In a recent social media video, Harlem emcee Cam’Ron reflected on his career and feuds he had in the early 2000s, explained their origins and detailed why they made more sense than the rap beefs currently raging in hip-hop.
In the Instagram video, the lyricist (real name Cameron Giles) spoke about his past issues with artists such as Nas and 50 Cent. He also traced the feuds back to their origins.
Opening up about his unexpected lyrical war with Queensbridge legend Nas, Giles revealed he was shocked, unveiling, “Nas is one of my favourite artists if not my favourite artist. When Nas dissed me, I was like, ‘Damn.’ We grew up on Nas. What did Nas diss us for? So when he dissed me for no reason, I’m like, ‘Damn, I didn’t do nothing to Nas.'”
The Harlem native unveiled that the beginning of his feud with Nas coincided with Dipset’s record deal with Roc-a-Fella. The Queensbridge icon had dissed Jay-Z the year they signed to his label, so Giles admitted there was a certain amount of pressure to prove that The Diplomats were a formidable force.
Furthermore, Giles had also cut ties with Sony following a contractual debacle. Explaining this, he elaborated, “It was when I just signed to Roc-A-Fella and I was like, ‘Damn, man. Do we ignore Nas, or do we respond to Nas?’
He continued, “To me, that was against the rule. We had no platinum album out. Dipset was just developing. Then, when we dissed Nas, that was our second mixtape. But we had to do that ’cause we were just getting in the door after a fucked up deal we had at Sony. That’s why we did it — we felt our backs were against the wall.”
Cam’Ron also had beef with 50 Cent during the 2000s. However, on the podcast, he revealed that he never took it seriously and just considered it healthy competition in the spirit of hip-hop. Recalling his stance on the perceived feud, Cam stated, “When me and 50 Cent was going on, that shit was fun. Shout out to my n*gga 50, we good now too.”
He continued, “All that shit to me was just music. Even when 50 and me spoke, he was like, ‘Let’s get to this money.’ When we spoke, we laughed about that shit. At the time, I went at 50 because he had done a diss track. 50 was putting n*ggas out of business with his diss songs.“