Today, Feb. 18, Dipset mainstay Juelz Santana turns 36 years old.
Although he started his career as part the New York hip-hop group The Diplomats, Juelz Santana has held his own as a steady solo artist in hip-hop for years.
Born LaRon Louis James, Santana started rapping at a young age in his Harlem neighborhood. Juelz appeared on fellow Harlemite Cam'ron's album, S.D.E at the age 18 and subsequently signed with The Diplomats. Juelz has dropped appeared on two Diplomat albums as well as released two solo albums, 2003's From Me To U and 2005's What The Game's Been Missing. It was on What The Game's Been Missing that mainstream America was really introduced to Juelz style thanks to his highest charting solo single, "There It Go (The Whistle Song)." To date, Santana has collaborated with some hip-hop's biggest names from Chris Brown to Rick Ross and released his last mixtape, God Will'n, in 2013 and has been working on his third solo LP, Born to Lose, Built to Win. In 2016 and onward, Juelz made appearances on Love & Hip-Hop: New York. He will also be involved in a forthcoming Dipset documentary and EP.
Happy Birthday, Juelz!