It’s almost like hip-hop fans don’t want to believe the rumors but it looks like we will have to accept the fact that we will never see Dipset again, at least not how they were. The rumor mill has been churning for the last year and change about everything from beef between Jim Jones and Cam'ron , to beef between Juelz Santana and Cam, to the rumors that Dipset no longer exists period.

There’s also the fact that Cam has been missing in action for a long time. A couple of weeks ag,o word leaked that Juelz Santana would be cutting all business ties with Cam’ron and remaining with Def Jam. The truth is, the chances of Juelz Santana getting lost in the Dipset shuffle were slim because as far s the “new school” of MC’s go he is one of the brightest in the bunch.

Not to mention he has proved himself to be a marketable artist and has a platinum plaque. Juelz is an original talent whose style can be compared to no one’s and now that his business is straight who knows what the future will hold? Sixshot.com’s Jon Michael was able to sit down with the usually tight lipped Juelz Santana to discuss everything from his business split from Cam as well as their pe rsonal relationship, the future of Dipset, the rise of the Skull Gang, his collaboration album with Lil Wayne, and of course, his highly anticipated third album. 

Sixshot.Com: All right Juelz, let me get right to it here. What’s been the hold up on your new album?

Juelz Santana: This is actually gonna be my third album. What The Game’s Been Missing was my second. This album coming up is gonna be my second real big success. If you wasn’t really a hardcore fan of Juelz Santana you might not know that, you know what I mean? What’s been the hold up as far as a new album? The word went out a couple of weeks ago that Cam and me are no longer doin’ the business thing together. I was in a bad position when I came in the game and the business just wasn’t right. There were just a whole lot of things that were going on and that’s why there were a lot of features that I wasn’t on and all that. There were a lot of things I couldn’t do because they were out of my control.

I wasn’t really reaping the benefits that I feel like I deserved. It made no sense for me to put out an album for nothing. I’m not gonna say nothing though because it would have been for the fans. They’re the reason why I do music. This is my grind. This is my hustle. This is how I eat so I had to get everything right with my business to make sure that when I drop the album things are correct. I’m gonna be bigger than ever. The build up is crazy. It’s just gonna be a crazy situation. My natural born talent is crazier. My team is insane. I’m movin’ on niggas right now.

Sixshot.Com: Okay so they changed up your situation at Def Jam. Is it much better now?

Juelz Santana: Yeah we changed up the deal at Def Jam. The situation is a hundred times better. I would never go backwards. I am my own boss. I have my own label situation and my own movement. It’s a 50/50 situation. It’s the deal I would have done with Cam. Now Cam got a certain amount of money and we ain’t really doin’ business together anymore. Right now it’s just Def Jam and me. I got that 50/50 deal and I’m one of the only cats up there with that. It’s definitely a hundred times better. I came from just being an artist.

Sixshot.Com: Is it a lot different for you working on this project without Cam being involved?

Juelz Santana: I would say yes in a sense but no in a sense. As far as the music goes and I don’t mean any disrespect but we all carried our own weight as you can see. I could make an album by myself. If there was a track that Cam had that I would jump on or he would jump on one of mine that was cool ,but we all carried our own weight. Cam hasn’t spoken to anybody in a long time. Me, Jim, and Zeke are still gonna go out and do the things we do.

In a lot of cases if the head dude wasn’t moving then it would be like nobody is moving. We all do our thing individually so making an album is no problem. As far as business wise it may be a little different because I would ask Cam advice on this or ask him “what’s up with that?”, whatever the case may be. I can just go to L.A. Reid now on my own, you know? It’s all part of being a businessman. The music is better than ever. Like I said I got a natural born talent.

Sixshot.Com: So is the personal friendship with you and Cam over as well?

Juelz Santana: I mean I don’t really wanna get into all that shit because personal is personal and this ain’t personal, you know what I’m sayin’? That’s just not the type of nigga I am. As far as that personal shit I’d rather not get into it. I would never say anything bad about Cam because he gave me an opportunity. I’m good at what I do and my music speaks for itself so I don’t need to get into that too much but what’s in the dark is always gonna come to the light. I don’t need to expose anybody that’s pretty much exposing themselves. Everybody knows I was always loyal and now I’m just gonna keep doin’ what I gotta do.

Sixshot.Com: No doubt man, so what’s going on with the Skull Gang?

Juelz Santana: Yeah Skull Gang is the movement but it’s Dipset all day. I fly the bird man and hopefully ya’ll will get a Dipset album with Zeke, Jim, and me. I guess we gotta straighten that out with Cam when we finally speak to him but as far as Skull Gang, you know everybody got their own little individual crews that they fuck with individually and all that. Jim got the Byrd Gang. They dropped the album so shout out to all of them. Skull Gang consist of an R&B artist named Star, she’s real good. We got my man John Dep from Queens. We got my man Unkasa from Harlem and I got my man Deniro form North Carolina.

I want to take the Skull Gang and make it how Dipset was as far as that cult following but I know that times are different and that means you gotta do things in a different way. I want this to be a movement that people will fuck with forever. A lot of crews come from one spot though like how Dipset was Harlem and G-Unit was Queens. I’m doing it a little differently because I got cats from all over the place. The sound is just gonna be different, you dig what I’m sayin’? It’s gonna be more like a Bad Boy thing, you dig what I’m sayin’? It’s gonna be a big movement.

Sixshot.Com: Juelz, what’s the status of the collaboration album with you and Lil Wayne?

Juelz Santana: Yeah I actually ain’t spoken to Wayne in a minute because we real busy. Wayne is on a roll and he’s killin’ it right now so congratulation to Wayne. As far as the album goes, the songs are done but you know it had to do with the business I was talking about before as the reason why it’s not out. I just got out of my deal maybe two weeks ago, you know what I’m sayin’? It’s not like we gotta jump in and make a bunch of songs because the music is done. We just gotta figure out how we’re gonna put it out. I heard Wayne saying he’s doing an album with T-Pain so I don’t know. That album don’t even need any promotion. We could just put it out there and it’ll do what it do. We just gotta figure out which label is gonna get it. It’s ready to go. It’s sitting in that computer.

Sixshot.Com: All right Juelz tell us what you have coming up that we can look out for.

Juelz Santana: The Skull Gang mixtape is droppin’ on September 11th. At least 10 songs off the mixtape are gonna have videos and we’re gonna put them up on the internet. We got all kinds of marketing plans. I did a lot of commercials for the project, which nobody really did before and ya’ll will be seeing that soon. I got a mixtape comin’ out after that and I’m just beatin’ them up from there. You’ll probably get another Skull Gang mixtape and maybe another mixtape from me and the Juelz Santana album next year. I’m doin’ everything I gotta do right now that I couldn’t do before because I was held back. I’m here, I’m back, and they know what’s up. We gonna get this recession out of here so niggas can make money again and be happy again.