The Last Drop

Cam’ron, Purple Haze – In my continuing trend of being behind on critically acclaimed hip hop, I delve back even further. 2005′s Purple Haze is Cam’ron’s supposed farewell opus on Roc-a-fella records, prior to Jay Z’s hostile takeover (oh Damon Dash, what are you up to these days) and subsequent exclusion of the Diplomat Set. Could Harlem survive? Was Brooklyn poised and strong enough to hold the hip hop crown? Based off of Purple Haze, uptown has still got it.

Given my previous reaction towards coke infused hip hop, I was expecting very little from Cam’ron. Furthermore, his pension for flashy colored clothing spoke towards a potential model of image over substance that was fast making me yawn. Yet, during my midday amble around Hoxton, I found myself happily bouncing to the brightness of the beats and charmed by his word play. Less grime and dark dealings, more playful and light insight. Even the blatant misogyny had me saying, “Cam, you so crazy! ” A key to this winning formula is the well timed, but sparse use of guest performers. Most rappers that belong to a crew use their albums as a base platform to sell their crew vs. creating a cohesive sound (50 Cent, Nelly, T.I., etc.). And the crew is NEVER as good as the lead artist (ex Wu Tang) leaving you saddled with a few good songs and a bunch full of no names that sound like no names. Much of this leads to the issue of people illegally downloading to save time and money on the diluted album. But I digress. Cam’ron has every reason to promote the hell out of the Diplomat Set (namely 22 reasons), but keeps the collaborations few, far between, and tight. Much care was taken into finding the best verses for each guest appearance and editing them to ensure a cohesive sound. The song featuring Kanye relegates Mr. West to the chorus only and it works. Very well. I can easily listen to the album on repeat because I don’t have to sift through the myriad of nonsense generally associated with contemporary hip hop albums. There are a few skits (he did give you 22 tracks), but I find them charming if not generally amusing.

It is a shame that Purple Haze fell into so much promotional trouble to stunt it’s sales growth. Given the premium production quality and broad appeal, this should have been his best selling record to date. Instead, it has fallen through the cracks and even I must wait 2 years post release to get a taste.