 in the U.S. Billboard.

What the Game's Been Missing! followed in 2005 with the singles "Mic Check", "There It Go (The Whistle Song)", "Oh Yes", "Clockwork," "Shottas", and "Make It Work For Ya" Feat. Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne. "There It Go" reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Hot Rap Tracks charts; "Oh Yes" reached #56 on the Hot 100 and #8 on the Rap charts. "Mic Check" reached 35 in the Billboard Hot 100. Both this album and single "There It Go" were certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. Santana also featured in Chris Brown's "Run it" in 2005. (Read More)

God Will'n Review
Listening to this, it’s hard not to long for the days when Juelz Santana dedicated every word he put to tape to joyfully yelling outlandish shit, and soaking up New York in all its grimy glory while he did it. At his best, Santana is a hilarious rapper, reveling in ridiculous punchlines, at his worst, he just sounds exhausted. Tapped out. God Will’n isn’t him at his most excited, but he’s not exactly tired either. The whole thing actually feels like a bizarre victory lap for a rapper that’s spent the last few years ducking any kind of limelight. Everyone shows up here: there’s a melancholy Future appearance, a semi-phoned-in Wayne appearance (which, side note, is a huge bummer because the material that Wayne and Juelz put out between ’05-’07 was often really good), Fabolous, Rick Ross, Meek Mill, Jim Jones, Jeremih, Wale, Lil Reese, Lloyd Banks, Yo Gotti, Wiz Khalifa, Jadakiss, Lil Durk and Bounce also pop up.

It feels at once like a survey of current rap and a bizarre alternate reality where Juelz stayed releasing albums right alongside all these guys leading right up to now, and everyone was still wearing tall tees with airbrushed pink Dipset eagles on them. He didn’t though, so, for erstwhile Diplomats fans, this tape has some heavy expectations. While it doesn’t ever reach Back Like Cooked Crack levels or even What The Game’s Been Missing levels, it is entertaining and worth a listen, if only to hear how Juelz’ fits into today’s rap landscape.

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