Purple Haze (album)

Last updated
Purple Haze
Cam'ron - Purple Haze.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedDecember 7, 2004
Genre
Length77:47
Label
Producer
Cam'ron chronology
Come Home with Me
(2002)
Purple Haze
(2004)
Killa Season
(2006)
Singles from Purple Haze
  1. "Get Em Girls"
    Released: November 4, 2003
  2. "Lord You Know"
    Released: February 10, 2004
  3. "Shake"
    Released: July 20, 2004
  4. "Hey Lady"
    Released: September 10, 2004
  5. "Girls"
    Released: December 1, 2004
  6. "Down and Out"
    Released: January 11, 2005

Purple Haze is the fourth studio album by Harlem rapper Cam'ron. The album was released on December 7, 2004, by Diplomat Records, Roc-A-Fella Records and distributed by Def Jam Recordings. The release of this album was delayed several times from November 2003, the first single "Get Em Girls" was released a year prior to the actual album release. The album debuted at number 20 on the Billboard 200 with 123,000 copies sold in its first week. [1] The album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Contents

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 72/100 [2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Blender Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]
Entertainment Weekly B+ [5]
NME 8/10 [6]
Pitchfork 8.7/10 [7]
Spin B+ [8]
Stylus Magazine B+ [9]

Purple Haze received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 72, based on 7 reviews. [2]

David Drake of Stylus Magazine praised the album for its "bombastic production and surreal lyricism" and Cam's "unique brand of idiosyncratic gangsta" being wildly engaging because of his absurd, poker-faced delivery, concluding that "Purple Haze is such a twisted take on gangsta that it has to be heard to be believed." [9] Blender contributor Jonah Weiner noted how the production throughout the record moves between "aggressively insane ("Shake")" to "ador[ing] pop (the Cyndi Lauper-interpolating "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun")" while Cam matches that balance with wordplay that's "Missy gibberish swathed in 50 Cent menace," concluding that he "writes pop hooks and avant-garde rhymes while staying as close to the streets as a manhole cover." [4] Chris Ryan from Spin gave credit to Cam for tightening his signature flow, choosing quality and risk-worthy beats, and maintaining listener interest while delivering "Harlem symbolism and non-sensical muttering" throughout the album. [8] AllMusic editor Andy Kellman was mixed about the tracks on the record, finding "Girls" and "Harlem Streets" to be weak inclusions but praised the contributions from Kanye West ("Down and Out"), Pop & Versatile ("Soap Opera") and the Heatmakerz ("More Gangsta Music"). He also commented that the "Diplomat-affiliated material" being released alongside it that year may cause their fanbase to suffer burnout from too much content. [3] Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club commended the album for adopting the hyper-soul style of Roc-A-Fella's sound throughout the track listing but criticized Cam's lyric delivery for being similar to nursery rhymes, saying that it "lumbers drearily through a sea of gangsta-rap clichés." [10]

Online music magazine Pitchfork placed Purple Haze at number 114 on their list of the Top 200 Albums of the 2000s. Pitchfork writer Sean Fennessey said, "Call this a personal project for a relentlessly distant artist; an asshole's lament. Purple Haze is simultaneously a refined, perfectly A&R-ed follow-up and one of the most confusing, crude full-lengths ever." [11]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Intro"
Skitzo2:10
2."More Gangsta Music" (featuring Juelz Santana)
The Heatmakerz 4:26
3."Get Down"
Chad Hamilton2:37
4."Welcome to Purple Haze" (skit)GilesCam'ron1:15
5."Killa Cam"
  • Giles
  • Green
  • Thomas
The Heatmakerz4:24
6."Leave Me Alone, Pt. 2"
Nasty Beat Makers 4:02
7."Down and Out" (featuring Kanye West and Syleena Johnson)
  • Brian "All Day" Miller
  • Kanye West
4:08
8."Harlem Streets"
Ty-Tracks3:41
9."Rude Boy" (skit)GilesCam'ron1:28
10."Girls" (featuring Mona Lisa)
Charlemagne3:43
11."I'm a Chicken Head" (skit)GilesCam'ron1:26
12."Soap Opera"
Pop & Versatile4:10
13."O.T." (skit)GilesCam'ron0:24
14."Bubble Music"
Stay Gettin' Productions3:51
15."More Reasons" (featuring Jaheim)Hamilton4:30
16."The Block" (skit)GilesCam'ron0:46
17."The Dope Man" (featuring Jim Jones)Bang3:26
18."Family Ties" (featuring Nicole Wray)
Skitzo4:17
19."Adrenaline" (featuring Twista and Psycho Drama)
The Legendary Traxster 4:39
20."Hey Lady" (featuring Freekey Zekey)Pop & Versatile3:07
21."Shake" (featuring J.R. Writer)
Self Service, Music Mystro3:28
22."Get 'Em Girls"
  • Giles
  • Rodriguez
Skitzo4:23
23."Dip-Set Forever"
  • Brian "All Day" Miller
  • Kanye West
3:54
24."Take 'Em to Church" (featuring Juelz Santana and Un Kasa)
  • Giles
  • Antwan Thompson
  • James
  • Antonio Wilder
Amadeus3:48
Leftover Tracks

