Smoke DZA & Cam’ron – “The Ghost of Dipset”

Thelonious Martin helps you tolerate Smoke DZA
By    May 21, 2015


Art by WIUX Pure Student Radio

Harold Stallworth auditioned for a bit part in Belly 3.

In the last few months, Dame Dash has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Bizarre interviews, arrest warrants, and social media gaffes might make for good tabloid fodder, but it all distracts from the fact that Dame is one of hip-hop’s foremost idea guys. Just this year he convinced Kanye West to endorse a do-it-yourself hood flick, teased a comically self-indulgent self-help audio book recorded over ambient rap beats, and helped to facilitate one of the better Cam’ron songs in recent memory. “The Ghost of Dipset” is the byproduct of Dame’s new film, Too Honorable, which, like nearly every other 21st century hood flick, amounts to a poor man’s Belly. It pairs Cam’ron with Smoke DZA, who is probably the least charismatic rapper to ever hail from Harlem World, but the instrumental, courtesy of Thelonious Martin, is so spooky and lush that DZA’s presence, or lack thereof, is an afterthought, if that.

Whereas DZA’s verse drags like a rusty muffler, Cam’ron’s performance lives up to the title of the song. His verse is slow and deliberate, bordering on geriatric, yet effortless as one would expect from a Harlemite. He’s a shadow of his former self, but at the right angle, shadows are often more distinct than the shapes that cast them. Dame knows this as well as anyone.

Smoke DZA ft. Cam’ron – “The Ghost of Dipset” from DD172 on Vimeo.

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