Killa Season

If *Purple Haze* was Cam’ron’s grand attempt at a kaleidoscopic pop record, then *Killa Season* was his recompense: a return to the raw street rap of his native Harlem. By this point Cam and his associates in The Diplomats had taken the blueprint forged at Roc-A-Fella Records and exaggerated it. “Get ‘Em Daddy,” “You Gotta Love It,” and “War” are as agitated as they are raucous. Total unrest never sounded so appealing. Cam’s sweet side was equally potent, and “He Tried to Play Me,” “I.B.S.,” and “Love My Life” make the case that no other rapper sounds as good over plaintive piano.

Harlem Dipset magnate follows a string of relentless mixtapes and the soul-infused 2004 masterpiece Purple Haze with the soundtrack to a film about a hardscrabble hustler.

The two years leading up to Killa Season found Dipset leader Cam'ron coming off as more of a newsmaker than a rapper, and the news was often bad, mostly confusing and oddball.