’05 was a frustrating time to be tethered to the Internet, watching bloggers bombastically anoint Dipset with an array of breathless adjectives that not once failed to include the noun, “surrealist.” All this despite not being able to name three actual surrealist antecedents.
While the hype was overblown–Purple Haze was good but not that much better than Come Home With Me–it’s impossible to deny that Cam isn’t a boon to the rap world. “Curtis” was great and had he not made that pathetic You Tube clip filmed at a $75 a night motel in Tampa, more people would’ve probably declared Cam the winner in the 50 beef. Even if “I Hate My Job,” reeks of cynical calculation to capitalize on the recession, it’s surprisingly coherent. Plus, there’s something inherently funny about Cam’ron in a cubicle. Let’s hope that when his potential boss Googled him, he found this.
12 comments
nick sweep says:
February 3, 2009 at 5:54 pm (UTC -7)
reckon Cam discovered Mr Lif sometime in the last few months?
Disco Vietnam says:
February 3, 2009 at 6:31 pm (UTC -7)
Take this J-O-B and shove it
Sach says:
February 3, 2009 at 7:29 pm (UTC -7)
“Take this J-O-B and shove it”
Actually my favorite Canibus song.
Trey Stone says:
February 3, 2009 at 8:33 pm (UTC -7)
i’d say about half of “Purple Haze” is nice. i actually like some of the intentionally cheesy pop stuff on there more than some of the songs that fail miserably at being “bangers.”
although i notice Dipset seems (seemed?) to get a lot of undeserved props for “hot” beats. outside of the two Cam LPs you mentioned i think most of their material is cheap overblown garbage. 2 of
Trey Stone says:
February 3, 2009 at 8:36 pm (UTC -7)
telling that 2 of the 4 good songs on “Diplomatic Immunity” were done by Just Blaze, meant to say.
douglas martin says:
February 3, 2009 at 9:15 pm (UTC -7)
cam’s (typically) bizarre resurgence > curtis’ beef with officer ricky
trey: i was getting ready to place diplomatic immunity among the pretty great cam releases. i thought most of that album was good, but i should refer to where most of those songs came from: the first two diplomat mixtapes (vol. 3 was okay, though).
Tray says:
February 3, 2009 at 10:18 pm (UTC -7)
“watching bloggers bombastically anoint Dipset with an array of breathless adjectives that not once failed to include the phrase, “surrealist.” All this despite not being able to name three actual surrealist antecedents.”
Surrealist is not a phrase, and whenever I think of Cam, Magritte, Andre Breton, and Luis Bunuel always come to mind – just kidding, you’re right. There’s nothing actually surrealist about Cam at all. I always thought dadaist, though equally lazy, was at least a little more on the money.
Passion of the Weiss says:
February 4, 2009 at 12:33 am (UTC -7)
I like Diplomatic Immunity like how I enjoy the orange chicken from Panda Express. For three bites/songs/pause, I’m reasonably convinced it’s the greatest thing ever, then I start to get a headache.
I almost used “Dadaist,” but then we’d have to talk about urinals in museums and I.B.S. Magritte is pretty great though. If a rapper really wanted to be sly, they’d pull a Jeff Beck.
Tray says:
February 4, 2009 at 2:23 am (UTC -7)
I think I.B.S. is easily one of the best songs to drop in the second half of the decade. Great instrumental, coherent storytelling, tons of wit, the kind of esoteric subject matter that mainstream rappers never go near anymore – now you see Cam going in that same kind of everyday grind material direction, which should be exciting, but… he can’t rap so well anymore. It goes to show you that for all the enthusiasm about his surrealist/dadaist lyrics, what really set him apart was his flow. And his swag.
Thun says:
February 4, 2009 at 10:01 am (UTC -7)
I don’t think it’s such a huge stretch to consider Cam to be sort of a surrealist at times on account of his use of non-sequitur. Critics have been using “surrealist” almost interchangeably with “post-modern” to describe forms of writing for some time now, right?
I think the main sin of these circa 2005 blogger is running wild with the condescending attitude of the Pitchfork and NYT who were more than happy to valorize the slightest hint of literacy in a rapper as some kind of profound unheralded achievement.
Passion of the Weiss says:
February 4, 2009 at 10:16 am (UTC -7)
It’s not that I think Cam is so resolutely non-surrealist, he obviously uses evocative and colorful language, but I think if anything Doom, Del, Ghost and Keith are more appropriately tagged that. I mean, most of Cam’ron’s songs are grounded in some form of reality (Cam is a killer, he drives expensive cars, takes long Sake-filled trips to Japan with Hell Rell, etc). However, bizarre and weird his version of reality is, he very rarely writes songs about swimming with mermaids underwater.
But yes, you’re right, the hyperbole lavished towards his “surrealist wordplay” was obviously laced with mild condescension and done mainly by newbies who would have been well served to have been locked in a basement with “U Mean I’m Not” on repeat.
Tray says:
February 4, 2009 at 1:34 pm (UTC -7)
“most of Cam’ron’s songs are grounded in some form of reality (Cam is a killer, he drives expensive cars, takes long Sake-filled trips to Japan with Hell Rell, etc).”
Exactly. He just documents the gangsta rapper lifestyle in more creative, detailed, and writerly ways than the competition.