Record Drop: Julez Santana - From Me To U (Radio Advance)

During a little bit of Black Friday shopping, I came across something I knew existed but a) I had never run into before and b) I didn’t know was something relatively cheap to collect. Radio advance copies of albums. I think these are neat, clean copies of albums for radio use that were never meant for retail sale. And they’re cheap! This one was five bucks! I get why they may not be desired, they’re not always in pristine condition and at the end of the day, especially with rap & hip-hop, people may want the “real” version of songs, not the cleaned up versions for TV & radio. It doesn’t bother me too much, and honestly? With these I don’t need to worry about what I put on when my kid is around, haha.

• Artist: Juelz Santana
• Album: From Me To U
• Release Date: 2003
• Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/album/6pHsHaI4pDb995jzl1J5z1?si=R5YvAylcSZmxBOszaMKCaQ

Review/Comments:

6.5/10

I’ll say this - I don’t *love* this album, and generally if it’s an old album my criteria is it needs to be a 7/10 album (to me) for me to buy it. I’d much rather have “What The Game’s Been Missing!” from 2005. All that aside, it was $5 and it being the unique radio advance made me say “whatever let me just pick that up”.

Thinking back to this album, there’s always been one standout track, and it’s what got me onto Juelz Santana as an artist…

• “Let’s Go” (w/ Cam’ron) - This track, though not anything ground breaking, really stands out to me. Not the first to use a sample, not the first to use *this* sample.. hell, probably not the first to use this sample the way they did.. but man.. they took Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” and really didn’t do a ton other than pitch it up and loop the instrumental. They didn’t have to do anymore. Juelz flow over top of it just worked perfectly. 

Nothing too special about this one, other than it opened me up to something new from a collection standpoint. Sometimes collecting has to be about what you find fun, not about value. If you’re just collecting for value, it becomes more of a chore than a hobby. I see it a lot in the card collecting community. I’m going to start looking online at some albums I want, but don’t want to pay the “this hasn’t been pressed in 15+ years” prices. I’ve already seen a few on discogs, so I know they’re out there!

Pictures: