Juelz Santana goes in on Cam’Ron making like Houdini, finally releasing I Can’t Feel My Face with Lil Wayne, and winning over the haters, amongst other things—pause.  [Part 1 right here]AllHipHop.com: Speaking of family, you began your career as part of one of the most powerful movements in Hip-Hop, the Diplomats…Juelz Santana: I am the Diplomats movement. I ain’t parts of it I am it. AllHipHop.com: Well, to be fair, that’s the way it seems since you and Jim are the only ones still repping for the Dips.Juelz: That’s what I want all the fans to know, that’s what we’re doing. Bottom line is, there’s a thin line between loyalty and stupidity. N****s tried to make the situation work the best way possible. It just got to a point where I couldn’t. Like I told people, I got to a point where I got tired of being taken advantage of. I felt like I wasn’t getting my just due for the work I was putting in. It wasn’t like I was asking for back credit or back money which was there but that’s nothing to me. The whole point was about moving on and it just didn’t happen and not because of me. I been blessed to see all the things I’ve seen so early. I’m still young. But I want the fans to know what we’re doing. Like, what if we would’ve just sat back and waited for Cam to sit there and decided to do what he wanted to do? Nobody really even heard from Cam in a minute so where would we be? Then how would our Dipset fans be looking at us like, “Where y’all at?” I know what it is when you’re a fan and you’re used to seeing something so together. They forget about everything that comes with it and they just want to see you together. They don’t understand that it’s about more than that. They just like, “Yo, why we not seeing y’all together, where the f**k y’all at?” This n***a could’ve just slapped your mother but they just want to see us together. This s**t is life, this s**t is real. But you’re right, me and Jim been flying the bird. We in the sky, fly up or get flown over. We got to fly until whatever happens, happens. Cam’Ron f/ Juelz Santana “Hey Ma” VideoAllHipHop.com: How was it for you going through the situation of being signed to Cam’Ron’s label and not releasing any music while still trying to keep your fan base? Juelz: I’m glad you said that too because everybody been like, “Just as much as I’m a Diplomats fan…” like what about all the people I didn’t get to deliver music to, due to my situation? A lot of features I was on, a whole lot of songs couldn’t go through. Even people when they interview me now they say, “You were in that same lane that Wayne was in. You were right there.”  It wasn’t due to me, it was due to the situation. That’s what that was really about and it was kind of f**ked up. One good thing about me was that I had the type of resume, and I put in the type of ground work when I first came out [where] I wasn’t a n***a that was built on one record. I was good, my name is good out there. N****s is still expecting Juelz and wanting to know where I’ve been. I’m getting shows like I just put out an album. I’m on bills with n****s that just put albums out and I ain’t had an album out in a while. That’s thanks to the fans and that ground work. That’s the same ground work I’m trying to do with the Skull Gang. It’s not just one record. N****s want to have a following. Diplomats [Cam’Ron & Juelz Santana] “Dipset Anthem” VideoAllHipHop.com: Speaking of keeping fans waiting, people have been waiting for that I Can’t Feel My Face since it was mentioned. What’s your current relationship with Wayne and will that project ever see the light of day?   Juelz: That was another thing that was due to the politics. I didn’t get to be involved the way I needed to be involved or handle things a certain way. Now that I’m out of my deal I haven’t really inquired as much since I been out. I been worried about doing a lot of things with this Skull Gang project and Weezy has been on the road. But the good thing that I like to tell people is the album is done. We recorded all the records. I probably got like 40 records sitting on the computer right now. Once I can go in the office and really sit down and talk to him, which will probably be this weekend [BET Awards Weekend]. I haven’t seen him in a good minute. It’s been about a good month or month and a half but the relationship is still there. That’s my brother. The week he did a million…I think the day before. You usually know the day before what the numbers are pretty much. Even if the number’s 100,000 off. Like if they would’ve told him 900,000 and he did a million that was still crazy. But, to make a long story short, I sent him a record the night before that and he sent it back to me the next day, the day he did the million copies, ya dig what I’m saying? The love is still there. That’s pretty much going to come out once we go back in the office and start talking. I can talk for myself now, I can have my lawyers go in and speak for me on my behalf and not worry about people asking for things. I mean everybody got to compromise and sometimes you got somebody that’s not willing to compromise and make everything work. I just knew how big the album was going to be. To me it really wasn’t about the proceeds. That was just something I wanted to do for the fans. But when there’s labels involved everybody wants their cut. But now I’m going to holla at Wayne. When I seen him we’re going to have a long talk and we’re going to get it right. But it’s done though. The album is done, it’s still coming so look out for I Can’t Feel My Face, ya dig?AllHipHop.com: There is a noticeable difference between how Wayne was before he started hanging with the Dips and after. When people talk about his charisma and swag do you feel some of that is owed to the time he spent around you? Juelz: Nah. That’s my n****a. I don’t look at it like that because that’s like trying to say he took that from us. We were together. It’s love. I really don’t know how to explain that.

