Sunday, February 28, 2010

Are Hip Hop debut albums critically the best albums in music?

What makes a debut in hip hop such a classic in music? In my opinion this is when the struggles of a young MC at the start of his career are raw and uncut. A hip hop artist at the beginning of his career has so much of their life story to be told. This artist hasn't tasted the riches they will receive from a successful debut and they still have the hunger inside. Kanye West's College Dropout, Notorious Big Ready to Die, Nas Illmatic, Jay-Z Reasonable Doubt, The Roots Things Fall apart and etc. These are just a few of the great debuts that have inspired all fans of music.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010




















photo credit: Ryandombal
















photo credit: James.silver24,

2010: Lil Wayne going to prison and Juelz is back

2007, Lil Wayne was charged with criminal possession of a weapon. That didn't slow him down, his Tha Carter 3 sold 1 million albums in the first week and he brought home some grammys. However his reckless behavior has finally caught up with him. He has a 1 year jail sentence at Rikers Island due March 2nd 2010. Symbolically he lost a apart of himself when he was ordered by the judge to go through an eight root canal dental surgery to take out his grill. On the other hand during his sentence, Santana is slated to release his upcoming album spring 2010. Maybe the fortunes have changed between this odd duo.

Weezy's Rise Santana's Fall

Finally in 2005, Lil Wayne became the superstar that he is today. The critically acclaimed album, Tha Carter II sold, 238,000 copies in its first week of release, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and went on to sell 2,000,000 copies world wide. Shortly after, that Lil Wayne was named president of Cash Money records and then founded the label Young Money entertainment. The future looked bright for Lil Wayne and he took full advantage of it.

After 2005, Juelz Santa strengthened his partnership with Lil Wayne. Santana began working with Lil Wayne on a collaboration album I Can't Feel My Face. By 2007 the album's production was completed, but contractual issues delayed the album's release. These issues also kept him from releasing a solo album. Santana was forced into a four year hiatus while Lil Wayne got involved with every artist on the face of the earth. On top of that Lil Wayne also kept his name in the spotlight by putting out mixtape after mixtape while Juelz dealt with his legal issues.

Lil Wayne vs. Juelz Santana pt.2

At age 16, Wayne launched his solo career with the release of 'Lil Wayne: Tha Block Is Hot' in 1999. This was followed by 'Lights Out' in 2000 and '500 Degreez' in 2002. These albums garnered moderate success. In 2004, Lil Wayne released 'Tha Carter'. This album was marked as a personal milestone as he claimed to have finally perfected his trade. He is famously known not to write any lyrics but takes on every song as a freestyle. It was also 'Tha Carter' that finally earned Lil Wayne mass notability outside the south as a lyricist.

His counterpart Juelz Santana released his debut album From Me to U in 2003. Unfortunately this album failed to take him out of at that time the large background of the stylish MC Cam'ron. In the process of making his album What the Game's Been Missing, originally 160 songs were recorded over a year. Thankfully the project slimmed down a bit and the album was certified gold. The album also peaked to #1 on the Top r&b/hip hop charts in 2005. By that point Juelz had set the launching pad to world success. The difficulty for him was just getting on.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Two Stars Of Hip Hop: Lil Wayne Vs Juelz Santana: One shot to the Sky and one fell from grace

In 2005, two stars were aligned to take over the music world. Lil Wayne and Juelz Santana gained early success as young artists for the their own record labels. Lil Wayne moved through cash money ranks as the youngest member of the the late 90s group, the Hot Boyz and then onto his solo career. Right from the get go, Juelz Santana was featured on one of the biggest hip hop songs of the new millenium, Cam'ron's 2002 hit Oh Boy.