Juelz Santana
Album: What The Game’s Been Missing!
Release Date: Nov 22, 2005
Label: Def Jam records

Review:
Hip hop and rap artist Juelz Santana has been everywhere of late. Whether it’s his near-constant guest-hosting duties on BET and MTV, his ubiquitous presence on the mixtape circuit, or his addictive new heat rock "There It Go (The Whistle Song)" - Blender Magazine’s "Song Of The Month" - blasting from every car stereo and club sound system in the country, Juelz has become everyone’s rapper-du-jour. Even the hipster set has joined the movement: indie-dance darling M.I.A. frequently namedrops Juelz as her favorite rapper, and the Dipset lieutenant even teamed up with UK Grime hero Kano for a free outdoor concert in New York’s ultra-hip Lower East Side. What’s next? A hotline, of course. 1-888-DIPSET7 announces the November 22 release of his new Diplomats / Def Jam album What The Game’s Been Missing.

Of course, all this heat didn’t just happen overnight. Over the past few years, the game has watched Juelz Santana grow from his role as Cam’ron’s protégé to become one of rap hip-hop’s brightest stars, its biggest personalities, and its finest MCs. With a certain cooler-than-thou swagger, and plenty of uptown attitude, Juelz has become, as he so eloquently puts it, "Human Crack In The Flesh."

And now, with his second Def Jam effort, What The Game’s Been Missing, the hip-hop nation is headed back to Santana’s town, to rediscover Harlemworld’s distinct style as only Juelz can bring it.

And a funny thing happened to Santana on his way to making his sophomore album. He fell in love with making music. To facilitate the creative storm that would become What The Game’s Been Missing, Santana indulged his gift of gab by constructing his own studio.

"When you have your own place to make music, it becomes that much more of a priority," says Juelz. "When you can dictate everything about your project that way, you start to really feel the music, feel every beat, every line. It becomes a part of you in a way that just doesn’t happen when you’re on someone else’s dime and someone else’s schedule."

You can feel the passion in the music. With the first two singles off What The Game’s Been Missing, Santana has landed a 1-2 combo that still has hip-hop heads spinning. The royal horns of "Mic Check" and the absolutely addictive whistles of "There It Go" show off an even more focused Juelz Santana, tossing off ad-libs that other MC’s would sign over their lives for ("Don’t watch me. Watch T.V."). The dancehall-infused stomp of "Shottas" featuring Sizzla is pure Dipset, a street banger reminiscent of the Diplomats classic "Gangsta Music."

"On my first album, I feel like I let a lot of things just go. This time around though, I felt like it was all on me," Juelz continues. "That’s why I built my own studio. That’s why I directed my own video. They always say, you wait your whole life to make that first album and pour your whole life into it. But I feel like this one, man, this is my baby."

So, what has the game been missing? "Leadership," says Santana, "Everybody is following everyone else, nobody is willing to be their own man, to be creative. It goes against what hip-hop is all about. The Dipset Movement is about forging our own path, people can go ahead and follow us."

Hip-hop fans will be following Juelz Santana for a long time to come.

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