In 2007 Dipset rapper Cam’Ron appeared on the renowned 60 Minutes show with journalist Anderson Cooper to speak about his career, hip-hop culture and even the codes of the streets, including the infamous “No Snitchin” rule but Cam’Rons take on the policy was questionable.
The “No Snitching” rule of the streets has been around for decades. However, it became highly prominent when hip-hop became more political and entangled in crime. The Harlem emcee put a spotlight on the unwritten rule. However, mainstream America had never seen anybody embody the concept to such a nonsensical extent.
The now infamous interview saw Cam’Ron explain how no matter what crime had been committed, he would rather spend life in prison than break the golden no-snitching policy of the streets and implicate someone in a crime.
In a horrifying hypothetical scenario, the Harlem lyricist told Cooper, “If I knew the serial killer was living next to me, I wouldn’t call and tell nobody on them. I’d probably move…but I’m not putting the signs up, ‘The serial killer’s in 4E.'” When asked if he would ever talk to the police, the ‘Dopeman’ artist facetiously replied, “Yeah, definitely. [I would] say, ‘Hello, how you feel? Everything all right?’ period.”
Even when asked about his own shooting, Cam’Ron idiotically disclosed that he wouldn’t tell the cops who shot him, stating, “No, because the type of business I’m in, it would definitely hurt my business and the way that I was raised, I was raised not to tell. The people who say that it’s not a good thing are most likely the people that don’t buy my records.”
He continued, “The people that buy my records kinda understand where I’m coming from. I have a fanbase of 500,000 people, which means every time my album comes out, I sell 500,000 on a good day or on a bad day. On a great day I sell 2million records. So basically, the people that say that that isn’t a good thing, I don’t think those are the people that buy my album!”
Despite Cam’Ron truly believing the rules of the street and the “No Snitching” policy, his 500,000 fans didn’t matter to the over 1million people who tuned in to his interview and due to the backlash his comments caused the Purple Haze emcee had to issue an apology statement.
The statement put out by the artist’s team read, “I can see how those comments could be viewed as offensive, especially to those who have suffered their own personal tragedies or to those who put their lives on the line to protect our citizens from crime. Please understand that I was expressing my own personal frustration at my own personal circumstances. I, in no way, was intending to be malicious or harmful. I apologize deeply for this error in judgment.”
Even touching on the subject proved bad for the rapper and didn’t do anything positive for his career or image you can watch Cam’Ron’s 60 Minutes interview in the video below.
