In the wake of a recent incident in their hometown of London, rap duo S.A.S. is severing ties with Juelz Santana, effectively ending their professional relationship with the Dip Set, which they left a year ago.
According to the group member Mayhem, the decision came after Juelz made statements on camera that implied that his former labelmates in the U.K. did not intervene on his behalf during a verbal confrontation with a British promoter last week, over a scheduled appearance that never took place.
While Juelz maintained in a recent statement that he was unaware of any unfulfilled London appearances, S.A.S. states that they advised him of an escalating situation in the UK as early as the winter 2006.
“Shortly after we returned to the U.S., we got into a verbal and almost physical dispute with Juelz’ ex-manager Big Joe over money he [allegedly] stole from guys in our city,” Mayhem explained in an exclusive statement to AllHipHop.com. “Only then were the two shows and the £70,000 confiscated by Big Joe brought to Juelz’ attention and he was angry that he didn’t know about it. But no one got the money back or tried to contact the promoters in the U.K. but us, with no call back.”
As previously reported, the situation escalated on August 31, the day before Juelz was to close a two-week European tour in Wolverhampton, about two hours north of London.
S.A.S., who had performed with Juelz throughout the tour with stops in Amsterdam, Switzerland, Sweden and Norway, had not been booked for the last night, but met with Juelz at his hotel on the night in question.
“As we were upstairs, I get a call saying that the promoters are downstairs in the lobby and they have 30-40 people surrounding the hotel,” Mayhem told AllHipHop.com. “So being it is our city, Mega and I went down by ourselves to settle and hopefully resolve the situation. The promoters were livid, saying they didn’t wanna talk to us, only the Americans. I told them Juelz had no prior knowledge and that [the person with whom they had negotiated] wasn’t his manager anymore, but all they wanted was to all come up in Juelz room and get the [money] back.”
Following that exchange, Mayhem and Mega were able to convince the promoter to discuss the situation with a Dipset representative in private.
However, the two were unable to come to an agreement, and the promoter left irate.
Throughout the commotion, which culminated in hotel security calling the police, and Juelz being escorted out with his entourage several hours later, Mayhem says that he and his brother attempted to remain involved and provide any assistance necessary.
The last communication he had with Juelz and his camp was as the Skull Gang leader was leaving the hotel, when his brother Twin told that the situation “was getting sorted out.”
Juelz and his crew were then lead by a police convoy to another property, leaving S.A.S. at the site of the altercation.
“We didn’t hear anything from Juelz again till we seen the recent footage,” Mayhem added. “I don’t know what happened after he left [be]cause we didn’t know where he went in the first place. But any misunderstanding could have been handled on the phone. We’ve known him for five years, lived in his house, and know his mother very well, so we didn’t understand the subliminals on the footage.”
S.A.S. was introduced to most American audiences in 2004, when they were signed to Roc-A-Fella Records and made honorary members of the Dipset crew.
Sighting a lack of support following the break-up of the Roc-A-Fella roster, S.A.S. has spent the last two years branding their London-based imprint, Eurogang.