Juelz Santana & Lil Wayne “Get At These N****s”

AllHipHop.com: I’m not trying to start nothing but it’s clear he has a little sprinkle of Harlem to him. Juelz: Everybody should get a sprinkle of Harlem. Harlem is that place. I’m sure he wouldn’t even mind. Harlem is that place. I really don’t know how to explain it but its love. That’s my dude for real.AllHipHop.com: You’re a solo artist, a leader of a group, and an executive; how do you make everything work and keep it all going?  Juelz: Just taking everything that I’ve learned. I’ve been around some s**t, I been around a lot of people and I’ve seen a lot. I take everything I’ve learned and just try to be the right person. At the end of the day it’s not about me, it’s about knowing what’s right and what’s wrong. A lot of people just do s**t for their benefit. I’m trying to be a person about what’s right and what’s wrong. That’s what this whole thing is based on. Handling the business is definitely me. I’m becoming more of a businessman because I have to take these steps. I feel like I’ve learned so much being in this business that it’s not that hard for me to jump in these steps. Now it’s just about executing all the plans and getting s**t done the way I need it to get done. I know what these major labels are not doing for these new artists and why they’re not winning. Me coming in the game knowing the things I know is going to make my team stronger than these other dudes. All these dudes out there are just rushing to get signed and let the labels do everything. That’s not the way to do it because labels really don’t know what to do. They’re lost right now. They’re waiting on artists to do half the stuff and they just want to pick it up when the ball is rolling. A lot of artists don’t know that. One record ain’t the ball rolling. Nobody knows who you are with one record. People might hear it and be like, “Oh, who sings that record?” But once you really get outside your town, you know, really get out and start going places…I’m trying to brand us in the way I feel like it’s going to be the right way and it’s going to be monumental to the movement. I feel like people are going to be able to respect it. People are going to grow to love us. We’re going to transform n***s. N****s that don’t really f**k with us, I know how that goes. A n***a could not really f**k with you today, but you’ll do something they’ll like and they’ll f**k with you tomorrow. That’s all it’s about. We’re doing transformations. You got to respect a hustler. I know if I ain’t have no types of talent but I was hustling hard and busting my ass in the studio, even if I’m spitting some bulls**t, at least you’ll respect my grind. At least respect my grind. So I can’t knock a n***a grind but I will tell you your s**t wack. [laughs]

“I’m Dipset, Cam is Cam. Me and Cam couldn’t do business no more. Those are totally different things. I don’t want people to get that confused. Before I came along there was no Dipset. There was Cam’ron. That’s who you knew. Then that’s when we branded it; me, Jim, Zeke, we all are Dipset. Dipset is not just one person.”

