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| Juelz Santana - What the Game's Been Missing | Juelz Santana waited for this moment for a long time. At age twelve he began rapping in the clique Draft Pick. These youngsters found themselves slapped in between the covers of The Source before being picked up by Priority Records. The label, however, dropped the group from its roster before the release of a record. A cousin introduced Santana to fellow neighborhood rapper Cam’ron in 1999. Juelz found himself featured on a track of Cam’s Sports, Drugs, Entertainment but the elder artist was released before Juelz could seriously pursue a deal with Untertainment. He finally received much deserved publicity in 2002 on Cam’ron’s Come Home With Me on the hits ”Oh Boy” and “Hey Ma.”
Now a member of the Diplomats with Cam and yet another Harlem rapper Jim Jones, the road to success was still being patched and paved. The Def Jam endorsed From Me 2 U did little in the way of benefiting Santana as it endured mediocre reviews and less than impressive record sales. Not until 2005s What the Game’s Been Missing! did Juelz finally hit his stride.
From the outset a lyrical premium is placed on drugs. Such a focus seems to yield a good number of hip hop’s top albums in this day and age as discs by Young Jeezy and T.I. continue to top charts. Juelz picks up on said trend on hops onboard finding himself totally engulfed in coke lines on such songs as “Rumble Young Man Rumble,” “Oh Yes,” and “Good Times” to name only a few out of a handful of applicable tracks. But it’s not the lines so much as their delivery that catapult Santana from faceless accessory to shining star on What the Game’s Been Missing!. He brings a unique style to the scene as did Cam’ron on his Purple Haze by less flowing than chopping. Although he proves capable of smoothly and coyly wrapping warm viscous phrases around his beats on tracks such as “Make It Work For You” and “There It Go (The Whistle Song)” Santana opts instead to more naturally attack and aggressively charge choppily through the vast majority of his pieces. Such is a wise decision as his battered approach yields a level of uniqueness adequate for separation from the ever-expanding pack of rising rappers.
Juelz’s quality flounders at times throughout the record. Most of its aspects reign consistent throughout; guest vocals always seem to lend assistance to the track but never outshine its star and Santana brings consistently impressive singing. However, beats on the album seem always to prove a gamble for the Dipset contributor. It’s not that he can’t create a consistently catchy beat, but rather that oftentimes catchiness and accessibility play too large a factor in the songwriting and tweaks come off more as gimmicks and ploys for airtime than actually musical assistance. “There It Go (The Whistle Song)” exhibits a perfect case in which whistling accessorizes the track beautifully and adds to the overall ambience whereas ticks and tocks in “Clockwork” bring little to the table other than a way for Santana to weasel his way onto MTV and into your car stereo.
As frustrating as such inconsistency can be it proves too little to prevent Santana from assuming a throne near the top of the hip hop world in his ascension from little-known preteen rapper to full-blown rock star. What the Game’s Been Missing! is simply an impressive stepping stone in this path. |
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Displaying posts 1 - 15 of 16. |
09:53 AM on 06/18/06 | i was young and love was fun I can't stand dip-set. this album wasn't good.
REVIEW THE BIG BANG. that and Fishscale are the ONLY two rap cds worth buying. | | |
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09:59 AM on 06/18/06 | Originally Posted by GoTHErelentless I can't stand dip-set. this album wasn't good.
REVIEW THE BIG BANG. that and Fishscale are the ONLY two rap cds worth buying. |
I reviewed Fishscale awhile back. I'll try to get ahold of that other album, but I'm not sure where haha. | | |
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10:34 AM on 06/18/06 | i was young and love was fun The Big Bang is the new Busta Rhymes CD. you'll be able to get it ANYWHERE.
we need good New York rap. not this stumbled flow bullshit.
but dude, you're really doing a great thing here reviewing more rap music. my hats off to you, Mr. Dona. | | |
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10:57 AM on 06/18/06 | Originally Posted by GoTHErelentless The Big Bang is the new Busta Rhymes CD. you'll be able to get it ANYWHERE.
