Inside Jay-Z and Cam’ron’s Beef
Jay-Z and Cam’ron are two respected rappers with deep roots in New York City. At one point, the two emcees and labelmates weren’t on the best terms, which led to a rift between the two budding stars.
Jay-Z and Cam’ron dissed each other back in the day
Jay-Z and Cam’ron’s relationship started out relatively friendly in the late 1990s. But things started to sour soon enough as Cam began sending sneak disses toward Jay-Z in his music.
In 2002, Cam was announced as the vice president of Roc-A-Fella, which was co-founded by Jay-Z and Dame Dash in 1996, while Jay-Z was away on vacation. He reportedly didn’t approve of the move. The following year, Jay-Z and Nas were embroiled in an infamous rap beef, and when Nas took a shot at Cam’ron, the Dipset rapper decided to join the fray, releasing the diss track “Show You How,” a freestyle over Jay-Z’s song of the same name.
In 2006, Cam’ron released “You Got To Love It,” a diss track aimed at Jay-Z. In the song, he alleged that Hov blocked him from taking the VP job at Roc-A-Fella. After that, however, things began to subside.
They eventually made up
Cam’ron reflected on his once-tense relationship with Hov in a 2022 interview on Million Dollaz Worth of Game. He stated plainly that he retaliated against Jay by tweaking his own music.
“Hov did a remix for ‘Oh Boy,’ and I erased it,” Cam’ron said of his 2002 single. “Looking back on it I should have [saved it], because… S***, I could’ve got some money.” He pointed out that Jay also erased his verse from “One for Peedi Crakk” from the Paid in Full soundtrack.
“I was just so caught up,” Cam’ron admitted. “I’m very, very petty, man. But looking back on that you made a great point, we should have kept it, and whether we used it or not we should’ve had it.”
“That was just my mentality at the time.”
Jay-Z brought out Nas and Cam’ron at a concert
Jay-Z performed at New York City’s Terminal 5 in 2019 in what was an unforgettable show for fans. Two special guests that Jay brought out that night were Nas and Cam’ron.
Cam’ron admitted that that was the first time he had spoken to Jay in “forever.” But despite their issues in the past during Cam’s time with Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam, the two took the stage together for a performance of their 2002 collab “Welcome to New York City” from Come Home with Me, the same album that contained “Oh Boy.”
“Jay called, he’s like, ‘Yo, first of all I want to tell you I got respect for you,’ and I’m like, ‘Same here, bro,’” he said. “S*** ain’t no big thing, man. We talking about some s***, f***ing 12-13 years old. I’m straight.”
“We just showed our love for each other, and we kept it under wraps,” he said, noting the audience’s shock when he they reunited on stage. “Nobody would’ve thought that in a million years.”
