While on hiatus Harlem Diplomat Juelz Santana caught the entrepreneurial fever which has led him to embark on numerous projects. One of his new ventures is his record label Skull Gang Records named after his new crew Skull Gang. In hopes of introducing the Skull Gang comes the latest mixtape, Skull Gang Takeover (The New Movement To Move Wit).
The tape is the Gang’s proper “Hello” to the game despite some minor but evident flaws. The fumbles don’t totally sabotage the project, but one would think in a group with eight members someone might have caught the slip-ups.
On the track titled “Aggy” Juelz, UnKasa and Richmond Rabb go hard as they introduce the public to yet another word for the Hip-Hop dictionary over a western-like guitar play looped by an intense trumpet. “Aggy” is used to describe the feeling the haters get when they see the Gang coming down the block; “aggy” or aggravated.
In an attempt to give everyone some shine Juelz sprinkled all of the acts equally over the tape, mixing the two styles of R&B and Rap on some tracks, which didn’t always give impressive results. On “Touch Me, Tease Me,” which basically uses the same beat and melody as the 1996 hit single of the same title by Case, their R&B songstress Starr is heard a bit off-key singing a triple X version of the chorus as Juelz and the rest attempt to rescue the track with passable verses.
On the cheesy “You Gotta Give Me Some,” Queens Native John Depp gets his tiresome T-Pain on, which is another cause for most of the sabotaging on the entire project. Tracks to lookout for include “B4,” the remake of Rick Ross’s “Here I Am” re-titled “Here We Are” and “Problems” which features none other than Weezy F. Baby at the end.
Aside from a number of slight defects, the Take Over mixtape does put forward a decent effort. Some tracks may get under your skin, but it wouldn’t hurt to keep it in the glove compartment for those long road trips.
Juelz Santana, Un Kasa, John Depp
“Relax”
Juelz Santana, Riq, Cobain
“Here We Are”