99 Problems, Don't Become the 100th one
For those of you who have been following the Cam'ron vs.
For those of you who have been following the Cam'ron vs. Jay-Z soap opera as closely as I have, you will no doubt find that the track for today has been a long time coming: the Rick Ross Hustlin' remix, featuring Jay-Z.
Cam's been throwing rocks at the throne since January, when he put out a track questioning Jay's choice in footwear. This was followed up with the Good Times video, dissing Def Jam's Bonnie and Clyde '03. After that, Cam failed in his attempts to get Beyonce to "cyber" with him. Cam's biggest mistake in this whole affair, though, has been the fact that he did all of these things well before the release of his latest album, so any buzz that could have been generated by this weak feud to boost sales had faded by the time the release date for Killa Season rolled around.
As lame as I find this, what kind of blogger would I be if I didn't document every jab thrown in this fight? Several months later, Jay-Z has finally put out a response. Its kind of disappointing that he used a guest verse on a Rick Ross single to address the Cam situation, but perhaps he's saving his best stuff for his own album, which is supposed to come out at the end of the year. As for Jay-Z's actual verse, well, he certainly doesn't bring the fire like he did with Takeover. To be honest, it doesn't sound like Jay put a whole lot of effort into this one. Some have excused this by saying Jay is just emulating Rick Ross' rhyming style, but let's be honest, Rick Ross doesn't have a style, he's just a weak rapper. Despite the lack of a knockout punch on this verse, Jay does manage to respond to just about everything Cam's said about him. Most importantly, he addresses Cam's chancletas and jeans allegation:
We don't resort to violence / We on resorts and Islands
With linen shorts and shades / In case they thought you was lyin'
My Louis slippers, Polo Top / Linen shorts so my balls don't get hot
(track after the jump -->)Jay-Z's response to Cam (mp3)
The other two verses, by Young Jeezy and Rick Ross, aren't even worth discussing. Jeezy occasionally has his moments, but nothing that he has done so far justifies the "Snowman" buzz. As far as Rick Ross, the only reason this dude was given a record deal was the fact that he (allegedly) was an actual, honest-to-jayhova drug dealer at some point in his life. This dude is straight garbage, yet for some reason Jay-Z has become infatuated with him. Honestly, if Joe Budden's album gets pushed back again because Jay is too busy promoting Rick Ross, I'm going to call for an impeachment of the (Def Jam) president.