Cam’ron: Season of Change Part 2

Drama and beef are main courses on a rapper’s dinner plate. Cam’ron is no exception. While he’s shunned the light, mostly due to his mother’s health, the Harlem Diplomat still maintains a plethora of issues surrounding his existence. He returns at a time when former arch nemesis 50 Cent is in rare form in a bout with Rick Ross. He maintains that Jim Jones, his former Dipset capo, entertained a fictitious beef between the two of them. There are books being written, songs being released and old friends to catch up with.

All these events are all party to the brisk return of Cameron Giles.

AllHipHop.com: What did you think of Jim when got down with 50 Cent for a little bit?

Cam’ron: With me, that’s kinda what definitely put everything on the back burner. When things are back behind the scenes, it wasn’t a problem fixing things because the public doesn’t know. Once you know me and 50 Cent got a problem and you’re being seen in the public with him, that kind of made me be like “Okay I understand this is gonna get public.” So I shied away from that and get back in Cameron lane. But that’s kind of what severed it for me, you know? Everybody has their side. They may have a different opinion. Cam didn’t do this, Cam didn’t do that. But once you [Jim Jones] knew me and 50 Cent was in the middle of a whatever [rap beef], I didn’t think for Dipset [to show allegiance to 50 Cent] was a good look. So that’s why I had to shy away.

AllHipHop.com: As far as 50 what are your thoughts now?

Cam’ron: I mean everybody knows I’m back, I’m back in the building, everybody knows that I’m back. Whatever was said when I wasn’t here, cool, but I’m back and you know I have no problem addressing any problem when a problem comes to me. It doesn’t matter who it is, but right now I see he got beef going on with Rick Ross right now. That’s going on, but I’m here. Right now it’s quiet. I’ll let them finish doing what they’re doing and when it comes around to me – if it gets to me – I’ll be ready.

AllHipHop.com: Do you got anything special in a new beef with 50 Cent? Anything like that?

Cam’ron: [Pondering] It doesn’t really take me long to think. I don’t hav

e to sit there and have s### loaded up for any rapper. If I got a problem, I’ll go to the studio tonight and shoot a video for it tonight and put it out tomorrow. I got my own cameras, my own lights, my own studio, and it will get done. It isn’t like I gotta prepare, like “Yo, if I’m beefin’ with Nas, let’s have 12 Nas songs. If I’m beefin’ with 50, I gotta…if I’m beefin’ with Jay.” No, I just go do it. I’m a quick thinker, I’m from Harlem, it happens that quick like.

AllHipHop.com: When you and 50 Cent were beefing, it seemed go to a different level. Like he would do a funeral for you with an obituary and you did the video where you jumped out the casket.

Cam’ron: Well you know it’s creativity at the same time too. I just used what he did to get my s**t poppin’ and I said Curtis, [then] he named his album Curtis. We both were battling off of what each other was saying. What you gotta realize is that when it comes to beefin’ 50 is smart too. I’m a smart guy too. I use very good strategy, but you know it’s like when Rick Ross called him Curly, so 50 Cent does the “Soul Glow” thing. I was like this guy uses stuff that people use to his benefit and I would do the same thing no matter who it was against.

Cam’ron – “I Used To Get It In Ohio”

AllHipHop.com: I read about Jim Jones allegedly wanting to do a fake beef with you or something like that?

Cam’ron: What happened was – that’s when me and Jim’s relationship kinda simmered down – one day we was plotting and scheming in the crib on stuff that we should do to make the movement bigger or plotting for marketing strategy. I don’t remember exactly what our little two man meeting was about in my house in Fort Lee, New Jersey, but he just basically bust out and said “maybe me and you should just act like we got a problem and just act like we beefin’ and make up and all this stuff.” I was like, “Nah, you buggin…That don’t really make sense. Why would you confuse the fans? You know that would be confusing the fans.” And he was like, “Yeah you right, we shouldn’t do that.”

It doesn’t make sense, but I kinda took that as “why would he even say that?” So I gave Jim his space and I was thinking like to myself, “Jim wants to do his own thing, I’m gonna back up and let him do his own thing anyway cause to me that didn’t really make sense.” I kinda took that as you wanna go off and do your own thing. There’s another way to do it [promote and market Dipset] without acting like we have beef, you can just go off and do your thing.

AllHipHop.com: You think this is a fake beef?

Cam’ron: What do you mean? I don’t do nothing fake at all.

AllHipHop.com: No, on their side of things, Like Jim might be waging a fake beef.

Cam’ron: I just spoke to Jim two days ago. I called Zeke phone and he picked the phone up so I don’t really know who’s beefin’ with who or who says it’s a beef or whatever the case may be. If it’s beef , I don’t know about it, you know what I’m saying? [Editor’s note: Jim Jones has refuted that he and Cam’ron had this conversation.]

AllHipHop.com: Have you ever consider starting a new Dipset movement with different artists?

Cam’ron: I got different artists. I don’t really want to say their names, because we’re in the process of doing paperwork and I’m not a person who counts their chickens before they hatch. But it’s about to be something that’s about to pop off real major, it’s gonna be hot.

AllHipHop.com: Okay, what about [former Dipset manager] Big Joe? He’s supposed to be doing a tell-all book.

Cam’ron: I heard about that and I don’t know nothing about it though but I heard about it.

AllHipHop.com: He’s talking about he’s gonna expose everybody.

Cam’ron: I’ll be looking forward to it, you know, I’ll check it out, I don’t know nothing.

AllHipHop.com: Is that considered snitching or is that just a book expose?

Cam’ron: I don’t know, because I don’t really know too much about it. I was just catching up on all this internet s**t today since I been in the office. There was something about Puff offering them some money not to put it out or something – but I don’t know. I wish him the best of luck.

AllHipHop.com: okay, okay, um, do you talk to Dame still?

Cam’ron: I spoke to Dame for the first time maybe about a month ago we spoke for about an hour, spoke a couple more times and we gonna get together before the month is up.

AllHipHop.com: You have a song that discusses the recession and the impact on jobs and things like that…have you felt the impact [of the recession]?

Cam’ron: No. What happened was, I have a female friend who’s just complaining about her job and she has to got to work and she isn’t getting paid what she wants to get paid. And she’s working 10 hours a day to make ends meet and I basically flipped the coin. It’s like you got people out there that’s looking for jobs and can’t find a job. These people are up two, three, four and five times a week looking for jobs and can’t find a job. The song really originated from me listening to my home girl complain about her situation and I kind of put the other side of the story to it.

Cam’ron: “I Hate My Job”

AllHipHop.com: Somebody wanted me to ask you what’s your favorite color.

Cam’ron: I know everybody act like I’m a Crayola [crayons] box like [they say] “What’s the color for next year?” It isn’t like I thought about a color for the year, but you know I don’t know it’s…I don’t have a color right now. I’m kinda like in the red phase.

AllHipHop.com: Last question, why rap? What motivates you to keep doing it?

Cam’ron: You know, it’s funny you asked that, somebody asked me that also. About two hours ago I was thinking I don’t really wanna do this anymore. I was like maybe I’ma just chill out. I’ll chill out [for a while] and I’ll be in my house eating or smoking a blunt and I’ll be watching TV and I‘ll just start f***ing thinking of raps in my head. It’s like I’ve been doing this so long it’s kind of instilled in my body so its like, even if I wanted to stop, I couldn’t stop. So that’s kind why I’m still doing it, because even if I wanted to stop I’ll still be doing it.

Cam’ron: “I Got It For Cheap”