The Harlem-bred native had been running mere minutes behind but was extremely apologetic for the tardy arrival. Before he readied himself to sit in his barber’s chair for a fresh cut and shape-up, he shook hands with the production crew who were patiently waiting and — again — took full accountability for his lack of punctuality, albeit, at the mercy of cross country travel, New York City traffic, and an unexpected ruckus at the entrance of the building that left an individual knocked unconscious and waiting on an ambulance.
Cam’ron was back in his hometown, Harlem, where he once got the “boosters boosting” and “computers ‘puting.” With a music career spanning almost 30 years, selling millions of records, and performing in sold-out venues, the “Get ‘Em Girls” rapper has a business portfolio that ain’t all hip-hop.
In recent years, Cam’s professional ambitions have reached even greater heights, and his shift into digital media has become the vehicle. To understand Cam’ron, one would have to understand that he is never not enterprising and capitalizing on an opportunity.
In February 2023, the rapper-turned-talking-head did his big one, launching It Is What It Is, an irreverent, sports-centric podcast hosted by Cam, his childhood homie, Ma$e, and Treasure “STAT Baby” Wilson. The initiative was a power move that turned his $120,000 investment into an eight-figure entity.
“I would be on the phone arguing with my man … I look at the phone; I’ve been arguing with this dude for an hour and 50 minutes about sports,” Cam’ron said.
“So, I was like, I’m gonna just invest my own money and just make it look like a professional setting, wear a suit but talk how people talk in the gambling spot, on the corner, in the projects, on the stoop or the barbershop.”
“That was the vision,” Cam said.
It Is What It Is swooped in to cater to an underserved demographic who might enjoy sports commentary—without the code switch.
Less than two years later, It Is What It Is has about 279 episodes in the can. The show ranks No. 45 in the sports podcasts category on Spotify, has 630,000 Instagram followers, and has 551,000 subscribers on YouTube, with over 80 million views. The concept is genius and took flight. Along with a sweet payday for those involved came a huge following where thousands of supporters stay saluting the triumvirate and giving Cam’ron his flowers. A glance beneath a given episode post will show subscribers of the network leaving endearing comments:
OH BOY
Cam’ron is aware that there are conflicting views of him depending on the perspective or scenario. His run-ins with controversy, which have seemingly made a few folks salty, are often misconstrued and perhaps perceived without nuance. There’s a rhyme and reason for his reactions and responses in many cases, and he’s more than willing to expound.
“I do what the situation calls for,” he says. “I wouldn’t regret anything that I’ve done in the past.”
Cam continues: “A lot of people say, ‘Cam, when he was on Bill O’Reilly, he was bugging. When he was on CNN, he was acting crazy,’ but if you ever want to know my perspective from any of those situations, I would be more than happy to explain what happened in any situation where somebody thinks that I was ignorant and stupid, arrogant, stupid, dumb, not representing the Black culture.”
Art doesn’t always imitate life, but those lines can easily blur when observing life through digital lenses. However, Cam’ron is every bit of who he says he is, not the idea of who people may project him to be. He acknowledges that his hip-hop persona, tongue-in-cheek commentary, and shoot-from-the-hip mannerisms are often conflated with Cameron Giles.
“A lot of misconceptions sometimes come from music. Because my music may be vulgar, or a movie role that I played and people think I’m still the character Rico from Paid in Full, or maybe previous interviews I’ve done, and people will be like, ‘Oh, he’s ignorant.’”
Cam’ron is even methodical in navigating those types of people and “what the situation called for.” His approach to social engagement is intentional and based on how people interact with him.
“It isn’t really about the difference between Cam’ron and Cameron, to be totally honest.”
“If [I’m] in a room with a bunch of intellectual people and I need to show my intellect, there’s no problem doing that. If [I’m] around ignorant or arrogant people or people where I need to show a different side, I can do that. I can basically read the room and see what person needs to be there according to Cameron.”
Cam’ron is an entertainer. Cameron is a multifaceted individual—and it is Cameron Giles who makes the business decisions, recruits, tutors the students, nurtures their brains, and moves the movement.
IN THE MIDST OF THE STRUGGLE
The borough of Manhattan has earned the moniker “Money Making” for its mysticism around wealth creation, and the impetus for Cam’ron’s motivation toward wealth stems from the influences he had coming up in Harlem, a historic epicenter of African American enterprise dating back to the Great Migration. Young Cam’s first grind was going door-to-door, selling newspapers at 9 years old.
Luckily, there were hustlers in the community who prevented him from going hand-to-hand.
“They didn’t really let me hustle because I played basketball,” Cam shared. “I was pretty good, so they never really wanted to give me any work or anything like that; and they’d give me $20 or $10 here and there.”
Cam, who hails from 140th Street, was hyper-aware of the materialism and shiny things East Harlem had to offer, particularly during the Crack Era. Yet, the “Big Harlem” rapper also understood at a tender age that these ornate lifestyle projections were very much embellished. And though he and his best friend, deceased Harlem rapper Huddy Combs, eventually dabbled in hustling, the stint never materialized into anything substantial.
