Trying to Make Sense of Cam'ron and Jim Jones' Latest Beef

The issue first began back in December, when the “Hey Ma” rapper hosted 50 Cent on his YouTube show, Talk With Flee. Killa and 50 have their own long and sordid history, dating back to 2007, when Fif appeared on Angie Martinez’s Hot 97 radio station show, taking aim at Koch Records, which at the time was home to Jim Jones. 50 called it a “graveyard,” and Cam eventually called into the show to attack 50 for his remarks. Cam dropped a diss song entitled “Curtis,” Fif retaliated with “Funeral Music,” and the two spat venom at one another before calling off the beef a few years later.

The drama was reignited back in the COVID days of 2021, after the Verzuz battle (remember those?) between Dipset and The Lox. 50, always keen to stir shit up on social media, said in a since-deleted Instagram post that Cam and his crew got smoked, which led to more bad blood. Move along to December of 2024, and all previous feuds were seemingly put behind them.

Alas, their conversation spurred a rivalry within Dipset itself, as Cam and 50 reminisced about the time back in ‘07 when the G-Unit boss brought out Jim Jones and Juelz Santana during an NYC show. Cam, obviously, thought this was a slight aimed at him, and he said to 50 during their 2024 conversation: “We were having interior problems at Dipset. Nobody knew about this, nobody knew that we were not on the same page,” he explained. “So when me and [50] were battling, you had members of Dipset to come to your show.” He added: “When n*ggas went on stage, I was like, ‘This shit is spinning out. It was a checkmate moment. I said, ‘This n*gga’s devious.’ But I respected it, I liked that shit.”

Weeks later, Jim Jones appeared on Justin Laboy’s Respectfully podcast on January 6, which found the “We Fly High” rapper venting about Cam’ron’s acumen as a businessman and the way he went about his business after achieving success. He also discussed Killa and Fif bringing up his name during their chat. “Them n*ggass be on my dick. Them n*ggass ain’t got nothing else to think about but Capo. I did a lot for them n*ggass in their life, ya heard? Both of them. Pause, though. Get off my dick! It’s only space on there for baby girl. Come on, man. Tugging on my shit like that.”

Jones also discussed an issue he had with Killa Cam dialing into Hot 97 to defend Koch Records. “When Cam called the station over the Koch shit, I felt that was childish. You didn’t come outside when it’s time to really get active so how dare you do some weak shit like that.”

Jones provided some more drama when he dove into Cam’s relationship with his co-host, Mase. He said the latter was disrespectful to his former Dipset boss after signing with Diddy’s Bad Boys entity, and that the relationship they have now isn’t so authentic. “I watched Mase shit on Cam and everybody around him. Like, all the time. I was Cam’s man, you heard? Cam and Mase were so-called best friends, grew up together…That’s one thing people can’t never say, is that I wasn’t there for every single thing.”

Obviously, the “Down and Out” rapper didn’t take kindly to the words from Capo, and he used his platform on the widely popular show he co-hosts with Ma$e, It Is What It Is, to go medieval on Jones.

Cam went after Jones’ Harlem bonafides, claiming he was from a different neighborhood altogether. He began: “You’re a Guardian Angel in designer, n*gga…You are from the Bronx, bro. You are not from Harlem…You are not from Harlem. I did not grow up with you, my n*gga.” Cam also refuted the claim that Jones was hanging around during Killa’s early success with his Children of the Corn group. Cam’ron remembers things differently.

“You wasn’t there, n*gga,” he said. “We were super-duper popping in the street. Prior to the internet. Everybody knew we were about to get a record deal…Basically, you heard our freestyles and you came up to me one day…and you said…‘Yo man, I heard the freestyles. Y’all killing shit. My grandmother died if y’all wanna come by and just hang out, y’all could, y’all more than welcome.'”

Lastly, Killa Cam took issue with Jones’ claim that he was, above all, the reason Dipset was so popular in the first place. The Harlem rapper quipped in his signature fashion: “If people choose to believe that, then I got a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you.” Where the duo go from here is anyone’s guess, but the odds of a Dipset reunion happening any time soon seem slimmer than ever before.

It seems like Jim Jones is gearing up to release a new album called At The Church Steps. (He’s been working his "Problem"-inspired single “Harlem” like crazy.) After Cam'ron's recent comments, Jim Jones teased a new track where he seemingly responds to Cam'ron's remarks about Ma$e teaching him how to rap.

In a snippet of the song, which was produced by Statik Selektah, you can hear Jimmy rapping:

“So, what more you wanna ask him? You n*ggas taught me how to rap, and now I’m platinum.”

Then, on January 16, he previewed another track, where he spits:

“Is he a Bronx n*gga, is he a Harlem n*gga?...Fuck all that, tell me what’s the problem, n*gga? I’m too thorough, I move through, my crew thorough.”

In addition to the new music, Jim Jones has been promoting Make Dipset Great Again merch, adding another layer to the ongoing drama.

I mean, the clear answer to this is no. During the segment on It Is What It Is, Cam'ron shared some hard truths about the Diplomats, when he said "The Dipset movement was from 2001 to 2006/07."

Despite the group's popularity, it seems like the members have been going down their separate paths for a while now.

In fact, this new dust up is similar to the one that occurred in 2017, when Jim Jones, who had just signed to Roc Nation, appeared on Funkmaster Flex's show and broke down the tension in almost emotional terms.

"People don't understand what this Diplomat sht was built on," Jimmy said, tearing up as he spoke. "If you really lived this last 20 years like I did, you’d understand, boy. I put everything on the line for this. And I took it with a smile, even when n*ggas doubted me, n*ggas downed me."

Cam'ron later responded, telling the origin story of how he met Jim while also expressing some regret over a joke he made about Jones' longtime girlfriend, Chrissy. But Cam also talked about wanting to keep things private.

"My thing is, keep shit in-house," Cam said. "All the shit we doing is bird shit. What we doing right now is bird shit, but I don’t want n*ggas thinking I’m some bad type of guy. I think this shit is bird shit personally, being on Live when a nigga got my muthafuckin’ phone number. I think the shit is stupid."

Obviously, there have been some mini-reunions, Kith campaigns, and even some good music ("Pity in the City" is crazy). But honestly, you could see how distant Dipset was during the Verzuz battle, which The Lox won in an overwhelming fashion.

A year after that, Jim Jones would talk Angie Martinez and admit he hadn't spoken to Cam'ron since that night.