Cam and Talk To Me: When Killa Met Jodeci

Harold Stallworth is triple black like a pair of Jodeci boots.

“Killa” Cam’ron Giles has never been known for subtlety or the esoteric. From blushing range rovers to industrial-size diamond earrings to O’Reilly-gate, he’s always garnered attention by yelling the loudest and shining the brightest. “Ducking Onetime” and “Come and Talk to Me,” Body and Soul inspired records from the first installment of his Ghetto Heaven mixtape series, capture a swagger that’s been all but dormant since the Cheney Administration.

The latter finds Cam’ron dishing an understated rebuttal to Jay-Z’s “Pound Cake” appraisal, poking fun at Hov’s enthusiasm for pastries and slyly reminding us of his unbridled debt to the late, great Biggie Smalls—all to the tune of Jodeci’s biggest hit. At this stage of Cam’s career, ethereal ether is simply more effective than over-the-top viral campaigns. Drake and Action Bronson deserve credit for hipping millennials to the brilliance of Jodeci, but neither exude confidence in quietude to this extent.

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