Juelz Santana | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | LaRon Louis James |
Born | New York City, U.S. | February 18, 1982
Genres | |
Occupations |
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Discography | Juelz Santana discography |
Years active | 1994–present |
Labels | |
Member of | |
Spouse(s) | Kimbella Vanderhee (m. 2019;sep. 2022) |
Children | 4 |
LaRon Louis James (born February 18, 1982), [1] [2] better known by his stage name Juelz Santana, is an American rapper and member of East Coast hip hop group, the Diplomats (also known as Dipset). He is best known for his appearances on group cohort Cam'ron's 2002 singles "Oh Boy" and "Hey Ma," which peaked at numbers four and three on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. His guest appearance on Chris Brown's 2005 single, "Run It!" peaked atop the chart for five weeks and received triple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). [3] As a lead artist, he is also known for his 2005 single "There It Go (The Whistle Song)," which peaked at number six on the chart and received platinum certification by the RIAA.
"There It Go" served as the lead single for his debut studio album, From Me to U (2003), which was released by Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records along with its follow-up, What the Game's Been Missing! (2005). Both albums peaked within the top ten—at numbers eight and nine, respectively—of the Billboard 200 and saw mixed reviews. With Dipset, he has released three albums, and with his spin-off group Skull Gang, he released one studio album (2009). His 2009 single, "Back to the Crib" (featuring Chris Brown) was intended to lead his third album Born to Lose, Built to Win, which remains unreleased. [4] His guest performances on Jim Jones and Ron Browz' 2008 single "Pop Champagne" and Lloyd Banks' 2010 single "Beamer, Benz or Bentley" both peaked within the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100 as well.
In December 2018, James was sentenced to 27 months in prison for carrying an unconcealed weapon at an airport. He was released early from prison on August 5, 2020 after serving 19 of his 27-month sentence.
James was born in New York City to African American parents. He was raised in the Sugar Hill, Harlem section of Manhattan and began rapping at the age of five. He cites a live-in Dominican godmother as a strong influence on his early upbringing. [5]
At 12, James formed the rap duo, Draftpick, with Malik, a neighborhood friend. The group first gained recognition after several performances around New York City, including Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater, where they won two weeks in a row. The two got signed to Priority Records when James was 15 years old. [6] They released one single on the label, "Play Ruff", with Memphis Bleek and Tracey Lee. [7]
In 1998, James was introduced to Cam'ron through his cousin, [8] [9] and shortly thereafter, took on the name Juelz Santana and became a member of his hip hop collective, The Diplomats, alongside Jim Jones and Freekey Zekey. [10] Santana's first collaboration with the group was the Trackmasters remix of "What Means the World to You", followed by the tracks "Double Up" and "All the Chickens", on Cam'ron's second studio album, S.D.E. , released on September 19, 2000, through Epic Records.
In 2001, Cam'ron signed to Roc-a-Fella Records [11] and released his third studio album, Come Home with Me , on May 14, 2002, which featured further collaborations with Santana, including "Welcome to New York City", "Hey Ma" and "Oh Boy", which earned Santana his first Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 2003 Grammy Awards.
Cam'ron's signing also led to Santana signing a deal with Roc-a-Fella, under the imprint Diplomat Records. After four mixtapes, the group released their first album on Diplomatic Immunity on March 25, 2003, which debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200, selling 92,000 copies in its first week and eventually being certified Gold by the RIAA. [12] Santana caused a minor controversy before the album's release when he described himself as a "young Mohammed Atta" on a leaked version of the track "I Love You", just months after the September 11 attacks. [13] [14] [15] In a retrospective, Complex named the album one of the classic albums of the decade. [16]
On August 19, 2003, Santana released his debut album, From Me to U , which peaked at number 8 in the Billboard 200. The album was preceded by the mixtape, Final Destination, released on June 17, 2003, and the single "Dipset (Santana's Town)", which peaked at number 70 on the Billboard Top 100, received a nomination for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 46th Grammy Awards.
Following disputes at the label between Cam'ron and Roc-A-Fella Records head Jay-Z, [17] the Diplomats severed ties with Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam and signed to independent label Koch Records. The group released their second album, Diplomatic Immunity 2 , on November 23, 2004, with new members Hell Rell, 40 Cal., and J. R. Writer.
