Juelz Santana On New York’s Void, “It Is What It Is” [Video]

Written By S. Samuel

Dipset's Juelz Santana recently shared his input on the state of New York rap and why he is grateful to still be considered relevant in hip-hop's ever-changing climate.

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Opting out of addressing the overall state of New York rap, Santana stressed his ability to maintain his buzz since hitting the music scene in the early 2000’s.

“I feel like I possess a lot of qualities, man,” Santana said in an interview when asked about New York having a void. “From the swag to just being a lyricist to be handsome to being official. Like, you know, I done that. For real. It is what it is. I’m just happy I’m able to last as long as I’ve lasted and still be a person that generates interest from people. People still wanna see me. People still wanna hear what’s going on. I appreciate it and, you know, I’m coming. Get ready.” (Real Hip Hop Daily)

Around mid-August, Brooklyn rapper Fabolous said a lot of New York hip-hop artists became too comfortable with creating music with a local appeal rather than mass market anthems.

“I think it gotta step up and be competitive again,” Fab said when asked what can bring New York rap back. “I think New York got into a place where it was almost an arrogant feeling where they were doing stuff and they were always going to get the play and people are always going to know them. The time came where other people started making good music and relatable music. One thing I’ve noticed from traveling for ten years of my career is that a lot of places relate more than to New York City because New York is such a city-city. It’s so fast — it’s different feels, different environments, different things around you and I come from New York. So me going other places, just doing music, it showed me how Cleveland is relatable to Chicago and Chicago is relatable to Houston. They have different little parts about them that make them different but they’re more relatable to each other than they are to New York. It kind of isolated New York a little bit and I think they have gotten isolated musically too. They just want to make music for them instead of making music for the masses.” (Nitecap)

A few weeks ago, fellow Brooklyn rapper Maino also said New York artists have to make music which appeals to other regions.

“Since I came on the scene, which would be like 2008, everybody’s been asking me, ‘What’s the state of New York hip-hop,’ but if you’re actually paying attention to New York hip-hop, there’s actually a lot going on,” Maino explained in an interview with DJ Skee. “It’s just that we haven’t been able to connect with the rest of the country all the time. It’s a lot of great music out there. There’s dudes like Lloyd Banks, you got Jim Jones, you got Fabolous, you got a lot of artists connecting but we got to get back into the habit of making music broad and music that not only New York can vibe to but the West Coast and the South.” (Skee Sports)

In July, The LOX’s Jadakiss credited artists like Maino and Jay-Z for keeping the Big Apple fresh.

“I feel New York is doing d*mn good,” Kiss said in an interview. “You still got me here, [Styles P], Sheek Louch, Fab, Uncle Murda, Maino, Joell Ortiz, Nas, Hov, you know. New cats, Fred the Godson, we good. We’ll be all right. Don’t worry about New York at all. We’re gonna be around. When the trumpets blow, we’re still gonna be here. For real.” (“Femme Fatale Mixshow”)

Check out Juelz Santana’s interview below:

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Written by S. Samuel

Steven Samuel is the co-founder of SOHH.com.

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