I AM LEGEND: 10 Unforgettable Moments in Cam'ron's Career
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1. Children of the Corn
For many radio listeners, Cam’ron was an unknown who appeared from out of nowhere in 1998 and started making rap songs like “Horse and Carriage” and later “What Means the World to You.” But New Yorkers knew Killa Cam from the (circa) mid-‘90s when he was running the streets of Harlem in his youth, pushing mixtapes with Big L’s group Children of the Corn alongside L, Murda Mase (later known as Ma$e), his (late) cousin Bloodshed, and Herb McGruff. They never inked a record deal, but this was the beginning of the Cam’ron that mainstream America would come to know.
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2. King of Pink
It was a gimmick for the ages.
When Cam debuted his pink mink in 2002 and subsequently embarked on a pink apparel movement, an assortment of reactions commenced: some questioned his gangsta, others gave their nod of approval, many grimaced in silent gravel, face-palming and head-shaking. But this tactic proved constructive: from Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn to Harlem, and further up to Washington Heights and The Bronx and beyond, Cam’ron’s influence in street wear became an immeasurable prevalence.
And more importantly, people were talking. To many, thugs donning pink tees and bandanas were reaching beyond the realm of taboo; it was blatantly and incredibly wrong—and conspicuously metrosexual. But Cam was indifferent to the questionable ways in which he was being perceived; he never really cared for pink. It was an audacious marketing ploy—and one that worked.
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3. Roc-A-Fella/Dipset Era
In 2002, something awakened the commercial masses from their oblivion to the Harlem MC: “Oh Boy.” “Hey Ma.” These hits were subsequently followed by the Diplomatic Immunity gems “Dipset Anthem” and “I Really Mean It,” which further familiarized the masses to their MO: digging in the crates for sped-up old school samples and brandishing the Bald Eagle as their own national representation.
Additionally, summer of 2003 in New York City was a tale of two anthems: Lumidee’s “Uh Oh” and Juelz Santana’s “Santana’s Town (Dipset)” that featured Cam on the hook, accompanied by echoes from his earlier “What Means the World to You.” His Roc-A-Fella presidency is probably the lone module in his rap career that was of barely-there significance to fans—but its importance surfaced when it triggered a very long-winded Jay-Z beef.
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4. Cam’ron and Dame Dash: O’Reilly Factor
“You mad?”
On November 12, 2003, Bill O’Reilly, a closet hip-hop stan and far-right conservative Republican, served as the moderator for a discussion that leaves me at a loss of words to explain the comical embarrassment of this Saturday Night Live-forsaken debacle.
Displaying their typical method of operation, Fox News finds the raunchiest clips of Cam’s and Ludacris’s music videos to corroborate their claims that hip-hop is to blame for everything wrong with society. Cam’s responses to this go as follows: inarticulate, hilarious, uneducated, and, at times, correct—with Damon Dash posing as the logical half of the rap-defending duo.
No better way to put a slang-talking, street-bred rapper on display for minstrel skit kicks than to plaster his face all over a right-leaning national television show. Kudos, Bill.
Quotables:
Salome Thomas-El: “Conversating”: My man… That’s not a word.
Cam’ron: A lot of influence I think go to movies. The kids that killed them kids in Columbine… I don’t think they were listening to rap at all. I think that was more like a Marilyn Manson jumpoff [throws up the devil horns].”
Cam’ron [to O’Reilly]: “Why you don’t wanna let [Dame] talk… [sings] You mad, you mad.”
Cam’ron [to O’Reilly] I got dirt on you, doggie… I’mma get at you in a minute.”
O’Reilly [to Cam]: “You go ahead, you get at me.”
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5. Jay-Z Beef
It’s almost as if Come Home With Me’s “Welcome to New York City” never happened.
Jay-Z, Damon Dash, and Kareem “Biggs” Burke launched Roc-A-Fella Records in 1996 and Cam’ron was named vice president in 2002—a move that Jay wasn’t happy with. Many claim that conflicting accounts of hearsay cloud the clear-cut initiation of this feud, but Cam indeed confirmed that this was the definite beginning of their fallout.
Since then, Cam has probably released about a million diss records, including “Swagger Jacker,” “It’s Goin Down,” “You Got It,” and the list goes on—not to mention a handful of jabs found throughout many of Cam’s interviews and albums that were widely interpreted as sneak Hov disses. All of this has spawned abundant comedy that could easily produce a 4-disc compilation project.