On December 23, 2004, Santana released "Mic Check", the lead single from his sophomore album. The single peaked at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100. [18]
In April 2005, Santana announced that he had returned to Def Jam and signed a new joint-venture deal with them. [19] On May 29, 2005, Santana released the album second single, "There It Go (The Whistle Song)", which became his highest-charting single to date, peaking at number 6 on the Hot 100 and number 3 on the Hot Rap tracks charts. A third single, "Oh Yes", reached number 56 on the Hot 100 and number 8 on the Rap charts, and a fourth, "Clockwork" peaked at number 68. On June 30, 2005, Santana was featured on Chris Brown's "Run It!", which went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks.
On November 22, 2005, Santana released What the Game's Been Missing! , his second album. Both the album and the single "There It Go" were certified Gold by the RIAA. [20]
In 2007, rifts and disagreements between the various Dipset members was beyond repair and the group disbanded. [21] [22] In August 2008, it was reported that Cam'ron had sold his contract to Def Jam for $2 million USD, [23] [24] leaving Santana to form the hip hop collective Skull Gang and label imprint Skull Gang Entertainment. [25] The group released the mixtapes Takeover on September 19, 2008, and the Christmas-themed A Tribute to Bad Santa Starring Mike Epps with Jim Jones on November 25, 2008, before their debut album, Skull Gang , was released on May 5, 2009.
In 2008, Santana began working on his third album, Born to Lose, Built to Win. [26] Despite several single releases, including 2007's "The Second Coming" with Just Blaze, 2009's "Mixin' Up the Medicine" with Yelawolf and "Back to the Crib" with Chris Brown, the album was never released. During this time, Juelz' contributions to Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III led to his third Grammy Award nomination, Album of the Year at the 2009 Grammy Awards.
In April 2010, Cam'ron and Jim Jones officially announced the end of their feud, [27] and the Diplomats reunited for several singles after signing with Interscope Records.[ citation needed ] In 2011 and 2012, Santana made brief appearances on the first two seasons of VH1 reality series Love & Hip Hop: New York , alongside other Dipset group members and their significant others.[ citation needed ]
On December 21, 2012, Santana announced the release of the mixtape God Will'n , his first solo project in eight years. [28] It was released on January 14, 2013, with XXL later naming it the 9th best mixtape of the year. [29] It was preceded by the singles "Bodies" featuring Lil Reese, and "Soft" featuring Fabolous, Rick Ross and Meek Mill. [30] Santana also released music videos for "Nobody Knows" featuring Future, "Awesome" featuring Wale, and "Everything Is Good" featuring Wiz Khalifa, saying that he had shot music videos for every song on the tape. [31] A month later, Santana announced his collaboration with Queens-based clothing brand collective, S.B.O.E (Slow Bucks Over Everything), with the release of the mixtape All We Got Is Us. [32] [33]
In November 2016, Santana joined the supporting cast of Love & Hip Hop: New York in its seventh season, releasing the freestyle "Up In The Studio Gettin Blown". [34]
On November 21, 2017, Santana, Cam'ron, Jim Jones and Freekey Zekey reunited onstage for a performance at the Hammerstein Ballroom. [35] [36] In 2018, the group went on a national tour, Dipset Forever, [37] [38] and released their third album, Diplomatic Ties on November 22, 2018. [39] [40] [41]
In November 2018, Santana returned to Love & Hip Hop: New York as a main cast member for its ninth season, which chronicled his ongoing legal struggles.
