Rapper
Cam'ron was born and raised in Harlem, attending Manhattan Center High School, where one of his basketball teammates was Mason "Mase" Betha, who also became a successful rapper. Though his playing earned him scholarship offers from top colleges,
Cam'ron was unable to take advantage of them because of his poor academic record, and he enrolled at a small college in Texas instead. He quickly dropped out and returned to Harlem, where he became a drug dealer before turning to
rap.
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Rapper
Cam'ron was born and raised in Harlem, attending Manhattan Center High School, where one of his basketball teammates was Mason "Mase" Betha, who also became a successful rapper. Though his playing earned him scholarship offers from top colleges,
Cam'ron was unable to take advantage of them because of his poor academic record, and he enrolled at a small college in Texas instead. He quickly dropped out and returned to Harlem, where he became a drug dealer before turning to
rap.
Hooking up with the Bad Boy posse, he developed a
pop-rap style similar to chief Bad Boy
Puff Daddy. But
Cam'ron didn't sign with Bad Boy;
Mase introduced him to
the Notorious B.I.G., who in turn brought in his partner Lance "Un" Rivera. Un signed
Cam'ron to his Untertainment label, distributed by Epic Records.
Cam'ron first attracted attention with "Pull It," which earned airplay in May 1998. "3-5-7" was featured in the movie Woo and became his first
R&B chart entry in June. Then in July came "Horse & Carriage," featuring
Mase. It made the
R&B Top Ten and just missed hitting the pop Top 40, setting up
Cam'ron's debut album, Confessions of Fire, which went gold and made the Top Ten of both the pop and
R&B charts. "Feels Good" featuring
Usher was another
R&B chart entry in December. "Let Me Know" made the pop and
R&B charts in June 1999.
A year later, "What Means the World to You" heralded the release of
Cam'ron's biographical sophomore album, S.D.E. (the acronym standing for Sports, Drugs, and Entertainment).
Cam'ron worked with
Ol' Dirty Bastard,
Mobb Deep's
Prodigy, and producer Digga to complete the album, which was released in September 2000. After moving to
Jay-Z's Roc-a-Fella label, his single "Oh Boy" became a big hit on
urban radio in 2002, and the album
Come Home with Me performed well, too. Early the following year, his protégés the Diplomats debuted with the two-disc set
Diplomatic Immunity. Diplomatic Immunity, Vol. 2 appeared a year later, and
Cam'ron's own follow-up,
Purple Haze, dropped late in 2004.
On October 23, 2005,
Cam'ron made news when he escaped an attempted carjacking in Washington, D.C., with only a bullet wound on his arm. The next year he directed the straight-to-DVD film Killa Season and released an album of the same name. Message boards blew up right before the album's release when his
Jay-Z diss track, "You Gotta Love It," began appearing on mixtapes, and Killa Season reached number two on the album charts. Despite these achievements, the album saw disappointing sales overall, and
Cam'ron announced that he had been released from Asylum in late 2007. Harlem's Finest, a mix of greatest hits, rare songs, and remixes, was released in July 2008. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
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