Getting his second bit of solo, What the Game Was Lacking! In November 2005, Juelz Santana hit the streets, later happily enjoying the set performance in securing ninth spot on Billboard 200. In addition to his further fame, the rapper was also featured on Chris Brown’s hit album Run It! within the same year. It was ranked #1 on Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and ranked #2 on US R&B/Hip Hop charts for two weeks, as well as #24 on US Rap charts. Juelz unexpectedly revealed in the middle of that glorious year that he was 23 years old and had a two-year-old baby. In reality, the comment appears to help him get more media and mainstream exposure instead of making a buzz, which overall has had a good effect on his music career.
Juelz, a native born in Harlem, New York, USA, is half African American and half Honduran. He was born on the 18th of February 1982 under the name LaRon Louis James. The 12-year-old boy, living his life as a teenager, first began his rap career with his long-time pal, Malik, as a rap duo named “Draft Pick.” While playing together, the twosome had many gigs across New York City, including Amateur Night at the world famous Apollo Theatre, where they earned two weeks in a row. The pair was then picked up by Priority Records, but it was not long until Juelz was exposed to fellow Harlem rapper Cam’ron by his nephew, largely because of the assumption that the time has come for the distinctive style of Juelz to be noticed. Juelz also remains a close buddy with Malik amid the group’s inexistence, though at the same time continuing to believe in himself and his distinctive style. And then Juelz’s cousin had a rhyme of Cam about him. Juelz remembered, “Cam didn’t even know he was gonna meet me,” “He was sleeping. So we wake him up and do the introductions and Cam tells me to spit for him and his reaction wasn’t like it was hot. He was sleeping.”
To his delight, Cam called and invited him to the studio just a week later, recording a verse for the split, “Double Up” from Cam’s second album “SDE” which stands for Sex, Drugs and Entertainment. When Cam next signed to Roc-A-Fella Records and eventually got his band The Diplomats, whose members include Jim Jones, 40 Cal, Hell Rell, Jha-Jha, SAS, and Freekey Zeekey, landed under the same label, life began to get better. The Roc produced Diplomat Records with Juelz as vice president, with a seven-figure label dealing with both of them. This was a strong beginning for the career of Juelz, signing that in the future he will do even more. He was then approved to make guest appearances on Cam’s 2002 smash hit singles Oh Boy and Hey Ma from his Come Home With Me LP, which culminated in a leading role on Diplomatic Immunity’s The Diplomats party album and its hit Dip Collection Anthem.
Juelz managed to sharpen his singing talents in the meantime, planning his way to resume his solo career and release his own record. And as his degree of rhyming ingenuity has continued to grow over the past year, on August 19th, 2003, he launched his full-length album, From Me To You, featuring the single “Santana’s Town” featuring Cam’s contagious hook. The collection also contains another touching track, Raindrops, which deals with his grandmother. “I want people to see who I am, who Juelz is. Hip-hop wants a change right now. The same people have been doing it for six or seven years. It’s not that it’s not hot music it’s just that it’s too common. It needs to be resurrected. I can resurrect it.”I want people to see who I am, who Juelz is. Right now, hip-hop wants a change. For six or seven years, the same people have been doing it. It’s not that it’s not hot music, it’s just that it’s too common. It needs to be resurrected.