“You talkin’ bout you a 80’s baby. You 37 years old, you was born in 1968 and I open ‘The Daily News,’ how’s the ‘King of New York’ rocking sandals with jeans? Open toe sandals with chancletas with jeans on. How’s the ‘King of New York’ rocking sandals with jeans and he 42 years old? Back to business.” –Cam, “You Gotta Love it,” 2006
[“Yeah I got on flip flops, white Louis boat shoes/You should grow the fuck up, come here let me coach you.” – Jay-Z “On to the Next One,” 2009]
“Jigga what, Jigga who, he a mothafuckin Jigga-boo” –Cam, “It’s Goin Down” 2006
“I seen the most amazing thing: Jay-Z in Africa. A camel on a camel.” – Tru Dyke, 2007
Needless to say, this was no Nas vs. Jay-Z, and the only one taking this even remotely seriously was, of course, Cam’ron. But it did keep Cam in the blogs and all over the front page of hip-hop’s biggest websites.
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6. Tru Life Beef, January 2007
Jay-Z’s Roc-La-Familia artist Tru Life begins beefing with Cam. Later on, Cam’ron gets punched in the face by Tru Life outside of a New York City nightclub. Cam’ron (and his crew) denies this ever happened. Tru Life stops at nothing to express his revulsion for Cam, “Jimmy Neutron” and company—citing their “glittery belts,” “tight pants,” and “garbage ass [Purple Haze] liquor” as main irritants.
“Fuck Cam’ron,” Tru Life once said [Complex]. “He’s a bitch. They’re the pink banging bunnies, and I’m the motherfucking bandana smacker.”
JR Writer dropped “Tru Dyke,” but it was no match for Tru Life’s diss “The Dips is Over” (spit over KRS-ONE’s “The Bridge is Over), which was heard all over the Tri State several times on Funkmaster Flex’s show on Hot 97 and pretty much bodied the entire Harlem entourage.
Cam attempted to snub Tru Life by letting JR Writer do his diss record dirty work solely for the purpose of displaying his apathy, choosing instead to unleash more Jay-Z hate at the end. But the significance in this exchange lies in the impeccable timing, as the Lower East Side rapper’s record proved prophetic. Due to many reasons other than Tru Life’s seething impudence, Dipset’s downward spiral went from slow burn to full speed. The crew never regained the power they possessed years earlier, and they eventually went their separate ways.
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7. Infamous Hot 97 phone call with 50 Cent, February 2007
This Angie Martinez-moderated phone conversation between Cam and 50 Cent went from a harmless debate to belligerent in just minutes. But the most memorable part of this discussion came at the end, when Cam asked 50 how many albums Mobb Deep sold that year on the G-Unit label compared to the units Jim Jones moved independently on KOCH. Seconds later, Cam’s head was literally about to explode:
“Curtis, Curtis, CURTIS! How much did the Mobb sell Curtis?!” This classic moment was followed by a sputtering, cursing tirade that was drowned out by Martinez, who quickly had to end the call.
The popularity of this exchange proved so immense that 50 Cent capitalized on the publicity for his then upcoming album, which he subsequently named Curtis.
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8. 60 Minutes “Stop Snitchin.” April 2007
Like Fox, CBS chose the best/worst possible candidate to discuss a controversial matter on national television.
To sum it up: this entire interview was based on a lie. “I was raised not to tell,” Cam tells Anderson Cooper.
But that’s not what The Smoking Gun says. This publication released a police report filed by Cam back in 1999 after he got beat up at a Harlem playground.
In further tattle-telling, Cam goes on record on “You Gotta Love It” and accuses a Jay-Z associate of shooting at him in Washington DC back in 2005: “I seen a nigga throw that diamond up before them shots was fired.”
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9. “Get my fuckin pool in the back,” May 2007
The 50 Cent “beef” continued. And the story here isn’t that Cam’ron made a video responding to 50. The story here is what Cam said at the end of the video.
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Demonstrating why ‘hood dudes can never have shit, Cam’ron is standing in his boxers arrogantly yapping behind a back yard pool the size of a playground sandbox. We get it Cam—this was your low budget Scarface-in-his-robe-sitting-by-the-ocean moment sans the cigar and pile of coke. But in reality, all viewers could do was stare… and wonder if Cam was seriously bragging. Which, of course, he was.
“It’s gonna be real motherfuckin’ hot summer man… for everybody.” Cam warned 50 and the city of New York while tucked safely away in his suburban home in Florida.
50 Cent later responded: “I got hot tubs bigger than that pool.”
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10. Cam’ron: I bought my GED
What’s partially to blame for many of Cam’ron’s antics?
In 2010, Cam revealed on Twitter that he paid $600 for his GED. Now, let that sink in for a minute.
… And that explains a lot. But it doesn’t explain how he actually bought it. And how this is possible. Or if this is possible.
But knowing Cam, he’s just being… well, Cam.
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