Cam’ron is responsible for one of the most used memes ever, that being “You Mad!” which came from his 2003 interview with Bill O’Reilly. The 47-year-old revealed how the unique conversation came about this week.
Killa Cam appeared on the KFC Radio podcast on Tuesday (April 25) where he explained how he got the opportunity to talk to The O’Reilly Factor host. “At the time, I was at Roc-A-Fella and they had a great publicist at the time,” the Harlem rapper said. “A lot of those opportunities were presented but people were scared to take the opportunity so particularly with the Bill O’Reilly ‘you mad’ situation, they was like, ‘You want to go on Bill O’Reilly?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know who Bill O’ Reilly is. Who is that? Not really.’”
He continued, “And I don’t remember if it was MSNBC or CNN, but whatever channel he was on intrigued me. I was like, ‘CNN? Bet! ‘Yeah I want to go on CNN ni**a!’”
The Come Home With Me rapper went on to describe how people warned him that the former Fox News host was an “a**hole” and, his unfamiliarity — plus the inability to conduct an internet search — made him fearless going into the situation.
“So now they just trying to prep me and now I’m extra like, ‘Oh, he’s an a**hole’ so whatever I’m ready for this,” Cam’ron said, describing the day he was about to go on set. “So basically, we get up there and the first thing he says is, ‘Cam’ron who’s known for rhyming about pimpin’ bi**hes. And I’m like, ‘Bet, it’s on!’”
He also described how Damon Dash insisted that they go together because the former Roc-A-Fella co-founder had been on the show. “I’m supposed to go on by myself, so I heard Dame was on before that. And Dame is real arrogant, I don’t know. I didn’t see the episode. To where he feel he didn’t get the best of Bill O’ Reilly or whatever,” the Diplomats rapper said.
“So, I remember being in the office and Dame comes in the office like, ‘Yo, you going on Bill O’ Reilly tomorrow?’ And I said ‘Yeah, I’m going tomorrow.’ And Dame says, ‘I don’t know if you’re ready by yourself, I’m going with you. No, I’m definitely going with you because you don’t know this type of guy.’”
Needless to say, the two had a memorable back-and-forth with O’Reilly that is talked about to this day.