Cam’ron knows how to tell a good story in his raps.
Cam’ron fans have been anxiously awaiting the release of Purple Haze 2, the rapper’s follow-up to his 2004 project, Purple Haze. The new album features sixteen tracks, including “Fast Lane” which details a few never-before-told stories about Cam’ron’s adventures in hip-hop back in the day. Beginning as Killa Cam in the mid 90s, Cam’ron has connections to Biggie, Big L, and the rise of Roc-A-Fella Records. In “Fast Lane”, Cam tells two stories in particular that have hip-hop history buffs glued to their seats.
The song starts off with Cam describing a tense encounter with the infamous Suge Knight outside a Los Angeles nightclub. It seems Suge approached Cam’ron over money he allegedly owed him for a beat that he said belonged to Tupac, and Cam’s friend Tito pulled a knife on the Death Row Records mogul when the conversation became heated.
Cam’ron raps, “Tito flicked his knife, he was ready to go to death row/I’m talkin’ kamikaze, but we resolved it calmly.” Shortly after dropping this dramatic tidbit, Cam goes on to reveal that he once delivered bricks to Jay-Z, saying, “Like how I traffic for a living, nights we rolled out/Me and DukeDaGod used to take ‘em over to Hov house.”
Cam’ron, whose real name is Cameron Ezike Giles, has been in the game long enough to have more than a few legendary stories up his sleeve. It makes sense to call on these stories now, decades removed from any repercussions from the incarcerated Suge Knight or the unbothered billionaire, Jay-Z. Cam claimed Purple Haze 2 would be his last album, although he has also admitted he has a hard time staying away from the studio. If he does decide to make more music, fans are here for all the old-school tea he is willing to spill.
