Camron:
Purple Haze

Release Date: 07 December 2004

Reviewed By: Dapo Ogunjana

1. Intro

2. More Gangsta Music

3. Get Down

4. Welcome To Purple Haze (Skit)

5. Killa Cam / Roll That Skit

6. Leave Me Alone Pt.2

7. Down and Out

8. Harlem Streets

9. Rude Boy (skit)

10. Girls

11. I'm A Chicken Head (skit)

12. Soap Opera

13. O.T. (skit)

14. Bubble Music

15. More Reasons / Car skit

16. The Block (Skit)

17. The Dope Man

18. Family Ties

19. Chi skit / Adrenalin / Phone skit

20. Hey Lady

21. Shake

22. Get em Girls / The Mizzle Outro

23. Dip-set Forever

24. Take em To Church

Lil' Jon - Crunk Juice
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Cam’ron definitely needs no introduction. His latest release, ‘Purple Haze’ finally came out of the coolers, after years of waiting (as the intro announces: “written in 2001”), and six release delays. However, this has paved the way for the release of fellow rapper, Jim Jones’ album ‘On My Way To Church’ and ‘Diplomatic Immunity’ from Cam’s boys, The Diplomats. The high school basketball star-turned-rapper that delivered hit tunes like ‘Horse and Carriage’ and ‘Oh Boy’ is back with a 24-track album to whet the appetite of a nation of rap listening lovers. Typical Cam’ron albums contain at least two anthemic songs, and there is no reason why ‘Purple Haze’ would be any different from previous releases.

The new album contains well laid out tracks with rap beats that fits Cam’s rap style. Also present on ‘Purple Haze’ is a host of sampled tracks from old school artists like Cyndi Lauper, Earth, Wind and Fire, Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye. It is not surprising therefore to notice the presence of the multi-Grammy nominated rapper/producer, Kanye West on two tracks on the album, ‘Down and Out’, and ‘Dip-Set Forever’.

The first track after the intro of the album, ‘More Gangsta Music’, fellow rapper Juelz Santana shouts out his rap lyrics on explosive beats, an effort that will definitely make the track a club hit.

Other guest appearances on the album include Jaheim on the slow tempo track ‘More Reasons’, Twista and Psycho spitting out fast paced rap lyrics on ‘Adrenaline’ and of course Kanye West and Syleena Johnson on the upbeat track ‘Down and Out’.

It is obvious Cam’ron belongs to the Roc-A-Fella family, with the track ‘Get Down’ having a resemblance to Jay-Z’s Grammy-winning song, ‘Hard Knock Life’. Cam’ron fails to make the beats as vibrant and energetic as the original on his version of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Just Wanna Have Fun’. Also noticed was the sluggish vocals on the song, making this one of the poorer quality tracks. ‘Soap Opera’, ‘Hey Lady’ and ‘Shake’ on the other hand, are beautifully produced tracks.

‘Purple Haze’ is definitely a signature album from Cam’ron. The album has almost an equal representation of strong, upbeat tracks and weak tracks. It would be very nice to see some of the tracks on the album enter the charts, as songs from previous albums have. It only remains a matter of time to know which track on ‘Purple Haze’ would be the highest chart buster like ‘Oh Boy’ was.

Rating: 3/5

Top 3 Tracks:
5) Killa Cam
7) Down and Out
21) Shake

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