Juelz Santana f/ Cam’Ron “Dipset (Santana’s Town)”AllHipHop.com: Coming from a powerful movement such as Dipset, do you feel any pressure to meet or surpass that success with Skull Gang?  Juelz: I always look to do better than what I’ve done, even for myself. It’s not really an expectation but a need to do better. I strive to be better. Everyday should be a better day and you should work to make better days than what you had before. You should always work on whatever you do going forward, not going backward. I want my Skull Gang to be, if anything, 10 times better than what Dipset was, but I still represent Dipset. This ain’t going nowhere from me. [points to Dipset tattoo on forearm] This is a part of me. AllHipHop.com: So there’s hope for another Diplomats album? Juelz: Hopefully. I don’t mind doing a Dipset album. I think the fans deserve a Dipset album. I’m always willing and now I’m in a position where I can do my business the way it needs to be done. I don’t mind doing a Diplomat album. I’m not the one who would hold that back. Whenever the situation presents itself I’m ready to rock out but right now, it’s a Skull Gang takeover. When you see me I represent Dipset. That ain’t going nowhere. Even though me and Cam couldn’t do business together it’s not like I left Dipset. I’m Dipset, Cam is Cam. Me and Cam couldn’t do business no more. Those are totally different things. I don’t want people to get that confused. Before I came along there was no Dipset. There was Cam’ron. That’s who you knew. Then that’s when we branded it; me, Jim, Zeke, we all are Dipset. Dipset is not just one person. AllHipHop.com: What’s good with your solo album? Juelz: My solo album is titled Born to Lose, Built to Win. I’m looking to drop that top of next year. My mixtape is going to be called The Reagan Era. I’m looking to drop that like the end of November or December. That’s the solo mixtape. It’s crazy. That’s for all the fans, all my people. A lot of people heard Skull Gang and they were like where’s your mixtape? I’m like this is my mixtape. I need for people to know that these are not just artists I’m pushing. It’s the same thing when you hear 50 on a G-Unit mixtape. When he was giving you that it wasn’t a 50 mixtape and a G-Unit mixtape. That was all one and that’s what I’m trying to let people know. This is my movement and this is who I’m moving with, we front lining. The reason for The Regan Era is I know they been waiting for that too. And plus I had a lot of music that’s been done for that particular event that I’m just going to release out. Skull Gang will be featured on the mixtape heavy. It’s all about branding the movement then carrying on to that Born to Lose, Built to Win. They want to do the Skull Gang album in December. I’m still in negotiations with them. The mixtape is doing so well so I need to figure out a couple things but we’re going to be promoting that heavy so be on the look out for that Skull Gang album whether it does come before my album or after my album. Definitely look out for that Skull Gang album because we’re on n****s ass real heavy right now. Juelz Santana “Clockwork” VideoAllHipHop.com: Just to be clear, was the situation in London resolved?  Juelz: Ain’t nothing changed man. People use the Internet for attention. I never been a person to feed into what people do on the Internet. I know n****s is fake. Half that s**t is fake. N****s ain’t doing nothing, nothing’s going on. When it was time to deal with the situation in London, we dealt with our situation. Bottom line. N****s just get on the Internet and talk. When we see them it’s never anything. They just talk because they got mouths sometimes. The cameras have n****s going crazy but I never really entertained that part. Shout out to my dudes in London. I can’t wait to go back out there and really get to do my first show the proper way without all the bulls**t that was involved. AllHipHop.com: As you prepare to march forward to build this new movement of yours I know you must have a vision of where you want to see it end?  Juelz: I think we’re going to be sitting here the same way. The only difference is we’re going to be sitting here eating lobsters and s**t but it’s going to be the same type of love. Hopefully we’ll have just as many solo albums as we do Skull Gang albums. The energy will just carry on. S**t I want to see Skull Gang-Kids. I want this s**t to be like a cult. The energy is good. Everybody is learning more and more as the days go by. Just as much as it is about learning each other, it’s about learning the game. I can’t do everything, he can’t do everything, nobody in here can do everything. But all of us can do enough to where it adds up to everything. Like when you ask about us doing it bigger than the Dips, we plan on doing it bigger than everybody. We plan on doing it bigger than anybody whose ever done it. We got the chance to so why not? Only we can stop what we can do. Other than that, sky’s the limit.

