Juelz Santana Album: “From Me to U [Clean]”

Cam'Ron and the DipSet crew don't have the brightest lyrics. They typically tend to rhyme a word with itself, make bizarre analogies, and use similies to disgraceful measures; that is of course, if they rhyme at all. Juelz Santana however, seems to be slightly more lyrically sophisticated. While still basic, his rhymes consist more of actual rhyming and tell a story of progression. Most of these lyrics have a meaningful motive, although not always evident. In "One Day I Smile" Juelz speaks on the treacherous lifestyle of the projects, "follow me down this yellow brick road/ one-eight-seven, hello every ghetto zip code." Juelz also seems to be incredibly grateful throughout the record, which is refreshing, as is the simple style of few words, slow flow, in contrast to many rappers that try to fit in as much as possible, and the lyrics become overshadowed by beats.

The beats on From Me to U continue with the Diplomat style. Big bass, puch, thick samples, perfectly produced from the Heatmakerz. I can't get enough of these beats...they never get old...what can I say, I love them.

Every track on this album is good. Great beats, decent lyrics. Just make sure you can stand the style and ever-so-basic rhyming that is the Diplomats.

This album is bangin'. It's one of those albums you can let play through. Just get it.....

Still a very good album by Juelz. Front of the album and near the end gets kinda weak and there are a few fillers but most of the samples are tight. I wish they would leave the "skits" out of here. I don't think anyone likes them. Neither "My Love" or "Let's Go" did much for me a second time.

1. The Champ is here - 6/10

Even if you are a big dipset fan I would say your best bet is to cop this album used from here. Lately I've been feeling Santana so I had to cop this and got it pretty cheap. I think that if i copped this full price it may have been a bit of a letdown but Juelz still comes pretty nice on this album. If you are looking for the hard beats though I would say surf on over to Jimmy's "On My Way To Church". I was surprised to hear a lot of slower softer beats. So in the end Juelz brings his usual high tempo fire on some cruising beats and its all gravy. Highlights: Dipset (Santana's Town), Let's Go (killer use of Marvin Gaye sample), My Love (remix), Now What, and Wherever I Go.

Yo I like Juelz and the Dips. Diplomatic Immuntiy was a hot album, and if you liked that, you'll be diggin' this too. The production on this album is crazy which I've come to expect from the Dipset crew. Heatmakerz really blaze this album with their soulful, base dropping, sometimes choppy style. I really like those cats. Santanas flow takes some getting used to. Sometimes he just pulls words out of his ass to rhyme, and that isn't what makes a dope emcee. For the most part though, the way he flips words, and rocks to the beat will satisfy most. Overall this is a pretty good debut album from Juelz, and I can't wait for his next album. Peace