J-Banks

Juelz Santana Says Cam'ron Blocked 'Tons' Of His Collaborations, But 'It's No Hard Feelings'

'I have no hard feelings towards Cam,' he says of onetime mentor.

By Shaheem Reid

Three years without a new album? Sparse guest appearances in the interim? In this hip-hop climate, a lot of artists would be irrelevant by now. Juelz Santana hasn't been silent in the time since he released his second LP, What the Game's Been Missing. The mayor of "Santana's Town" has been embroiled in behind-the-scenes contractual turmoil with his onetime mentor Cam'ron.

Now that he recently got out of his legal obligation to Cam's Diplomat Records, the 23-year-old is signed directly to Def Jam. Cam actually broke the news to New York radio personality Miss Info, saying he'd sold Juelz's contract over to the label for a handsome price.

"I was upset about the part of me being 'sold for $2 million,' " Santana told MTV News, standing in front of his New Jersey studio on Thursday. "At times like this, nobody is trying to 'sell' me. I could have come out and said, 'Oh, yeah, Cam got bought out.' But I didn't go that route. They just gotta watch me move. We gonna make it hot."

Over the past few years, Juelz has tried to make guest appearances on some of his peers' songs, but he said Cam wouldn't clear the collaborations. In some cases, such as a Nike commercial and Chris Brown's "Run It!," the head of the Dipset sued the people Santana worked with for compensation.

Juelz said "tons" of his work on other artists' songs never saw the light of day. "I'm just gonna say a lot of big records. ... I was on a good portion of those records, or asked to be on a good portion of those records that [Lil] Wayne was on — along with him, not like they asked me before they asked him, or vice versa. I know I was on a good portion of those records, 'cause the I Can't Feel My Face thing. We were pushing that hard. People wanted to get both of us. I couldn't go as far as the clearances. I could do my verse, then it got to the point where I couldn't go there with people, because I didn't want them to think that it was me being the bad guy not clearing stuff. I didn't want that on my name. So, I would let people know, 'I can't really. ... If you wanna just put it out on the mixtapes, we could do that all day. The fans definitely missed out on a lot of Juelz due to my contract."

Despite the business gripes, Santana still speaks fondly of Cam and yells "Dipset for life" consistently.

"I have no hard feelings towards Cam," he explained. "I tell people I couldn't do business with him. But I will say he gave me the biggest chance I needed. I'm a dude from the 'hood, so the chance he gave me is a chance I needed to never turn back. I'm good. My artistry, my talent, my career was never built on controversy. So I would never come out and say a whole bunch of things that could be said. All I can say is, I'm sorry he can't be here to be a part of what's about to happen, because we're about to tear 'em up."

Santana is referring to his new crew of artists, the Skull Gang, which he said stands for "Street Kids United by Loyalty and Loot, Goons and N---as Getting It." The crew, which includes MCs from Harlem, Virginia and Queens, will be heavily featured on Santana's next LP Born to Lose, Built to Win (The Rise of the Skull Gang).

"Everybody could get a whiff of the future," he said.

"The good thing about [my time with Cam]," he continued, "I got a chance to learn a lot and be around Cam and Jim and watch us, the Diplomats, one of the greatest movements and still one of the greatest movements doing this thing today. I know the ins and outs of what it takes to build a powerful movement. I know the things that got us to the points where we needed to be. Then I know some of the things that was holding us back. I get to work around the things I need to work around. Jim has Byrd Gang, I have the Skull Gang, and Freekey Zekey has 730."

While talking about his first camp, Juelz reiterates that the Dipset are still intact; they're just not sure what's going on with Cam'ron. The communication is obviously not there, but Santana welcomes another family album.

"It's no hard feelings, and now that I'm out of my situation, I don't mind putting a Diplomat album together. All I gotta do is tell my lawyer to handle the business the right way, and the music gets taken care of. I love making music. We all love making music. Me, Jim, Zeke — we all down to do the Diplomat album. You gotta ask Cam what's up about the Diplomat album when you get him front of this same camera.

"At first people kinda looked at us like, 'Damn, what's going on?' " he added. "They looking at us like we're disloyal. But as the time went by, it's kinda like, what we gonna do, just die out because the dude that was supposed to be the boss and the head of the table decided to disappear? That means we would have vanished along with that. We from Harlem, baby. We hustlers. We're gonna stay afloat. We're not even floating right now; we're surfing. We not even surfing; I'm the ocean."

Before his official release in 2009, Santana is putting out a Skull Gang mixtape to be followed by his solo street CD, The Regan Era.

"I had to let everybody know in the Def Jam building that it was no rush to hand in a single, because now I'm a businessman," he said. "There's nobody to go to when things ain't right but me. I had to find out a lot of things I didn't have to find out before. I could let other people handle things for me. I had to let the building know [the business] is where my mind is. There's a lot more people depending on me. I can't just be out here as an artist."

Source: MTV

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g-unit-soldier1987

camron is a real bitch.... just like 50

Flipperacci

Haha I knew somebody would be saying "LIKE 50"

50 didn't want his crew to work with his enemies.
Now nobody had a problem with that except Buck. (And we all know that Buck does everything for money thats why he says lets get to the money)

What Camron did was worse. I mean blocking Juelz collaborations with people that Camron don't even got beef with? Thats cold. Camron don't take care for his artist in the correct way.

