Harlem emcee Cam’Ron was a New York star during the early 2000s. As a member of The Diplomats, often referred to as Dipset, the collective was signed to Roc-a-Fella Records. As a protégé of Jay-Z, Cam’Ron (real name Cameron Giles) had access to the label’s best producers, including Kanye West and Just Blaze.
However, in a recent interview, he revealed that Jay-Z was mad when he used the beat for his 2002 hit ‘Oh Boy’. During an appearance on Ma$e’s sports talk show, It Is What It Is, Giles revealed that, while he was recording his third album, Come Home With Me, he noticed that the ‘Oh Boy’ instrumental had been unused by the entire Roc-A-Fella Records roster for months. As such, he decided to record over it.
However, this didn’t go down well with Jay-Z (real name Shawn Carter). Detailing the 2002 situation, Giles explained, “The ‘Oh Boy’ beat is sitting in the fucking studio for two months. Nobody uses it. Juelz convinced me to steal the song. We do the fucking song, whatever.”
He continued, “After we put it out, [Just Blaze] comes up to me, and he’s like, ‘You, know, um, Cam, we’re gonna absolutely get killed on the publishing. We didn’t clear the sample before we put it out, and we’re gonna lose bad.'”
According to Giles, Just Blaze told him that Jay-Z wanted the beat and was waiting to use it, detailing, “I was like, ‘Aiight, whatever, man! Shit’s been sitting there for two months.’ [Just Blaze says], ‘And by the way, Jay was mad at me behind that because he didn’t understand why I gave you that beat and I didn’t give him the beat.'”
Eventually, the Dipset rhymer managed to convince Just Blaze and Jay-Z to forgo the publishing as it was a hit, recalling, “So I say, ‘Yo Just, fuck it, it’s a hit. Sometimes you gotta give up the publishing.’ Jay-Z gave up 100% of the publishing for ‘Hard Knock Life’, which made him who he is today!”
Following the track’s release, Jay-Z recorded a verse for the song, but Cam’Ron erased it out of spite due to Carter’s previous tirade. Speaking to Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast last year, Giles accepted, “Looking back on it, I should’ve [kept it] ’cause shit, I could’ve got some money. He erased my verse. I did a song for Peedi Crakk, and he erased my verse and threw it out, so I was like, I’m a erase his verse.”
You can listen to Cam’Ron speak about Jay-Z’s response to him stealing the ‘Oh Boy’ beat in the video below.
