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What the Game's Been Missing!

 
Album Review: What the Game's Been Missing!

  • Artist: Juelz Santana
  • Rating: StarStarStar
  • Release Date: November 22, 2005
  • Type: Contains explicit content
  • Genre: Rap

Review

Dipset member Juelz Santana took two years to release his sophomore album, but he was hardly absent from the scene. Plenty of proper Diplomats releases and twice as many mixtapes have flooded the hood since his debut, and his second solo release date caps off a year where the Dips practically owned half of MTV2's hip-hop programming. Rather than his lukewarm debut, all this Diplomats activity is responsible for the high anticipation What the Game's Been Missing! was graced with, but the album is surprisingly, firmly solo. Diplomats brother Cam'ron makes a big splash with his appearance on "Murda Murda" -- a track that cops the same Ini Kamoze sample as Damian Marley's massive "Welcome to Jamrock" -- but Juelz is responsible for the rest of the numerous highlights and opens the album with a touching, personal conversation between himself and his son. Of course, this is a Diplomats release, so it's only a matter of time before the poignancy of the intro is wiped away by "true tales from the street" that are irresponsible at best, despicable at their worst. There's plenty of redundancy too, but the good news is the Diplomats' stable of producers is at the top of its hook game, churning out memorable beats when it isn't ripping off the Ying Yang Twins. "There It Go (The Whistle Song)" is a thin and way-late attempt to capitalize on the success of "Wait (The Whisper Song)," but on the other hand, "Oh Yes" is a striking and exciting track that stutters a bit of the Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman" brilliantly. With a robotic beat and upright bass, the great "Clockwork" sounds like little else in the Dipset catalog, while the easy-flowing "Changes" is a lyrical high point for Santana as he reflects how different things are when you become a father. Contrasting these inspired, mostly personal tracks are the usual cocaine-moving numbers that suggest Santana's still involved in, or at least a fan of, dealing and pushing and the harsh reality that comes with it. "Lil' Boy Fresh" wastes its fresh production with tired hustle lyrics, and even Santana admits in the lyrics that "Gone" drags on and on. The spottiness and putting self-aware fatherhood numbers next to "thug and get paper" numbers are just further proof the Diplomats think track by track rather than album, but this hodgepodge gives Santana more of an identity than his debut did and with twice the hooks. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Intro LaRon James Juelz Santana (2:18)
Rumble Young Man Rumble (Lyrics) LaRon James Juelz Santana (2:34)
Oh Yes (Lyrics) B. Holland, G.C. Green, S. Thomas, LaRon James Juelz Santana (3:01)
Shottas L. Bob Moore, G.C. Green, S. Thomas, M. Collins, LaRon James Sizzla, Cam'ron, Juelz Santana (4:35)
Clockwork (Lyrics) LaRon James Juelz Santana (3:05)
Kill 'Em (Lyrics) LaRon James Juelz Santana (3:26)
This Is Me (Lyrics) LaRon James Juelz Santana (2:54)
Make It Work for You D.P. "Dad" Carter, LaRon James, J.L. Jenkins Lil Wayne, Juelz Santana, Young Jeezy (3:51)
Whatever You Wanna Call It LaRon James Juelz Santana, Hell Rell (4:10)
Gangsta Sh*t (Lyrics) LaRon James Juelz Santana (3:09)
Lil' Boy Fresh (Lyrics) LaRon James Juelz Santana (3:53)
Good Times (Lyrics) LaRon James Juelz Santana (3:29)
Freaky (Lyrics) LaRon James Juelz Santana (2:58)
Murda Murda LaRon James Cam'ron, Juelz Santana (4:04)
Gone (Lyrics) E.C. Scott, D. Alexander, LaRon James Juelz Santana (3:58)
Kid Is Back (Lyrics) B. Feldman, LaRon James Juelz Santana (2:46)
Changes (Lyrics) LaRon James Juelz Santana, Razah (3:51)
I Am Crack (Lyrics) LaRon James Juelz Santana (3:37)
There It Go (The Whistle Song) C. Young, LaRon James Juelz Santana (3:00)
Violence (Lyrics) G.C. Green, S. Thomas, LaRon James Juelz Santana, Junie Bezel (4:14)
Daddy (Lyrics) D. Warren, G.C. Green, S. Thomas, LaRon James Juelz Santana (4:08)
Mic Check (Lyrics) LaRon James Juelz Santana (2:56)

