Cam’ron and the Diplomats had fans wondering if they would ever reunite. The Harlem collective shut all of those thoughts down when they dropped “Dipshits” with Juelz Santana on the hook, Freekey Zekey and Jim Jones in the vid, and epic commentary from Dame Dash. However, with Killa Cam proclaiming that Dipset was still alive and breathing, it came with more questions about the group's future.
On Monday, Cam returned to his native Harlem, N.Y. as a celebrity coach for the EBC Rucker Park All-Stars, who were taking on Shaquille O’Neal and Nerlens Noel's Reebok Breakout Camp All-Stars. The Dipset captain was rocking a pair of Reebok Ventilator’s, which can be found on Reebok.com for $89.99. We sat down with the hip-hop vet and discussed how the Federal Reserve EP is coming along, what it was like to work with Nicki Minaj and the chances of a Diplomatic Immunity 3. While the official Diplomats reunion is still up in the air, Cam’ron revealed that Jim Jones and Hell Rell would be on more editions of his First of the Month EP series.
So you’re here coaching the EBC squad today, what’s it going to take for those young guys to win?
They’re from New York, they already got the heart and ambition. They just have to put in their skills and we’ll leave with the victory.
The “First Ballot” Questions are dropping in honor of Allen Iverson, in your opinion, is Allen Iverson a first ballot Hall of Famer?
Hell yeah. He’s 6'0", led the league in scoring for 11 years, took his team to the championship one year, but you can’t name that starting five unless you’re from Philly and really a fan. He took a team to the Finals at 6'0". I would say definitely he’s a first ballot Hall of Famer in my opinion.
We’re all working. Maybe top of the year we might sit down and put something together as a group. But everybody is in a good space.
Definitely. How’s Federal Reserve coming along?
It’s good, man. I’ve been running around. I got this project called First of the Month that drops every month. You guys at Complex know about that. Me and A-Trak had finished most of the EP a minute ago, so it’s already done. It’s just about letting these First of the Month EPs finish out and for A-Trak to get back from his tour.
So on First of the Month Volume 2 that just dropped, you had a track with Nicki [Minaj], what was it like to work with her?
Nicki is a professional. I sent her something for her album so she sent me something for mine and we shot the video. The video was actually shot over a year ago, so I just kept it in the cut and made sure it was time for it. But we did everything back-to-back. When I did stuff on her album, she did stuff for mine, so I just held onto mine until it was time, but it was cool working with her. She’s down to earth, she’s cool.
You had a Dipset collab with Hell Rell and Jim Jones on First of the Month 2, are we getting any more of that with the rest of the volumes coming out?
Well, Hell Rell is on another track and Jim too. Not on another together, but they’re on the next couple First of the Months. Then, Jim has an EP coming out soon that I’m on. We’re all working. Maybe top of the year we might sit down and put something together as a group. But everybody is in a good space.
So you think eventually we could be getting a Diplomatic Immunity 3?
Maybe. Maybe. That’s why I said the top of the year.
What’s it like to come back to Harlem and take in some games at the Rucker?
I’m always in Harlem, I just don’t come to this side that often. I’m with my family, my man E.J., it’s his part of the woods but they always treat me like family. Very happy to be back. You know I used to cut ass up here, he’s [E.J.] a victim. He doesn’t like to talk about it too much, but there aren’t really too many places in Harlem that I didn’t cut ass, man. But it’s definitely a pleasure to come back and see friends that I haven’t seen in awhile.