we need good New York rap. not this stumbled flow bullshit.
but dude, you're really doing a great thing here reviewing more rap music. my hats off to you, Mr. Dona. |
Thanks man. I'm always looking for introduction to new rap music, so I love it when people suggest stuff to me. I'm really far behind though so I've definately got some catching up to do. I'll definately check that Busta Rhymes album out. "Mr. Dona..." I like the sound of that. | | |
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12:28 PM on 06/18/06 | I thought this was absolute "punk" lolololo
Just kidding. I've been meaning to pick this up for awhile. | | |
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03:09 PM on 06/18/06 | Best Hip hop records of recent memory:
Ghostface-Fishscale
Mr. Lif-Mo' Mega
J Dilla-Donuts (instrumental) RIP
Little Brother-The Minstrel Show & Gangsta Grillz Mixtape
MF Doom-Everything he's ever done
Edan-Beauty and the Beat
I like Dipset (Cam, Juelz and JR especially) but very few of the full-lengths they put out are good start to finish (Purple Haze being the notable exception).
Eagerly awaiting:
The Ghostface/Doom collabo although my expectations are so high for this one I doubt it could live up to them
The new Busta album
The Stones Throw/Adult Swim comp
-Brixxx!
Liam and Me | | |
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03:29 PM on 06/18/06 | this is a good review and i like how this site is finally reviewing rap. juelz is one of my current fav rappers along with lil wayne and i like dipset alot. i agree with others that fishscale is one of the best rap cds this year, havent heard the big bang yet but im sure its good, i thought ice cube's new "laugh now, cry later" is also one of the best rap cds ive heard this year along with the gnarls barkley cd. keep up the good work dona.
ps. being that im from houston, im biased towards h-town rap but i honestly think the new Bun B "Trill" is also one of the best this year, all the other houston rap cds this year though are average at best (slim thug, mike jones, paul wall, chamillionaire, etc.) | | |
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07:32 AM on 06/19/06 |  Originally Posted by xPaulWallx this is a good review and i like how this site is finally reviewing rap. juelz is one of my current fav rappers along with lil wayne and i like dipset alot. i agree with others that fishscale is one of the best rap cds this year, havent heard the big bang yet but im sure its good, i thought ice cube's new "laugh now, cry later" is also one of the best rap cds ive heard this year along with the gnarls barkley cd. keep up the good work dona.
ps. being that im from houston, im biased towards h-town rap but i honestly think the new Bun B "Trill" is also one of the best this year, all the other houston rap cds this year though are average at best (slim thug, mike jones, paul wall, chamillionaire, etc.) |
That's odd. I'm ungodly obsessed with Chamillionaire. I don't really like his hit songs for some reason but other tracks just kill me they're so good. I've heard the new Ice Cube is good too, so I'll give it and The Big Bang a spin soon. I wanted to cover Gnarls Barkley so badly, but damn seniority and the writer who consequently stole it! Keep in touch with good music, I'm always open to suggestions. | | |
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02:31 PM on 06/19/06 | hey, man. i can't believe you dug this album, man. i definitely wasn't feeling this guy's flow.
whoever said to check out fishscale and the big bang, yo, they hit the nail on the head.
both are hot.
yo, keep eyes open for Ray Cash from Ohio.
guy's got appeal, y'all. | | |
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04:09 PM on 06/25/06 | I was waiting for this album 'cause I thought I'd be hot. I actually legally paid for the shit. It wasn't even worth it. There are a couple of radio hits, and maybe two actually good songs. But most of it is juelz trying to impress the business. he doesn't even rap that well- his lyrics are very childish ( "i just wanna do the nasty wit cha / not download a nasty picture" two things that don't got shit to do with each other ). with this album, i think juelz fucked himself over, and made it blantantly obvious what a crappy rapper he actually is. these days, anyone can make a good hook.
btw: glad to see some rap on absolutepunk.net! | | |
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