There is no need to fear Freddie Foxxx. The MCs rep as an individual not to be crossed is legit, but don’t let the sizeable stature, gruff rhymes and machismo make you neglect the fact that he places a premium on loyalty, possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of Hip-Hop and sports a keen intellect. Also known as Bumpy Knuckles, he recently released Crazy Like a Foxxx, a previously shelved album from 1994 which includes his collaboration with Tupac Shakur [“Killa”], on Fat Beats Records. Bumpy is still tweaking Amerikkan Blackman, the final album in the trilogy started with 2000’s Industry Shakedown and 2003’s The Konexion. “I got all the material, now I gotta build a building,” says Foxxx who cites a murderers row of production contributors [DJ Scratch, Clark Kent, Alchemist, Kev Brown, Pete Rock, et. al] to the album. Amerikkan Blackman won’t appear until 2009, so for now, as part of AllHipHop’s inaugural “Tracking Shots” column, we played Bumpy some records—strictly vinyl—and asked him to comment. History lesson starts now. The Flavor Unit “Roll Wit Tha Flava” Flavor Unit/EpicAllHipHop.com: How did you connect with Queen Latifah’s Flavor Unit?Freddie Foxxx: When I did “Hot Potato” with Naughty By Nature it kinda put me on a platform. I was getting a lot of comments—especially from Shakim [Compere]—telling me he was playing “Hot Potato” for a lot of people and they kept talking about my verses on there and how strong they were and how they matched with Treach real good. Lyrically Treach was top of the pile; no one was really messing with Treach lyrically and when I did the song with him they saw that there was a good match there. So that’s what got me the deal actually.AllHipHop.com: How did you get Naughty by Nature’s song in the first place?Freddie Foxxx: Nikki D had a party, she was like the first female signed to Def Jam or something like that and I was at that party and I think it was an argument between LL Coo J and Bonz Malone, if I’m not mistaken. I believe LL either punched him in the face or swung on him or something.I think either Bonz was saying that certain cats wasn’t Hip-Hop and I think LL was offended because he was like, Who are you to say who’s Hip-Hop and who’s not? I caught the tail end of the argument. All I know is LL was p##### off at him and his people started gathering around. So I kind of see these dudes coming up the steps like real cruddy looking, grimy looking dudes and it was Treach and his boys and I was by myself with that trusty knapsack I used to keep with me you know, and we caught eye contact. I thought it was gonna be a problem at first but you know his look and my look kinda look alike if you was an outsider looking in, it looked like we was about to get it in on each other like hard body beefin’ but it was actually him acknowledging me and I was kinda standoffish and when I saw the acknowledgment I just nodded back. I didn’t even know he knew who I was. He walked past me said, “What up”, I said “What up”, and next time I seen’em it was in the city and he had asked me to do the record.AllHipHop.com: So on Flavor Unit was the intention of having an album come out and it just didn’t?Freddie Foxxx: Yeah. It was the intention was for me to do an album. At the time this is before people was wearing all that crazy fancy jewelry and people had like a real down to earth outlook on Hip-Hop. Just raw emceeing and I wanted to bring a sound that I didn’t think they had which was like a dark underground boom, bap kind of sound and that was my intention – to bring that sound to their label.Zapp “More Bounce to the Ounce”More Bounce to the Ounce – ZappAllHipHop.com: This joint has always been crazy and sampled like mad. It also reminds you of stuff going on today…Freddie Foxxx:

This “More Bounce to the Ounce” record nobody used it better than EPMD [“You Gots To Chill”],

they ID’d that record. When Hip-Hop started and people were rapping to

records I remember the sound sounded like a lot of live

instrumentation. These are not samples in this record, these are live

instruments; when you listen back to Hip-Hop in its original form,

Kurtis Blows, and Funky Fours Plus One Mores which was before that, the

Jazzy Five MCs, and the Fantastic Romantic 5 all those artists. When

I was a little kid I listened to them songs and I heard live

instrumentation. That right there, even though EPMD sampled it, it gave

me a feel of the reason it was so good sounding to me was because of

the way it sounded for them to be rhyming over live instrumentation.

