Cam'ron

Cam'ron's increasingly outlandish yet unmistakably East Coast gangsta rap was one of the most unlikely mainstream infiltrations of the late '90s and 2000s. After operating with the likes of Big L and the pre-fame Mase, and earning the support of the Notorious B.I.G., the rapper scored a Top Ten, gold-certified hit with his debut album, Confessions of Fire (1998), and within four years threatened to crown the Billboard Hot 100 with the Grammy-nominated Just Blaze production "Oh Boy" and more pop-oriented "Hey Ma," singles off the platinum Come Home with Me (2002). Amid the rise of his busy Diplomats crew, co-founded with Jim Jones, Cam'ron went even farther out with Purple Haze (2004), and had his deliberately unorthodox, over-the-top effort rewarded with another gold disc. Since then, his profile has been considerably lower, and he has used his clout to support younger talent such as Vado, with whom he has recorded as the U.N. Near the end of the 2010s, the rapper alternately known as Killa Cam celebrated the 15th anniversary of Purple Haze with Purple Haze 2 (2019), his first true solo album in a decade.