Cam’Ron
Crime Pays (Diplomat/Asylum)
“You don’t care about nobody” - Grease
Cam’Ron turned 33 years old in February. There is a fine line between unctuous youth and dirty old man. With Crime Pays, his sixth album and first in three years, Cam may have crossed it.
The above quote comes from “Grease,” one of five skits on the album and it follows a long, underrated tradition of between-song gags for Harlem’s favorite son. But for the first time in years Cam’s slippery, nihilistic streak sounds callous without the clever touch. On “Rude Boy” and “I’m A Chicken Head” from 2004’s Purple Haze (Diplomat/Roc-A-Fella), the “Voicemail” series from 2006’s Killa Season (Diplomatic Man/Asylum) and even “Phone Interlude” from his debut, 1998’s Confessions of Fire (Epic) Cam used (probably phony) conversations with friends, girls and otherwise insufferable folk to flash a sense of entitlement and uncaring attitude that could be admired and laughed at. On “Grease,” named for the girl on the other line with Cam’Ron, a melancholy creeps in. “That is sad to be that fucking disgusting. I hope money really makes you happy in your life,” Grease says, near tears. “It does,” Cam replies.
Using a skit to measure a man’s career maybe isn’t the best idea. But it is one of the few new variables in Cameron Giles’ career at this moment. After taking a two-year hiatus to tend to his ailing mother, much changed around Cam’Ron. Friends fell out, New York’s rap presence further languished, Obama got elected. He addresses none of these changes here and Cam’Ron’s tossed-off sneer, once such an alluring pretense, feels ancient. And all of a sudden a song like “Bottom of the Pussy” maybe doesn’t seem like such a great idea. That the production and lyricism—always Cam’s trump card—are inert and surprisingly boring doesn’t help things. Elsewhere there are repetitions of previous triumphs (“Who” aches to recall “Get ’Em Girls”), energetic but unimaginative exercises (“Silky (No Homo)”), and brutally tuneless paeans to chicks (“You Know What’s Up”).
Not everything is junk. On a song-by-song basis, Crime Pays is actually stronger than ’06’s woeful Killa Season. “Spend The Night” is as breezy and unassuming a come-on as you’ll hear from Cam: “Baby come and play and lay and stay with me, girlfriend I’ll change your life/ spend the night with me we’ll talk and chill and watch T.V.” It’s Cam as good guy. And the sinister-sounding “Get it In Ohio” only furthers his odd, fascinating romance with the Midwest coke trade. Even the chattering “Curve” rekindles the disinterested veneer that seems passé on much of the album. But too much is overcooked.
Some of the blame here goes to producer Skitzo, who produces 14 of the 18 songs here. Some of his work is innovative—the sparse “Cookies-N-Apple Juice” is a feat of xylophonic genius—but most of his beats—whirring, sample-driven synth attacks—are Purple Haze retreads. For Cam the same is mostly true. A man can only go on talking about squirting sexual conquests for so long. At some point he’s going to have to give more of himself. Crime Pays is nostalgic for a different time, when being an asshole was admirable.
Cam'Ron's "Crime Pays" is in stores 5/12/09
Track listing for Crime Pays
1. “Crime Pays Intro”
2. “Cookin’ Up”
3. “Where I Know You From”
4. “Fuck Cam #1”
5. “Never Ever”
6. “Curve”
7. “Silky (No Homo)”
8. “Get It In Ohio”
9. “Who”
10. “Grease Skit”
11. “You Know What’s Up” feat. C.O. & Sky Lynn
12. “Spend The Night”
13. “Fuck Cam #2”
14. “Woo Hoo” feat. 40 Cal.
15. “Chalupa”
16. “Cookies & Apple Juice” feat. Byrd Lady & Skitzo
17. “(I Hate) My Job”
18. “Homicide”
19. “Fuck Cam #3”
20. “Got It For Cheap”
21. “Get It Get It”
22. “Bottom of the Pussy”
23. “Fuck Cam #4”
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