50 Cent once teased Cam’ron for his nonsensical rhyme schemes. True, there’s times when Killa Cam sounds like he’s the narrator for his own line of Dipset nursery stories but if you listen closely, you’ll notice Cam’s rhyme book isn’t always easily made the butt of a punchline.
In the closing days of the release of Cam’ron’s fifth solo album Crime Pays, here’s a brief look at some of the Harlemite’s brainiest bars. Putin computers and boogity boogities need not apply.
Lyrical Gangster
“Oh, I’m the type to twist the hoe and diss the hoe/Choke and threaten to kill her, like her last name’s Carlesimo/Listen yo/trick the hoe and get her dough/That was prior like Richard yo/See I done been around the world/See I met Puff and I know Mason/But still the best nation, nigga is donation/So let me hold somethin’/Yo, you can’t change my livin’/This robbery’s a holiday/Call it “thanks” for “givin”/Cause you a turkey…”
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“Glory” from the album Confessions Of Fire (1998)
Even though Cam used to cram more words in his bars than the actual reel could hold, he wasn’t just running off out the mouth for the sake of rhyming. The Sprewell line shows there was a pen and pad involved even in the humble beginnings.
Ballinnnn!!!
“Got pies like Betty bake/Top baller in every state/In Chi I’m Mike/Boston I’m Kenny/In/Miami I’m Timmy and Phoenix I’m Penny/Damn/In Harlem I’m semi-auto or so/What the hell you want?/Got sons, guns, run, run/Make them run, run, skate, take one…”
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“What Means The World To You” from the album S.D.E. (2000)
Names like Kenny Anderson and Tim Hardaway may not ring bells like a Paul Pierce or D. Wade in 2009, but Killa still proved to be a most valuable poet on the mic keeping one eye in the street and the other glued to ESPN.
Career Ending Injuries
“Over some Nikes/I had fights/Over the white, the road to the roads to the lows, I knows what it’s like/Now, niggas career over like Mike/Anyone: Tyson, Jordan, Jackson…it’s over”
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“I Love You” from the album Diplomatic Immunity (2003)
Sure it was heavily inspired by B.I.G., but the restructuring of the legendary Michael’s to parallel “bum” status is that of a sarcastic, master-of-disrespect. Who else but Killa!?
“Why you think the hood coroded?/He Tony the Tiger/Yeah he like to sugarcoat it…”
The Wire Tap
“We never had a conversation about a Cancun trip? For you to sit up here and lie…that’s a lie… and you’re a reverend. You’re a reverend on the radio station telling lies. You said rap is the devil and you’re rapping? I seen it! It’s on tape!”
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“Ma$e On Hot97″ from DJ Antlive & DJ Lust’s Hell Up In Harlem Mixtape (2005)
Who said Killa had to rap to talk that shit? He’s such a polarizing figure on the phone, the people on the other end tend to forget the conversation took place all together. Eh, Jimmy?
Skittles®. Bitch.
“I got the green Benz/red Range/mustard Jag/White coke/Tan dope/Black gun/Tre-duece/Silver bullets/Purple piff/Blue pills/Grey Goose!/Pull out the rat-tat-tat/Duck duck, say goose/Beige coupe/Suede roofs/Send him off to Jesus!”
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“Get It In Ohio” from Crime Pays (2009)
Over a decade in the game and Killa still comes in clutch with the color commentary. Canary burgundy — call it lemon red. Yellow diamonds in his ear? Call ‘em Lemonheads.
Cam’ron’s sixth album, Crime Pays releases on Dipset/Asylum Records on May 12th, 2009. Go cop that.
Previously Posted — TSS Presents Smoking Sessions With Cam’ron | Cam’ron – “Cookin’ Up” Video | Cam’ron – “I Got It For Cheap” Video | Cam’ron – “I Used To Get It In Ohio” Video | Cam’ron – “I Hate My Job” Video | Video: Letters To Cam’ron
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the “off with your kufi’ line cracks me up everytime
I was @ Highline the other night shit was bananas pause…
Cam has gotten killed more than anyone else for not being lyrical but he can rap circles around a lot of people in the game today… So what if he keeps “The boosters boostin…” he also spit with the legendary Big L as well as Ma$e when he was murda and not the transvestite picker upper…
Cam & Gucci need to do an album together… they would be like Rae & Ghostface on LSD…
and by the way, that Skull Gang album is worse than the smell of the sweat under rick ross’ man boobs, not that I know personally but Tia told me…
Can i get an MP3 of Cigar Music (by The Bawse)
Cam & Gucci need to do an album together… they would be like Rae & Ghostface on LSD…
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please dont ever compare Gucci to Rae & Ghost…thats fucking blasphemy…you deserve to have your TSS hood pass revoked for that one
@ Big Rome
It’s in the review
@ KThundo you need to relax, there was much sarcasm in the comparison and before you talk about revoking my “hood pass” on a website on the internet, 95% of the people who frequent this sight are about as close to the hood as dears and crickets…
Cam, Dro, and Ghost REALLY need to lay a track together. Material would be instant classic status. I’d actually prefer an album from those 3 then one from Slaughterhouse….and Slaughterhouse is a 3rd-degree monster!! They’re going to merk Rock The Bells this year. But Cam/Dro/Ghost FTW!! Someone make it happen!!!
Good look TC.
Rugged like Rwanda… i’m on that funcrusher re-up… classic angry backpack rap.
Cam, Dro, and Ghost REALLY need to lay a track together. Material would be instant classic status. I’d actually prefer an album from those 3 then one from Slaughterhouse…
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Whoa El Ro… You crossed the line on that one.
Slaughterhouse is unfuckwitable.
Drive baby, drive safely, tell you, the ride’s crazy
TDB;
Slaughterhouse is the truth, the more material they put out the better without question. Each cut they’ve dropped has been A-game nation, I’m looking forward to their RTB set.
That said, i think a hypothethical Cam/Dro/Ghost collabo would be sick unlike anything else out, just like Slaughterhouse, but in a different lane. And off my personal preferences, I mights be just a tad bit more amped for that than I am for Slaughterhouse.
I saw the most hysterical shit driving through Harlem the other day. There were three posters on the corner advertising Cam’s album and I saw there were orange papers on each of them so I drove closer to find that in each one of the posters someone had written in a different word to change the title. “Peace Pays, Crime Loses, and Crime Never Pays”
Cosign El Rosado
While I like slaughterhouse, that would be a sick collabo
i always liked cam as a lyricist
Cam is sick but he be on that bulls**t sometimes. Like I’ve wondered sometimes if he was even trying. I use to be a big fan of his until Purple Haze, then I just got disappointed.
killa is sick. he isnt afraid to battle anyone, just like he says he reports what he sees in the streets of of harlem, people just jealous cuz they cant rhyme like him.