S. Samuel
Skull Gang leader Juelz Santana recently spoke on the lessons he learned as a contracted artist via Cam'ron and how Busta Rhymes inspired him.
While keeping details brief, Juelz weighed in on the outlook for his new rap group.
“Busta came and hollered at me [after my contract was sold to Def Jam] and [encouraged] me to keep my head up,” Juelz said in an interview. “He’s inspiring because he’s got a lot of energy and has lasted in the game for so long…As far as my artists go, I’ll definitely be more [open] with communication by respecting other people’s decisions and by not acting like I’m better than others. I’m not gonna be afraid to see them shine. I’m willing to sit down and negotiate with them when the time is right. I want them to feel comfortable…I treat every project like it’s my project. Right now people are asking for my project but I’m doing every thing that I can to promote them. They know that I’m not the type of guy who would hold them back because of selfish reasons.” (Rolling Out)
Santana’s self-titled Skull Gang official mixtape got off to a slow start this week.
Juelz Santana’s Skull Gang self-titled debut got off to a shaky start landing at No. 142. After its first seven days in stores, the E1 (formerly Koch Records) release sold 4,200 copies. (Sales Wrap)
The rapper has supported his artists in various interviews.
“I just brought together talented artists, people that I felt like were the future of music,” Santana said in an interview earlier this year. “People I knew could go into the studio and create, make a song by themselves whether I was there or not there, they wouldn’t have to be brought a big record with somebody on the hook. They all can make songs just as much as they can sit here and rap…Everybody got they own story, they own book they about to write in this game.” (YouTube)
Santana previously spoke with SOHH about Skull Gang’s music-making skills as seen on their 2008 Takeover mixtape.
“Our mixtape is like an album,” he said. “We did over like 750,000 downloads the first week. So I want to thank everybody who been supporting us. As far as music it’s a hostile takeover. I’m putting up videos. I’m doing a video for every song on the mixtape. Even songs that we just playing with we just shooting videos for. We just doing it man; giving people what they need. (SOHH)
[For more on your favorite rappers from the Big Apple peep SOHH NYC]