Nowadays people chop stuff up and filter it so crazy you don’t get the

joy of hearing the baseline, or if [it’s] somebody’s voice do [Auto-Tune].That right there is influencing now what you hear

through Lil Wayne and Kanye and T-Pain. People giving T-Pain credit for

something that Roger Troutman been doing for a long time. I can’t knock

T-Pain for doing what he do because he does a good job at what he does

but there’s just so much that you can do with that. The original

Talk Box I think he put a tube in your mouth if I’m not mistaken, the

original one, it’s a little square box with a button on it and it’s a

tube that you put in the corner of your mouth. Stevie Wonder used it and

all those guys. I remember seeing Roger Troutman at a hotel 

in the Regal Royal hotel, what used to be the Regal Royal Hotel, and I

had bought a Talk Box years ago and I asked him. I said, “Yo Rog, I like

your work, “ he said, “Thank you young fellow, thank you.” So I said,

“I got a Talk Box and I want to know if you can teach me or tell me how

to use it,” and he said, “the best advice that I can give you…,” and he

paused for a second, he gave me his card and said, “Hire me!” [laughs] Gang Starr “Credit Is Due” EMI/ChrysalisCredit Is Due – Gang StarrAllHipHop.com: I played that  obviously cause it’s Premo track. You two have worked together plenty, how did y’all meet?Freddie Foxxx: I saw these videos of Gang Starr and it was amazing to me to see. The one thing was Guru’s voice, that monotone kind of, you don’t know if it was nasally, his voice had a real unique sound to it. Rakim’s influence I saw in Guru, you know? I also noticed that the music beds that he was rapping over just had a whole different feel to what everybody else was doing and I always wanted to meet Premier. So I was coming out of MCA Records one day and I saw Premier crossing the street and we was crossing at the same corner and he was like, “Yo I respect you man, I respect you.”AllHipHop.com: So he already knew who you were?Freddie Foxxx: Yeah. I was like, “Yo dawg I always wanted to meet you,” so we exchanged numbers, we talked and that was when he called me and asked me to do “The Militia” and I was like definitely. You know what that was even before that, he asked me to do O.C’s record. He asked me to do “M.U.G” [O.C.s Jewelz] that was it. When he asked me to do those records that was when I first met him, so we had a conversation about Hip-Hop and where we came from, who we knew, just a regular basic conversation and it turned into I was getting calls from him on the constant just to do things for him. By the time I got to do “The Militia” with him I didn’t realize it but we actually toured a long time off that one project. We became friends based on the fact that we would get in the studio, he would just play beats and it would be a bunch of us, M.O.P., Show & AG would be in their sometimes different cats that he hung with. We’d all be in the studio and people would just be listening to these records and I’d be like, “Yo I wanna jump on that.” So we’d just write a bunch of rhymes. Premier was like, “I want this person,” and very tedious and meticulous with his work. He’s not just a regular dude who’ll go in slash something together. Premier goes in with a plan and he’s one of the first producers outside of Pete Rock,  that really produced a record for me. He was one of those first cats to be like, “Bump, do the vocal again either say it harder, or don’t say it that hard.” He was really critiquing what I laid down when most cats was afraid to direct me as a producer. They usually just give me the beat and let me do what I want, Premier was like, “Yo go back let’s do it from this point.” Certain cadences in my voice Premier would say, “Yo that’s what I want to hear from you.” I would follow his lead because he’s just a great producer, he’s an amazing producer.Ghostface Killah “The Watch” Razor Sharp/EpicThe Watch – Ghostface KillahAllHipHop.com: Ghost Deini. Obviously I played this because one your most infamous lines from Industry Shakedown was when you said Ghostface was saving the Wu. Freddie Foxxx: You know what, every time I hear Ghostface record I smile. I don’t care what record he do. I don’t think there’s no rapper that ever touched a mic with the swagger of a Ghostface Killah, like he is the definition of swagger to me because he’s always out the box, you know what I mean, and to me when you know you a star you show it in ways that most people will look at as arrogance or look at as cocky but Ghostface is the king of swagger. He’s a stylish dude, I like the fact that his pen can go in any direction at any given point you know. He’s actually coined a lot of phrases that people use, he got a lot of style, and every time I ever hear his records, I rock his joints all the time. He’s just so hood with it, he epitomizes MCs are really supposed to be. He got all the different sides, he got the gangsta side, he