Juelz Santana CD Review
Juelz Santana
What The Game’s Been Missing
(Diplomats/Def Jam)
Diplomats MC has the scratch to break his gangsta mold, just needs the sense.
Weeks before this album arrived in late November, members of Diplomats (Hell Rell, Jim Jones among them) took part in Paris To Purple City, one of the weirder collabs in hip-hop history. A mess of them joined a Parisian crew in a bilingual tango showing either how limited they were or how goofy the international scene has become. Juelz Santana and his mentor, Cam’ron, wisely avoided the sessions.
On his second outing, Santana seems to have a hold on his strengths, but like a kid traversing the monkey bars for the first time, doesn’t know if he should let go of the previous rung. For every banger (the lethal “There It Go,” “Gangsta Shit”) there’s two or three claptrap throwaways diminishing the impact of his authoritative flow and biting self-awareness. It fits one track features Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy, two other MCs who could do without loading up their albums with filler. Each’s best clips could make a 50-minute minor classics, if only they knew how to say no.
— Steve Forstneger