On November 23, 2018, Santana proposed to urban model and video vixen Kimbella Vanderhee during the Diplomats show at the Apollo Theater. [42] They married on January 10, 2019, and separated in December 2022. [43]
Santana and Vanderhee were in an on-again, off-again relationship since 2009 and have three children together, Juelz James, Bella Monroe James, and Santana James. Santana also has a son from a previous relationship, LaRon Jr., born in 2003. [44] [45] [46]
In January 2011, Santana's recording studio in Bergenfield, New Jersey, was raided after a 10-month investigation by the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office and Gang Unit. They discovered two loaded 9 mm handguns, boxes of ammunition and 84 grams of marijuana. [47]
On February 2, 2011, Santana was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm, possession of a handgun without a permit, possession of a controlled dangerous substance and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school. [48] On March 22, 2011, Santana missed a performance at Chris Brown's record release party when he was stopped and searched by police. [49] In November 2011 he was charged with making terrorist threats and disorderly conduct. [47]
In March 2018, Santana fled Newark Liberty International Airport, leaving his passport, identification and luggage behind after Transportation Security Administration Officers examining his carry-on luggage found a loaded .38-caliber handgun inside of his bag, as well as eight oxycodone pills. After going on the run for three days, Santana turned himself into the custody of the Port Authority Police Department on March 12. [50] On March 26, Santana was denied bail. [51]
Santana was released from custody on April 6, 2018, when his mother posted $500,000 bail after putting her house up. [52] [53] He was ordered to remain in the custody of his mother and remained on house arrest at his mother's residence in New Jersey while he awaited a federal trial. He was later allowed to travel and perform with the rest of The Diplomats on their 2018 reunion tour, under the condition that his mother accompanied him at all times. [46] On December 18, Santana was sentenced to 27 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release. [54] Santana began serving his sentence at the medium security FCI Petersburg in Hopewell, Virginia on March 1, 2019. [55] [56] Santana was released from prison early on August 5, 2020, after serving 19 months of his 27-month sentence. [57]
Studio albums
Cam'ron Giles, better known by his stage name Cam'ron, is an American rapper. Beginning his career in the early-1990s as Killa Cam, Giles signed with Lance "Un" Rivera's Untertainment, an imprint of Epic Records to release his first two studio albums Confessions of Fire (1998) and S.D.E. (2000); the former received gold certification by the RIAA. After leaving Epic, Giles signed with Roc-A-Fella Records in 2001 to release his third studio album, Come Home with Me, the following year. It received platinum certification by the RIAA and spawned the singles "Oh Boy" and "Hey Ma", which peaked at numbers four and three on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. His fourth studio album, Purple Haze (2004) was met with similar success and likewise received gold certification by the RIAA.
Roc-A-Fella Records was an American hip hop record label and music management company founded by record executives and entrepreneurs Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Damon Dash, and Kareem "Biggs" Burke in 1994. Carter issued his debut album, Reasonable Doubt (1996) as the label's first release, in a joint venture with Priority Records. The label has signed and released albums for acts including Kanye West, Cam'ron, Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, Juelz Santana, Freeway, Jadakiss, Teairra Marí, State Property, and The Diplomats before its dissolution in 2013.
Joseph Guillermo Jones II, better known by his stage name Jim Jones, is an American rapper and record executive. He is a founding member of the hip hop collective the Diplomats, which he formed in 1997 with fellow Harlem native Cam'ron.
Young Gunz is an American hip hop duo from Philadelphia, composed of rappers Young Chris and Neef Buck. The group is part of Beanie Sigel's State Property collective and were signed to Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records. Young Gunz' 2003 debut single, "Can't Stop, Won't Stop", reached the top 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Diplomats is an American hip hop collective formed in 1997 by childhood friends Cam'ron and Jimmy Jones in Harlem, New York. The group was originally composed of Cam'ron, Jim Jones and Freekey Zekey, all of whom grew up together in Harlem. In 1999, fellow Harlem-based rapper Juelz Santana joined the group.
Come Home With Me is the third studio album by American rapper Cam'ron, released on May 14, 2002, by Cam'ron's Diplomats Records and Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records. There are featured guest appearances from Jimmy Jones, Juelz Santana, Freekey Zekey, DJ Kay Slay, Daz Dillinger, Tiffany, Jay-Z, McGruff, Memphis Bleek, and Beanie Sigel. To date, it is his most commercially successful album; it peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 226,000 copies, and eventually sold one million copies in the United States, being certified Platinum by the RIAA.
Diplomat Records is an American hip hop record label co-founded by Harlem rappers Jim Jones and Cam'ron.
The Lox is an American hip hop trio composed of East Coast rappers Sheek Louch, Styles P and Jadakiss. Each hailing from Yonkers, New York, the group formed in 1994 and signed with Puff Daddy's Bad Boy Records two years later to release their debut studio album, Money, Power & Respect (1998). Despite critical and commercial success, the group parted ways with the label in favor of Ruff Ryders Entertainment in 1999, through which they released their similarly successful follow-up, We Are the Streets (2000).