got the smooth side, he got the playa pimp mack side but he puts it all in a big old pile like a big chocolate strawberry kiwi sundae. And he’ll say some s**t like that. AllHipHop.com: During Industry Shakedown, when you dropped that record, was there ever any hesitation on your part or were people near you saying, “Bump I don’t know if they ready for this?”Freddie Foxxx: I didn’t really care about that. I was more concerned about getting my point across. It’s just like being in a fight. If I’m in a fight I don’t worry about what my enemy gonna do to me. I’m more focused about what I’m gonna do to my enemy to win so when I did Industry Shakedown my point was to give people my opinion. That’s what I was raised in Hip-Hop to learn how to do. When you get the mic if you aint gonna say nothing relevant or credible then shut up. But I had to make sure I let people know how I felt about the fact that there’s people out here who pretend to be more than they really are, or there’s MCs out here who people are giving props to that really don’t deserve their props. I was a battle mc when I started out so I made records in that kind of context. But I don’t worry about what people think about what I had to say or not, ‘cause I wasn’t in the rap business to be brownnosing people and kissing a**. I was in the game to make my lane and the doors that I knocked on if they didn’t open them I kicked’em down. Eric B. & Rakim “I Ain’t No Joke” 4th & BroadwayAllHipHop.com: The story has been told that Eric B. was telling Marley Marl, I got this rapper, I got this rapper, Freddi Foxxx and you weresupposed to come through and you didn’t make it and that’s how Rakim ended up working with Marley. True story?Freddie Foxxx: Yeah, I think Eric told that story to AllHipHop. He told a few people a few times. You know the funny thing is when I told the story everybody said I was not telling the truth, like I just wake up in the morning and wanna tell a lie or something. But I didn’t get mad about it ‘cause I knew there was other people out there who knew what the true story was. And when Eric told it, no one ever called me to say, “Yo dawg you was actually telling the truth or we believe you now.” And that’s didn’t matter to me, I know what it is, Eric knows what it is and if Rakim didn’t know what it is that don’t even phase me or bother me at all. [Rakim] definitely made his mark in this game and Rakim actually changed people’s approach to emceeing when he came out, ‘cause everybody was on top of the beat like 8th note, [sings, “I said a hip hop, hippie to the hippie, the hip, hip a hop, and you don’t stop the party people in the place just clap your hands”] and they was doing that. When Rakim came out all of that switched. You know me, I say what it is, the first rapper that I heard bite his style was Spoonie G who was already a legend in the game, he switched his whole rhyme style up and if you go back and listen to Spoonie G records he got a record, I cant remember the name of this record man it was on a cover with a blue label and he was rhyming like Rakim and I thought that was crazy. Rakim got Spoonie G rhyming like him now and then after he did it then King Sun and everybody else started using Rakim’s flow and I said that’s pretty impressive.I remember the excitement when Rakim and Eric dropped that record, the excitement that was going on in Long Island in that hood there was excitement about that record. There was excitement in East Elmhurst, Queens about Eric ‘cause that’s that hood he was from and the excitement to see they had made this record and it was a good look.AllHipHop.com:  Now I heard that the issue you had with Rakim is squashed? Is that correct?Freddie Foxxx: You know what, it wasn’t formally. Me and him ain’t talk about it or nothing like that, I just let it go because it wasn’t really that serious. My issue with him was based on the fact he’s never a dude who would make a phone call to me and say, “Yo man somebody said this, what is it Fox, is that real or they lying?” Instead he would automatically assume that I did something to maybe violate his name or something to that effect. But he know me better than that. If somebody said something like Rakim said this about you, I wouldn’t just lash out but somebody showed me an interview he did, they played the audio in the interview he did and I’m like this dude is buggin’ man and I’ve never been a cat to kind of cower down to people. He ain’t no different than no one else to me. The fans may see it one way but I see it, if he want it, anybody can get it. Like if we emceeing it’s all good, whatever, it don’t matter how dope you are, how dope you think you are, we making records I stay working, so I don’t need no props off of Rakim. People say, “Oh I’m active in my own zone,” so I can’t get props off of somebody who ain’t been hot in a minute. He never said nothing back about it and you know I let it go, I ain’t got no problems with him.