Cam’ron emerged from a Hip Hop era that now seems eons ago. The man born Cameron Giles came of age in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a tried and true formula: gritty street-based storytelling; fluid flow; boundless charisma; and a maximalist approach to production (courtesy of his buddies in the Diplomats), all of which was leavened by a healthy dose of braggadocio and debauchery.
Cam’ron grew up in Harlem hustling and playing basketball with Mase, who later introduced him to Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs and the Notorious B.I.G. Jay Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records soon came calling, through which Cam dropped a pair of albums, culminating in 2004’s Purple Haze, a high-gloss breakthrough featuring guests like Kanye West and Nicole Wray and samples from the Ohio Players and Marvin Gaye to Cyndi Lauper and Earth, Wind & Fire.
Only two official albums followed (the most recent being 2009’s Crime Pays) until Cam resurfaced late last year with Purple Haze 2.
“The studio's in the house, so even when I’m not working, I’m working,” he said in an interview with Complex in December 2019. “A lot of times, I tell myself I’m not going to fuck with music no more, but then I end up fucking with music, even if it doesn't come out. It’s the 15-year anniversary of Purple Haze this year. So I was like, damn, I have so many dope songs, and I’m still working, why not do a Part 2 around the anniversary of Part 1? People are always asking me for music, so I thought it was time to put some music back out.”
Purple Haze 2’s 16 songs over nearly an hour of music opens with “Toast to Me,” a chirpy banger that announces Cam’s return, but it’s a return tinged with the type of reflection that comes 15 years after your perceived apex: “I mean, it all seems necessary/For this money, by all means necessary/If you messed up, it’s very rare you get a pass/We the reasons bodegas doubled up on the Plexiglass.
Cam’ron plays Monday, Feb. 24 at Bogart’s with local acts Triiibe, pERez and DJ Drowsy. Tickets/more show info: bogarts.com .