"Oh Boy" is a 2002 Grammy-nominated hip hop single by Cam'ron from his album Come Home with Me, and features Juelz Santana. The single was released through Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records and Cam'ron's Diplomats Records.
From Me to U is the debut studio album by American rapper Juelz Santana. The album was released on August 19, 2003 as planned, under Diplomat, Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam. The album was seen as the introspective introduction of the rapper to mainstream entertainment. Following appearances on various street mixtapes and the success of The Diplomats, Santana was the second member of the group to release a solo album, after de facto leader Cam'ron.
Diplomatic Immunity is the debut studio album by American hip hop group The Diplomats, released via The Island Def Jam Music Group, Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records, and Cam'ron's Diplomats Records.
"Fabulous" is a song by American singer Jaheim, featuring guest vocals by Tha' Rayne. It served as the first single from his second studio album Still Ghetto (2002). It was produced by KayGee and Eddie Berkeley, containing a sample from "Wake Up Everybody" by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. "Fabulous" peaked at number seven on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, also reaching number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as number one on the Adult R&B Songs for three weeks from February 1, 2003 to February 22, 2003. An accompanying music video for was shot in August 2002 in New Jersey and includes appearances by Mary J. Blige and Tha' Rayne.
On My Way to Church is the debut studio album by American rapper and record executive Jim Jones. The album was released on August 24, 2004, through Diplomat Records and Koch Records. The production on the album was handled by various producers including Chad Hamilton, Boola, Ryan Press, Heatmakerz and Jones himself among others. The album also features guest appearances by T.I., Cam'ron, Bun B, Juelz Santana and more.
The discography of American rapper Juelz Santana consists of two studio albums, one compilation album, seven mixtapes, and 22 singles.
American rapper Jim Jones has released seven studio albums, five collaborative albums, three compilation albums, two extended plays (EPs), nineteen mixtapes and 47 singles. Jones is perhaps best known for being a member of East Coast hip hop group The Diplomats, with whom he recorded several mixtapes with before releasing their debut album Diplomatic Immunity, in 2003. In August 2004, Jones released his solo debut album On My Way to Church, under Diplomat Records and E1 Music. The album was preceded by the release of the singles "Certified Gangstas" and "Crunk Muzik", the latter of which features his Dipset-cohorts Juelz Santana and Cam'ron, and also supported the release of Dipset's second album Diplomatic Immunity 2 (2004).
This article summarizes the events, album releases, and album release dates in hip hop music for the year 2009.
"Hey Ma" is a song by American rapper Cam'ron, released through Cam'ron's Diplomats Records and Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records as the second single from his third album Come Home with Me. The song features Juelz Santana, Freekey Zekey, and Toya, and was produced by DR Period and Mafia Boy, who used a sample of the Commodores' 1977 hit "Easy".
Teyon Isiah Winfree, better known by his stage name Vado, is an American rapper from New York. He formed the hip hop duo U.N. with hometown native Cam'ron in 2009, with whom he has released two collaborative albums—Heat in Here Vol. 1 (2010) and Gunz n' Butta (2011)—and the Boss of All Bosses mixtape series. As a solo act, Vado signed with DJ Khaled's We the Best Music Group, an imprint of Cash Money and Republic Records in 2013 to release his debut commercial single, "My Bae" the following year. Despite failing to chart, Vado made notable guest appearances on Khaled's studio albums We the Best Forever (2011), Suffering from Success (2013), and I Changed a Lot (2015); he continued releasing mixtapes for the regional New York audience until departing We the Best by 2020.
The Diplomats, also popularly known as Dipset, are a Harlem-based hip hop group founded by Cam'ron and Jim Jones in 1997. discography consists of three studio albums, 6 singles, and one soundtrack on Diplomat Records. Music videos are also included, however, solo works from the groups' members, Cam'Ron, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, Freekey Zekey, JR Writer, Hell Rell, & 40 Cal, Stack Bundles (deceased), Katt Williams and Max B are not included.
"Dipset Anthem" is a song by Harlem rap crew The Diplomats. It features rapping from Juelz Santana and Cam'ron. Originally released with the title "Gangsta Music" on the Purple City Matrix Vol. 3 mixtape in 2003, the song was released as a single for the album Diplomatic Immunity that released in March that year.