Each week the spotlight will be on...

Each week the spotlight will be on musicians who are making a commercial breakthrough.

-- Chris Lee

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Juelz Santana

“What the Game’s Been Missing”

Def Jam

Artist info: Although the Harlem hard-core rapper’s first album, “From Me to U,” has sold 329,000 copies since it came out in 2003, “Game” has already moved almost half that amount -- 141,000 -- in its first week of release, debuting Wednesday at No. 9 on the national pop chart.

Back story: Platinum-selling rapper Cam’ron recruited Santana -- no relation to Carlos -- for his hip-hop group, the Diplomats. Santana’s standout performances on a string of radio hits landed him a solo deal with Roc-A-Fella Records.

Influences: Tupac Shakur, Scarface, Afrika Bambaataa

Trivia: Santana got the instrumental track for his radio hit “There It Go (The Whistle Song)” from his studio engineer Carlisle Young, who played Santana an unfinished snippet -- with its signature wolf-whistle chorus -- at a recording session.