I think it's obvious that Jimmy and Juelz are better rappers now then Camron.
Cam knows these two are making Dipset hot.

I have to give probz to Juelz for staying loyal to Cam.
Thats something Buck could take an expample off.

triple5soulja

cam is a hoe

Smithilberry

word...... im deff interested in a new Juelz album.....

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A.K.A. Master Sensei Zany

Young B-UK Street

gd interview. Cant wait 4 that new album

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I Make Dough Call Me Kingsmill A Thick Sliced MC

DAT PROBLEM

Real talk homie..

FREE TIP

the sad thing is that Juelz was sold, camron couldn't just drop Juelz on good terms

camron is a bitch

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Without Me Y'all just the UNIT - Young Buck Taped Conversation
L.A.X. In Stores 08-26-08

atrboomdizzle

hey dumbass, 50 didnt clear bucks verse from "26 inches" on blood raw's album, and isnt allowing him to feature on any other albums. oh and remember when he wouldnt let games verse be the album version of jim jones "certified gangstas"? and he threw a bitch fit when his verse was in the video? pay attention you ignorant retard

Yuri Orlov

Props , can't wait for his new album.and heard he's gonna be on yayo's next album also.

LadyValentine

And that my friend is the reason why you don't do business with friends...buck could learn from juelz...leave the bad blood for the dude that shot you and left you for dead..not the person who actually gave a fuck.

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Why In The Hell Would You Let Your Fingers Type Such Absurdity? - Me

kingstyles3764

yes he was lyrically the best in dip-set, i like cam but dude a bitch for some of the shyt he doin, i cant wait for his shyt to drop tho

Tha Unit On Top

Exactly, I no right, wtf? Fif didnt want people to work with people he beefing with, and your crew should respect that and not want to work with anyone thats dissing your leader, your man or your crew, but Cam is a bitch ass for real, he was blocking him from being on records with Wayne and shit. Why? There aint no beef there, Wayne and Juelz were gonna do that album, so blocking that shit is bitch made. Cam a pussy for real, they all bounced on his faggot ass, Jimmy, Juelz. I think it started when Jimmy became bigger than Cam, when Jimmy had Ballin, Cam couldnt handle his hype man being bigger than him. Thats like Yayo being bigger then 50, that would never happen, but Cam couldnt handle it, so now Dipset is over.

neomerge

Good to see him NOT talking greasy about Cam. I really hope they can still do songs together.

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WORDAP.NET

g-unit-soldier1987

u bitch really think santana wouldn`t go after cam if that bitch would leak a private conversation like bubu... aka snitch ass homo ?

DAT PROBLEM

firstt.. da only bitch right here is u'r punk ass & u know it right? second, fifty leaked da private conversation after buck said " Fuck G-Unit", Juelz said "Fuck Dipset"?! so.. shut da fuck up! talkin tough talk through da keyboard.. hi internet thug Ahaha look at diz nigga's nick"g-unit-soldier1987" ahahah bipolar bitch

Flipperacci

You BITCH ASS. I'm glad 50 leaked that phonecall.
I remember Buck saying that HE COULD NEVER EVER WRITE A NEGATIVE RAP OR SHIT ABOUT 50 EVEN IF 50 WOULD DO THE WORST TO HIM

What goes around goes around. Buck wanna tape Game and Wayne. Well you have 50, SPider Loc and some white dude taping Buck too.
After that you had an radiostation and some dudes making fun off Buck crying.

50 already knew that there would be suckers like you who would be calling him a snitch but he is already used to these type of things so he don't really care. All that matters is Forbes.

I mean Buck is mad at 50 for leaking that phonecall but on the other hand he is glad too cuz now the whole world have seen his "emotional" side (Yeah right)

Thats why I love this nigga Juelz for his loyalty. Even if Cam do him like this the nigga still cool with Cam.
If 50 would sell Buck's contract or block all his collaborations there would have been beef a long time ago.

g-unit-soldier1987

just eat a fat dick man....

DAT PROBLEM

why u tellin me dat? LMAO keep u'r dreams to yaself kid..

Yb187

real talk man

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GMNRecordsCT3

Juelz dip dip!

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myspace.com/bummydavis - soundclick.com/gmnproductions

"The name on my car insurance is YOUR FUKIN FAULT!!"

SouthSider

thank you!

50 had no beef with usda
50 had no beef with dipset at the time

fliperacci you know your stuff, but you dont know as much as you think u do

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The most anticipated artist with no CD to sell
But ya'll feelin every word like you readin in brail
Get it?
Big Paybacc

Cashvillian

I just want him to come out with a new Cd, fuck everything else, Because his last CD had some serious bangers.

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pDASH

i'm def tryin see a new juelz cd

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BIG EX! www.thisisBIGEX.com

Tha Unit On Top

Quick question, who said he blocked Game and Bucks verses? When was this? With GAme, I remember Fif saying that while him and Dre were figuring the plan of attack on how to launch Game, singles, videos etc, he was off doing the Dipset video, like were over here doing your shit, and you aint even hear. But who said they blocked Games shit? Maybe he did, but Game wasnt only signed to G Unit, he was signed to Aftermath, so Dre could have a say. I aint saying that it happened, cause I dont remember anything like that, anyone saying Fif wouldnt let them be on an album. So who said this? Who said Bucks verse couldnt be on Blood Raws album? Buck said that, Fif said that? Or did the song just not make the album and you figure Fif blocked it?