“Drug dealers in the ‘80s and ‘90s when I was young and growing up, they didn’t have an out,” Cam’ron shared.
“They just wanted to keep selling drugs and selling drugs, and that’s just not gonna last forever.” “They were cool,” Cam said, “but they weren’t really getting no real money—like they still lived on the block.”
Cam saw the distinction between drug dealers being hood rich and trapped in their environment and the hustle spirit he witnessed from his mentor—Dame Dash—and how he flipped that mentality toward the music business, taking it to greater heights.
“Dame Dash was the only one who had the vision to want to be out.”
Dame, also a Harlem native, was instrumental in leading Cam’Ron to financial independence in the rap game, signing him to Roc-a-Fella Records. A woman Cam befriended put him up on game, schooling him on the business side of the industry when his deal with Epic Records didn’t yield significant revenue. The knowledge Cam gained through both connections led him to become the savvy businessman and entrepreneur we know today. He’s been spinning the winning circle ever since.
BOUT IT, BOUT IT
Cam’ron’s grind makes it plain: He’s a man who stands on business, not just his morals and principles but actual business. While he’s made an indelible mark in hip-hop, writing and producing albums and executive producing films like Killa Season and Paid in Full, Giles has established an impressive portfolio over the years. Cam’Ron owns Diplomat Records. The “fandemonium” around Dipset in the early 2000s resulted in Cam owning trademarks for Byrd Gang, Dipset, and Diplomats, allowing him to license music, video recordings, and clothing items.
Under the Dipset umbrella, he owns Sizzurp Liquor; It Is What It Is apparel, and Dipset Couture. In 2014, he partnered with Mark McNairy on a cape collection during New York Fashion Week—and designed face masks to respond to the Ebola virus outbreak. 2015 saw Killa Crunch cereal, and we’d be remiss not to mention Oh Boy! Cologne.
“I was ahead of my time with that,” Cam reflected. “I made masks for Ebola, but Ebola ain’t stick around, and when the COVID came around, I killed them on the masks.”
“I was ahead of the game; I made a lot of money with the masks.”
Needless to say, Cam’Ron is a branding and merchandising savant, and his timing for ideas seems to be on point. His masks weren’t the only thing poppin’ during the pandemic. Nobody saw libido enhancement products on Cam’ron’s bingo card in 2020. To much surprise, the serial entrepreneur popped out with Pink Horse Power. When asked what piqued his interest in the sex-based industry, Cam said, “Just being creative throughout the pandemic I started doing the homework on it and doing the due diligence.” The brand has since grown to include Blue Horse Power, and the rest is money in the bank.
Cam’ron’s investments include a toilet tissue business and hella real estate property and development in small cities and towns throughout Florida, where he could get his money’s worth and a great ROI.
“I saw this growing city, and the next city over was St. Cloud,” Cam said, speaking about his business ventures in Central Florida. “Kissimmee got too overcrowded, and St. Cloud got popular.”
While Cam’Ron has his hand in real estate down in South Florida, buying and selling, he has his sights set westward. “I’m working in Vegas a lot,” he shared. “To me, Vegas is gonna be the next one.” Cam identified the Raiders, Oakland A’s, and the WNBA team, the Aces, as draws to the high-roller city, which shifts the conversation to his occupation and residence in Las Vegas.
IT IS WHAT IT IS
Cam’ron launched The Come And Talk 2 Me Network after being “tired of waiting for calls back” and decided to bet on himself. As it stands, making that decision turned out to bring Cam the realest return on investment by far—and it doesn’t hurt that his childhood friend Ma$e went half on one of the most notable sports podcasts in current times.
The network went live on YouTube on Jan. 24, 2023, and boasts over 760,000 subscribers and 145,000,000 views and counting. The network houses several shows, including Es Lo Que Es, Check Out The Stat, The Mark Jackson Show, and It Is What It Is, the network’s crown jewel. The wildly successful show is filmed in Las Vegas’ Wynn Hotel at a fraction of what it costs to produce in Miami. The cost contributed to Cam’ron’s relocation to the left coast, along with future business expansion and Ma$e and Stat’s desire to work in Nevada’s resort city. It Is What It Is kicked off its fifth season in September under a newly negotiated contract with a nine-figure outcome.
Cam’ron’s excitement around his flip was “dumb happy,” but his goal is far more robust numbers.
“I’m excited about that, but look at certain people’s flip, like The Blair Witch Project, right? It was like $15,000 [to produce]; it’s [worth] like $4 billion now,” Cam said.
“When I look at stuff like that, I’m like, how do you do that? The least amount of money, the least amount of work to make, then maximize the most you could get out of it.”
“So, I still think I got a long way to go.”
Despite his business aspirations, Cam’ron has come a long way and brought legions of people along for the successful ride, providing opportunity and come-up. He spoke briefly about how he built his team from Ma$e to Stat to various correspondents:
“I had a few different people start at the beginning, and I invited Mason as a guest one time, and when he came on, it was kind of dope because we haven’t spoken in years,” Cam’ron said.
