:: Diplomatic Man/Asylum Records
DukeDaGod's projections were off a little bit. On the last DipSet mixtape "The Movement Moves On" Duke stated that Cam'Ron's "Killa Season" DVD would be in stores April 25th, while the album of the same name would be in stores May 9th. At least he was a little less off on the latter than on the former. Nevertheless two questions are raised: (1.) Why would you state a concrete date you could miss by weeks and (2.) Why would you open Cam's album with the same song that made those predictions? Arguably they did remove Duke's introduction from 40 Cal.'s "Worried" and repackage the title as "Killa Cam (Intro)" but it's the same shit:
"Who am I? 40 Cal. motherfucker
Gat to your back, get down motherfucker
Clown motherfucker
(You will be wonderin what are we gonna do now)
Let me try to explain
I shoot his truck up just to drive him insane
Give his Rover the new name, the firing range
When we see you yell fire and aim
Cause when I fire them thangs it's like
(You will be wonderin what are we gonna do now)"
Since I seem to sometimes say things in Cam's reviews that make it look like I have no respect for him, here's three things to kick off the "Killa Season" CD review in his defense: (1.) He's got a lot of business acumen and hustle, (2.) He's unquestionably the leader of the DipSet and (3.) He makes New York thug music for New York thugs. If there's one thing that New York City has an advantage on as the birthplace of hip-hop over other cities, it's that it's literally a world unto itself where you can find every different strain of the hip-hop diaspora: commercial & underground, suburban & street, gangsta & concious, so on and so on. Cam and his cohorts have squarely focused themselves on the gritty and grimy "Harlem World" niche and probably do it better than any of their contemporaries from the same scene. It's for that reason that tracks like the Headbangaz produced "Touch it or Not" featuring Lil Wayne work:
"I'm a pro at this; round the globe atlas
But I need to know ma, are you gonna suck it or not?
Baby girl I'm in love with the twat
Missionary, back shots; pop it off, rock it off
I tell you right now if my cock is soft
(What I want?) Head before and after, top it off
(Do what?) On your knees, show you how to top a boss
(How it go?) Lick, suck, deep throat, stop, cough
Hop on, hop off, lollipop off
I know it's white, but here come the hot sauce"
What more do you expect? Only Cam'Ron could turn a song about getting head into a potential crossover single, which probably explains why they changed the track's name from the more explicit "Suck it or Not" bootleg title. Other songs that got leaked before release are also on the album, including the thumping Alchemist track "Wet Wipes":
"Them niggaz pumpin dimes, trunk pumpin mine
I really make cake, you could call me Duncan Hines
Had a drunken mind, club wobbled out
Next stop, start trouble inside the waffle house
Mmm, click the nine, yup skip the line
Looked at home boy yo, your bitch is mine
Had a little knife, tried to flick his shine
Had a big gat, click clack, hit recline
Don't ever complain, over no dumb dame
See you big money, I'll turn 'em to chump change
Let my muscles show, cause I'm like Russell Crowe
_Beautiful Mind_, took his bitch, hustle hoe"
Personality and production, particularly the latter part, are what carry this album. You can't be mad at songs with tinkling piano straings like the Heatmakerz "I.B.S.," the sped-up swinging samples of "White Girls," the chill Earth Wind & Fire samples Chad Hamilton uses on the "Do Ya Thing (Remix)" or the smoothed out J. Dugger production for "Love My Life" featuring Nicole Wray. On the other hand it has to be noted that several of the songs used on "Killa Season" are holdovers from the aforementioned "Movement Moves On" including "White Girls" and the Hell Rell duet "War" among others. While this doesn't destroy the credibility of this album it does raise the question of why it was pushed back only to include already released material, let alone why the DVD wasn't packaged as a bonus disc instead of sold seperately. Nonetheless Cam fans should be happy with "Killa Season," an album which continues his recent trend of solid (if somewhat unspectacular) solo CD's.
Music Vibes: 7 of 10 Lyric Vibes: 7 of 10 TOTAL Vibes: 7 of 10
Originally posted: May 16, 2006
source: www.RapReviews.com