There was once a time when Cam'ron was at the pinnacle of hip-hop, his only competition being his boss Jay-Z and self-proclaimed "King Of The South" T.I. Cam'ron took the world by storm in 2002 with his album "Come Home With Me," spawning two Billboard Top 10 hits in "Oh Boy" and "Hey Ma". Long before the explosion of the mixtape industry, Cam'ron's Dipset crew were relative unknowns outside of New York City. But once the fame came, the Harlem looked to get his platoon of emcees recognized. Some of the more notable of the crew were Jim Jones, Hell Rell and Jr Writer, but the most intriguing was Juelz Santana.
Born Laron James, the 18-year-old Harlem emcee made his formal introduction on Cam'ron's 2000 album S.D.E, appearing on tracks "Double Up" and "All The Chickens". Armed with lyrical ability and an unorthodox flow, Juelz' verses stood out amongst fellow featured artists Prodigy, Ol' Dirty Bastard and N.O.R.E. - all who were extremely popular at the time. Due to the album failing to make a splash on the charts, Juelz' efforts were in vain until Come Home With Me, where Cam'ron display him to the world like a proud father, allowing him to shine on multiple tracks, most notably the album's two lead singles. While the commercial tracks appealed to the ladies, songs like "Losing Weight Part 2" and "Come Home With Me" showed that Juelz had potential to best all-around rappers in the game. Women gravitated to his babyfaced looks, and the inner-city respected his vivid street raps with a reputation to match.
Bars like "Like I been through the scars and bruises, like I ain't been through the bars, seen the Sergeant troopers" make you cringe at the painstaking detail and emotion put into every rhyme. As Cam'ron and Dipset continued to flood the mixtape market, the world and the industry was forced to take notice. In 2003, Cam'ron put his team to the forefront with Dipset's official group album debut "Diplomatic Immunity." While the album featured every Dipset affiliate of the time, including Un Kasa and Hell Rell, most of the songs consisted of Cam'ron, Juelz and Jim Jones. Despite Jim Jones being at his best lyrically, each song comes down to a war of words between Juelz and Killa Cam. The lyrical sparring makes for a classic album, and Juelz even spits fire on several solo tracks.
Juelz caused a major controversy on the album, praising 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta on "I Love You." Released on a mixtape, the song stirred up so much attention the label forced Juelz to change the lyrics, in which he dedicated the verse to the late Muhammad Ali instead.
The summer of 2003 saw Juelz' debut album "From Me to U," a lackluster project that was hit or miss depending on preference. The album's sales matched, failing to even go gold.
Despite the underwhelming performance, Juelz recovered quickly, obliterating features and mixtapes, most notably "Back Like Cooked Crack" in 2004. Juelz freestyled over current hits and classics, as well as giving fans exceptional material cut from his album.
2005 saw Juelz follow-up album "What The Game's Been Missing", which spawned four hit singles and a RIAA Gold certification. Balancing club tracks, songs for the ladies and street tales was effortless for Juelz, and it showed in his improved music. While Juelz was blowing up, so was New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne, who was quickly becoming the hottest rapper in the industry.
In an unprecedented move at the time, the two formed an unexpected bond that was deeper than features. Starting with Juelz' appearance on Wayne's Dedication II mixtape, the two released a slew of music together, forming the hottest tandem in hip-hop. In 2006, the duo released Blow, a mixtape that took the underground by storm.
Wayne was the self-proclaimed "Best Rapper Alive," and Juelz was the Pippen to his Jordan. Juelz was thriving, from his mixtape series to featuring on multiple hit singles with artists ranging from Chris Brown to Sean Kingston.
As with all good things, it abruptly came to an end, when Juelz and Jim Jones appeared with rapper 50 Cent - Cam'ron's biggest rival at the time. There where rumors of a riff between the duo, and the appearance seemed to many like the ultimate betrayal. Shortly after, the group dismantled, each artist forming new cliques. Juelz formed "Skull Gang" and looked forward to a solo career out of the Dipset shadow. But it wasn't the same,and despite scoring several lukewarm singles, the buzz wasn't the same.
On top of the steady decline, Juelz was constantly in legal trouble. A 2011 raid rendered multiple guns and illegal narcotics. Rumors circulated of an addiction to cocaine, and erratic actions arguably confirmed suspicions.
As of now, Juelz is a mere memory of a golden period in hip-hop, a waste of talent, a missed opportunity at greatness. Not many rappers from that period had the total package, the ability to maneuver multiple realms and lanes, the ones who did now have their names etched in greatness.
Juelz provided us with some timeless music, and only 2pac has brought more symbolism to the bandana, but he left so much to be desired.
AYE!
