Harlem World MC Has a Lot to Live Up To

05/19/2006 12:49 PM, AP


Cam'ron "Killa Season" (Asylum/Warner Bros.)

Cam'ron's latest album attempts to live up to the mounting hype swirling around the Harlem rapper and his camp, most blatantly due to the Jay-Z diss track "You Got It," appearing on "Killa Season" as "You Gotta Love It."

And at times the Diplomat General seems up to it.

"You Gotta Love It" wins on ambition alone. It takes serious mettle to challenge the man some consider to be the greatest living rapper. Cam unleashes a fusillade of jibes, including "Your publishing should go to Miss Wallace," a dig at Jay's penchant for quoting lines from his late friend, the Notorious B.I.G.

Problem is Jigga is 30-plus (or 40-plus according to Killa), doesn't wear jerseys anymore and hasn't been spotted in Jordans recently. And one-way battles are no fun.

The album is being released along with a straight-to-DVD film of the same name, in which Cam'ron plays a Harlem drug hustler sharing an uncanny resemblance to the cat that shows up on the CD.

He moves drugs (selling "Heavy D."); pimps ("then she moved to Canada/ now she live in Harlem/ you can say I manage her); rocks ice (my wrist so bright look like Sunny Delight) and talks murder (one chorus is actually "more killin killin/ more killin killin for Killa Killa)."

Two tracks stand out from the otherwise straight hustle and flow: One in terms of beats, the other rhymes.

"Leave You Alone" juts against almost everything else here: a Kanye-inspired, sped-Etta James sample is distorted into what sounds like a looped kettle-whistle, as tumbling drums rumble beneath. The Blackout Movement production is also infused with metronomic chanting that lend the track a futuristic but tribal feel.

Contentwise, "I.B.S." is definitely the most offbeat, as Cam details his bout with Irritable Bowel Syndrome ("the pain was no comparison — throwing up in public — it was embarrassin'") exercising a welcome vulnerability.

A few of these joints miss pretty badly ("Get Ya Gun" is a little disturbing) but for the most part, Cam is still killing it with his signature brand of over-the-top braggadocio, unmatched in this arena — at the very least, by all "active" rappers.