“He knows sports, he knows me from a child. We could joke with each other without feeling hurt, you know?”
Cam was intentional in establishing a role for a female broadcaster, but it wasn’t a shoo-in situation as it was when he tapped Ma$e. He first extended the opportunity to someone from his network. That fell through due to camera shyness. The following prospect was great on camera; as for sports knowledge—not so much. Enter Stat Baby, whose talent lies in communications, research, and sports knowledge. Wilson was discovered through auditions and brought an element the podcast could benefit from. A bridge across the age and gender gap with a woman’s perspective and youthful energy.
“Stat was right behind the scenes from maybe the first four or five episodes,” Cam says.
“She was about two months, three months away from graduating from the University of Miami. She fit well. I definitely wanted to have a woman who was knowledgeable, a little younger than us, and just bought something different to the show.”
OJ Simpson was another highly unexpected correspondent who made the cut. The infamous NFL Hall of Famer appeared on the show and entertained viewers with banter between himself and the host. OJ’s inclusion was Ma$e’s idea, but it was about redemption and humanizing the sports icon for both sports enthusiasts. Simpson’s residing in Vegas was purely coincidental.
“The reason why we picked OJ is because, in the public eye, a lot of people say OJ Simpson is guilty, but he beat the trial,” Cam shared.
“If you’re guilty in people’s public opinion, you can’t do nothing about that … we’re working with an innocent man. What’s the problem?”
WHAT’S REALLY GOOD?
Let Cam’ron tell it, streaming is the wave of money-making for entertainers, specifically those in the music industry. Cam explains the ease of access in streaming despite people’s nostalgia for music and visiting record stores. The “Purple Haze” rapper noted the cultural and generational significance of streaming in that the younger generation can easily tap into old-school music, giving the classics a longer shelf life.
He says the older generation will have to learn it, albeit “more tricky than just doing math from selling records or CDS or tape any type of physical form of music.” He said they “gotta learn it just like you have to learn that form of music as well.”
As for his own streaming business, Cam’ron plans to expand programming.
“I’m actually starting another network as well; not just sports, but other content, music, movies, sitcoms.”
It probably makes sense to pick up on what he’s putting down. Cam’s journey is proof of possibility and how jumping into new lanes and new technologies might bring success—not to mention the consistency and hustling heart.
Nowadays, Cam’ron is looking toward the mountains—figuratively and literally. He’s considering buying swaths of land to develop in the mountain time zones—think Arizona, Utah. North Dakota. His circle is so diverse that he has a friend who produces spring water from his own land.
“You gotta surround yourself with certain types of people who own mountains and pump water out of them and sell the water,” Cam chuckled.
“I know somebody who owns a few mountains, and I never even knew you can own mountains. You know what I’m saying? It’s about learning different things.”
Cam’ron has yet to figure out his end goal. He says he’s unsure and that once “the machine” is self-functioning, he’s “off to the next thing and trying to build something different.”
Cam shows no signs of slowing his roll, as he describes a modus operandi that has surely worked for him for almost three decades, and though when Cam references “the machine,” he is referring to his projects, I am curious if he knows that he, too, is “the machine.”
“Even though I be trying to take care of myself, I still be working and sh*t,” he said.
Although he has moments of retreat, where he indulges in yacht life, Cam’ron acknowledges that he’s a workaholic, oftentimes pushing himself well beyond the norm and, at other times, beyond physical limits. He admits to filming episodes of It Is What It Is while being hospitalized. Despite it all, Cam’ron is health conscious, eating better and exercising, and being laser-focused on his wellness due to health risks and hereditary high blood pressure in his family.
The end goal discussion is reframed as a question about retirement and what that looks like for Cam’Ron. He says his accountant has him stacking money and that “retirement looks like this,” meaning like his current station in life.
“I’m old. I just look good. You know what I’m saying?” Cam affirmed.
“You gotta realize I get to watch sports and then go talk about it for an hour, then go online and ask how many people bought Pink Horse Power or get to look at this property and place people I trust to build whatever they build.”
“I get to go see my childhood friend that I haven’t hung out with in 20 years and talk sh*t for an hour about sports and anything else that’s not really work for me.”
Cam’ron is pleased with himself and is extremely proud of the life and career he’s conceived for himself, having hailed from a storied hood during one of the most notorious drug eras of our time and surpassed talented others who have succumbed to the streets and the drug game—user and dealers—his reality could be a lot different.
WRITTEN BY IDA HARRIS
DIGITAL PRODUCTION DEVEN ROBINSON
ART DIRECTION & GRAPHIC DESIGN TODD CHAPMAN
VIDEOGRAPHY & VIDEO PRODUCTION EDWIAN STOKES
PHOTOGRAPHY RAYON RICHARDS
LOCATION THE VICTORIA THEATER
WRITTEN BY
IDA HARRIS
DIGITAL PRODUCTION
DEVEN ROBINSON
ART DIRECTION & GRAPHIC DESIGN
TODD CHAPMAN
VIDEOGRAPHY & VIDEO PRODUCTION
EDWIAN STOKES
PHOTOGRAPHY
RAYON RICHARDS