Cam'ron | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Cam'ron Giles |
Also known as | Killa Cam |
Born | Manhattan, New York City, U.S. | February 4, 1976
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Occupations |
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Discography | Cam'ron discography |
Years active | 1994–present |
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Member of | |
Website | purplehaze2 |
Cam'ron Giles (born February 4, 1976),[1] known mononymously as Cam'ron, is an American rapper. Beginning his career in the early-1990s as Killa Cam, Giles signed with Lance "Un" Rivera's Untertainment, an imprint of Epic Records to release his first two studio albums Confessions of Fire (1998) and S.D.E. (Sports Drugs & Entertainment) (2000); the former received gold certification by the RIAA. After leaving Epic, Giles signed with Roc-A-Fella Records in 2001 to release his third studio album, Come Home with Me, the following year. It received platinum certification by the RIAA and spawned the singles "Oh Boy" (featuring Juelz Santana) and "Hey Ma" (featuring Juelz Santana, Freekey Zeekey and Toya), which peaked at numbers four and three on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. His fourth studio album, Purple Haze (2004) was met with similar success and likewise received gold certification by the RIAA.
Due to personal disagreements with Jay-Z, Giles and his label parted ways with Roc-A-Fella in 2005 in favor of Asylum Records. In 2006, Giles released his fifth studio album Killa Season, accompanied by a film of the same name in which Giles starred and made his director-screenwriter debut. In 2009, after taking a hiatus due to his mother's health, Giles returned to music and released his sixth studio album Crime Pays (2009), which peaked at number three on the Billboard 200. A decade later, he released his seventh album, Purple Haze 2 (2019), which narrowly entered the chart.
Aside from his solo career, Giles formed the short-lived hip hop group Children of the Corn alongside Big L and Mase in 1993; they disbanded in 1997. He subsequently formed the hip hop collective the Diplomats (also known as Dipset) in the latter year, alongside his longtime affiliate Jim Jones and cousin Freekey Zekey. He later performed as one half of the duo U.N. (Us Now) with fellow Harlem native Vado; the duo released two collaborative projects. In addition to the Killa Season film, Giles has acted in other works including the Roc-A-Fella films Paper Soldiers and Paid in Full in 2002.