Credits

Cliff Carlisle (Producer), Mayhem (Producer), Mike T. (Engineer), Mike T. (Mixing), Joe Sherman (Management), Tony Dawsey (Mastering), Alli (Art Direction), Doug Joswick (Package Production), Monica Morrow (Stylist), Mark Gibbs (Guitar), Infamous (Producer), Clay Patrick McBridge (Photography), Dawud West (Art Direction), Dawud West (Design), Kris Yiengst (Art Coordinator), Kris Yiengst (Photo Coordination), Terrence Anderson (Producer), LVM (Producer), Lenny Mollings (Guitar), Dragan "Chach" Cacinovic (Mixing), Heatmakerz (Producer), Holly Ferguson (A&R), Amber Noble (Marketing), Shalik Berry (A&R), Jim Jones (Executive Producer), LaRon James (Executive Producer), Camron "Killa" Giles (Executive Producer), Rob Calaffa (Marketing), Sofia Castro (Vocals (Background)), Chaos & Order (Producer), Danny "D Roc" Collington (Keyboards), Doe Boys (Producer), Ebonikz (Producer), Stephanie Franco (Vocals (Background)), J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League (Producer), Jaquaye James (Vocals), Darren Joseph (Producer), Soul Sizzle (Producer), STREETRUNNER (Producer), STREETRUNNER (Drum Programming)
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Wikipedia: What the Game's Been Missing!
Top
What the Game's Been Missing!
Studio album by Juelz Santana
Released November 22, 2005 (U.S.)
Recorded 2004-2005
Genre Rap
Length 75:57
Label Diplomat / Def Jam Records
Producer Shoddy Aka Shottie, Terrence Anderson, Cliff Carlisle, Chaos & Order, Doe Boys, Ebonikz, Heatmakerz, Infamous, Darren Joseph, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, LVM, Mayhem, Soul Sizzle, STREETRUNNER, Develop
Professional reviews
Juelz Santana chronology
From Me to U
(2003)
What the Game's Been Missing!
(2005)
Born to Lose, Built to Win
(2009)

What the Game's Been Missing! is an album by rapper Juelz Santana. The album was released on November 22, 2005 on Diplomat Records and Def Jam Recordings. The album yielded the singles "Mic Check", "There It Go (The Whistle Song)", "Oh Yes" and "Clockwork".[1][2]

Contents

Concept

Development

In an interview with Hip Hop Canada, Juelz Santana remarked that his approach to the making of "what the games been missing" was different from others. what he really noted on was the amount of effort and work he was able to contribute to it, saying:

"I'm definitely going to say that I like this album the best mainly because I got to work on it and I got to grow with it. I took care of a lot of things on it and not to say that my other albums were not good, but I just got to put more work into the making of this one."

Originally 160 songs were recorded for the album [1], taking over a year to make. He described the process as "learning how to ride a bike." asserting to the fact that the basis of the album developed deeper into production. The album was also influenced by the 1994 film Fresh, In the song "Lil' Boy Fresh" he loosely summarizes the story from beginning to end.

Feature appearances

Regular collaborators include lablemates, such as Cam'ron who features on three songs, and Hell Rell who appears on one track.

Other prominent collaborators are Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy, whose performance on the Album is also disputed, since many feel that they did not add much lyrical weight to the album.

Lesser known artists are Bezel and Razah.

Track listing

  1. "Intro"
  2. "Rumble Young Man Rumble"
  3. "Oh Yes"
  4. "Shottas" (featuring Cam'ron and Sizzla)
  5. "Clockwork"
  6. "Kill 'Em" (featuring Cam'ron)
  7. "This Is Me"
  8. "Make It Work for You" (featuring Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne)
  9. "Whatever U Wanna Call It" (featuring Hell Rell)
  10. "Gangsta Shit"
  11. "Lil' Boy Fresh"
  12. "Good Times"
  13. "Freaky"
  14. "Murda Murda" (featuring Cam'ron)
  15. "Gone"
  16. "Kid Is Back" (featuring Ja'Quaye James)
  17. "Changes" (featuring Razah)
  18. "I Am Crack"
  19. "There It Go (The Whistle Song)"
  20. "Violence" (featuring Bezel)
  21. "Daddy"
  22. "Mic Check"

Chart performance

What the Game's Been Missing! peaked at #1 on both the Top Rap Albums and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts and #9 in the Billboard 200 chart according to Billboard.com. [2] As of June 2009 the album has sold over 790,000 copies.

Chart Position
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums # 1
Billboard 200 # 9

References

  1. ^ Juelz Santana official website @ defjam.com - Audio/Video
  2. ^ a b Billboard.com - Artist Chart History - Juelz Santana




 
 

 

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Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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