Sample credits

Personnel

Credits for Purple Haze adapted from AllMusic. [12]

Charts and certifications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cam'ron</span> American rapper

Cameron Giles, better known by his stage name Cam'ron, is an American rapper. Beginning his career in the early-1990s as Killa Cam, Giles signed with Lance "Un" Rivera's Untertainment, an imprint of Epic Records to release his first two studio albums Confessions of Fire (1998) and S.D.E. (2000); the former received gold certification by the RIAA. After leaving Epic, Giles signed with Roc-A-Fella Records in 2001 to release his third studio album Come Home with Me the following year. It received platinum certification by the RIAA and spawned the singles "Oh Boy" and "Hey Ma", which peaked at numbers four and three respectively on the Billboard Hot 100. His fourth studio album, Purple Haze (2004) was met with similar success and likewise received gold certification by the RIAA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juelz Santana</span> American rapper

LaRon Louis James, better known by his stage name Juelz Santana, is an American rapper and member of East Coast hip hop group the Diplomats. He is best known for his appearances on Cam'ron's 2002 singles "Oh Boy" and "Hey Ma," which peaked at numbers four and three on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. His guest appearance on Chris Brown's 2005 single, "Run It!" peaked atop the chart for five weeks and received triple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). As a lead artist, he is also known for his 2005 single "There It Go ," which peaked at number six on the chart and received platinum certification by the RIAA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Jones (rapper)</span> American rapper (born 1976)

Joseph Guillermo Jones II, better known by his stage name Jim Jones, is an American rapper and record executive. He is a founding member of the hip hop collective the Diplomats, which he formed in 1997 with fellow Harlem native Cam'ron.

The Diplomats is an American hip hop collective formed in 1997 by childhood friends Cam'ron and Jimmy Jones in Harlem, New York. The group was originally composed of Cam'ron, Jim Jones and Freekey Zekey, all of whom grew up together in Harlem. In 1999, fellow Harlem-based rapper Juelz Santana joined the group.

<i>Come Home with Me</i> 2002 studio album by Camron

Come Home With Me is the third studio album by American rapper Cam'ron, released on May 14, 2002, by Cam'ron's Diplomats Records and Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records. There are featured guest appearances from Jimmy Jones, Juelz Santana, Freekey Zekey, DJ Kay Slay, Daz Dillinger, Tiffany, Jay-Z, McGruff, Memphis Bleek, and Beanie Sigel. To date, it is his most commercially successful album; it peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 226,000 copies, and eventually sold one million copies in the United States, being certified Platinum by the RIAA.

<i>S.D.E.</i> 2000 studio album by Camron

S.D.E. is the second studio album by Harlem rapper Cam'ron. The album was originally titled "The Rough, Rough, Rough Album" and was set for a 1999 release, however the project was pushed back to 2000 and many new songs were recorded. The album was finally released on September 19, 2000, by Epic Records. It features guest appearances from Destiny's Child, Noreaga, Dutch & Spade, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Prodigy, Freekey Zekey, Juelz Santana, and Jim Jones. The album debuted and peaked at number 14 on the Billboard 200, selling 73,000 copies in its first week.

Diplomat Records is an American hip hop record label co-founded by Harlem rappers Jim Jones and Cam'ron.

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<i>Killa Season</i> 2006 studio album by Camron

Killa Season is the fifth studio album by Harlem rapper Cam'ron. The album was released on May 16, 2006, by Diplomat Records, Asylum Records, and Atlantic Records. Cam'ron was also the executive producer of the album. The album received positive reviews but critics found the production and content lesser compared to Purple Haze. Killa Season sold 114,000 copies in its first week, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oh Boy (Cam'ron song)</span> 2002 single by Camron featuring Juelz Santana

"Oh Boy" is a 2002 Grammy-nominated hip hop single by Cam'ron from his album Come Home with Me, and features Juelz Santana. The single was released through Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records and Cam'ron's Diplomats Records.

<i>From Me to U</i> 2003 studio album by Juelz Santana

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<i>Crime Pays</i> (Camron album) 2009 studio album by Camron

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"Gone" is a song by American rapper Kanye West from his second studio album, Late Registration (2005). The song features guest appearances from fellow rappers Cam'ron and Consequence. It was solely produced by West, who served as a songwriter alongside the rappers and Chuck Willis, the latter of which received credit due to having written the sampled work. A hip hop track, it contains samples of Otis Redding's version of "It's Too Late". The song's production is largely orchestral, featuring string arrangements set in two chords. Lyrically, it sees West speaking of potentially abandoning fame and moving elsewhere for seeking a simpler life.

References

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