Cam’ron has accused the NBA of stopping him from performing with Mariah
Carey during the NBA All-Star game tribute to Michael Jordan on Feb. 9.
Cam said the league agreed he’d rap during the set but reneged claiming
they were “staying away from rap.”
Cam said that Carey had fought to get the rapper a spot during the tribute, but the NBA reneged, blaming a lawsuit against Cam’s former label, Untertainment.
Cam said that the league’s commissioner, David Stern, never intended to let him perform.
“They told her yes until the last two days,” Cam’ron told AllHipHop.com. “Then they brought up when Untertainment [used] the [NBA logo] for S.D.E. album. They said they sued Cam’ron when I had the gun in the NBA logo. It was really Untertainment and they were like, ‘we don’t care, its Cam’ron.'”
During the 1999 promotion of his S.D.E. album, Untertainment/Epic released an advertisement, which was a play on the NBA’s trademarked logo by adding a gun to the silhouetted hand of Jerry West player. Eventually, the NBA filed a civil suit, forcing Cam and Untertainment to yank the ads.
The NBA, which relies heavily on hip-hop in various marketing campaigns and commercials told Cam and crew that they were actually trying to stay away from rap.
“The NBA said that they don’t do any rap so they didn’t let me perform,” Cam continued. “I mean they act like they are such an elite group of people- no disrespect because I have friends in the NBA. Its like realistically, they got people that beat they wives up, get caught with guns, smoking weed – all types of stuff – and then they say they [don’t use] rap.”
Jimmy Jones, co-CEO of Diplomat Records said he was angry as well. “David Stern, you get the third finger from the left or the right,” Jones said. “We’re starting the ‘F**k David Stern Campaign.'”
“The only reason they said ‘Yeah’ is because Mariah Carey insisted. They were trying to tell her, ‘No, we don’t do rap. We are staying away from rap.’ To deprive me of the tribute to Michael Jordan, such a prestigious event at the All-star game, I felt like it was a miscarriage of justice,” Cam concluded.
The NBA was not available for comments at press time.