Juelz Santana Still Built To Win, "I'm Big Dogging It This Year"

Eager fans anticipating Dipset rapper Juelz Santana's long-awaited Born To Lose, Built To Win solo album may exhale as the Skull Gang leader has announced plans to drop the LP before 2012.

While an exact release date has not been offered, Santana said to check for him around the Christmas holiday.

"I'm going to give [the fans] a lot until my album, Born To Lose, Built To Win, which should be out at the end of December," Santana revealed in an interview. "At the end of this year. I'm big dogging it this year. I'm dropping fourth quarter. Yerp." (Real Hip Hop Daily)

Last year, Def Jam VP of A&R Sha Money XL talked to SOHH about priming Santana's LP.

"He's touring and getting money," Sha told SOHH. "He's getting his money so he's comfortable, he's just creating the right music because he's that next n*gga man. So he's coming with it. It's coming this year, we gonna drop this mixtape, The Reagan Era, he's shooting some crazy videos -- they on it right now, heavy, and I support them because he's that next n*gga. I've contributed from records all the way down, man. He gets everything man, from the music to the marketing to the big picture, man. We gotta create stars, I don't just leave them at the A&R Depot saying, 'I'm done.' I take it all the way there. It starts with the music and you know that's what I do. That's just one of the things that I'm great at, is the music." (SOHH)

While the project has remain shelved for a few years, Santana previously told SOHH he would not rush it out.

"Born To Lose, Built To Win, that's the name of my new album and I'm used to getting nothing and turning it into something," Santana explained. "It ain't no Def Jam delay, it ain't no delay, I'm just waiting day-to-day, watching the game and paying attention. I ain't wanna rush an album, I wanna keep it relevant, keep all the pieces right there. I'm just strategically doing things and I don't want to just 'drop' an album. In this day and age, it feels like you gotta give people more so I want them to want for Juelz Santana to over succeed and oversee everything else, I really need to be there." (SOHH)

In 2010, Juelz revealed his interest in securing a collaboration with Lil Wayne and Eminem.

"Eminem is my n*gga, seriously, that's what I been trying to get on the 'Rap Cemetery' with me and Weezy, Eminem," Santana said in a Ustream broadcast. "Because he puts n*ggas in the rap cemetery for real. Em, holla at me, get at me, what's up? I'm here. That's the only n*gga I really, you know, that I'll get on a Ustream or anywhere like, 'Yo, I need to holler at Em.' I f*cks with Em hardbody, matter of fact, I might have to call Weezy up and have him connect the dots for me. They just put that little nice f*cking 'Drop The World' on you..." (Ustream TV)

Juelz Santana's last album, What the Game's Been Missing! dropped November 2005 and has sold over 650,000 copies to date.