Cam'ron

I just do hip-hop because I love to do it.

There was a time when only athletes had sneakers. Entertainers having sneakers, on any level, is a blessing.

I wear pink whether the public sees it or not. Whether I had a sneaker or not, I'd still be wearing pink.

Jay Z and Nas is probably my favorite rap beef because Nas was kinda quiet for a while.

I grew up in New York City: Harlem, New York. I played ball for probably two of the biggest amateur basketball organizations in the city.

I went to Manhattan Center High School.

You can't be going through life expecting everything. You gotta have discipline.

I loved Muggsy Bogues when he was in the league.

I'm just a Harlem dude that can rap, and people dig my style and persona.

I didn't want to be a rapper full time. You know, Big L kinda - God bless the dead - influenced me to do that.

I sell bikinis. I sell comforters. I sell Cam'ron pillows. I sell a bunch of things off my likeness, and it all came from music, so it's definitely a blessing.

It just feels good when I give people sneakers.

I've never really dissed Ma$e - I just tell you the truth, and if you think he's a sucker for that, it ain't my fault.

There is nothing that will be bigger than a Michael Jordan tribute.

If you just freestyle, everybody is gonna go, 'Freestyle.'

To me, any publicity is good publicity.

They didn't know what to do with rap music. You walk into Epic, and they're wearing straight-leg khakis with creases, Prada shoes with tassels. They couldn't comprehend where I was coming from.

I'm not gonna sit back and listen to somebody who listens to 3LW all day.

I'm happy to see somebody from the urban community that could go out and make a half-a-billion dollars.

When we did Diplomats music, it was all genuine, and I think that's why people love it so much, because they seen a group of kids from Harlem that had almost nothing come up to be platinum-selling artists, and people rode that wave with us.

I always grow, every album.

They've got a great tool in the Internet. If you've really got a good movement, you can see who likes you.

Go to school and get your education and follow your dreams.

With music, you've got to find ways to get paid again, 'cause all the cool kids in junior high school and high school, they think you're wack if you pay for music.

Everything is a catwalk for me. I walk to the store, and that's a catwalk.

The thing is, with me, my life is a catwalk.

Me, I don't really have time to do nothing with Mase.

I never dissed Mase.

I don't mess with Mase no more, because me, personally, I just go by a different standard than people.

You know what's dope about social media, the Internet, and stuff in general? It's that you never really realized before how much love you get, and now you can see people around the country wearing your stuff or wearing your face.

All-Star Weekend always treats me great. I love the atmosphere that comes with it.

When I do a song, it is more or less for the radio because I've got to do it - that's what I have got to do to win - I always go home and write two street songs.

It takes more than a botched carjacking to keep me down.

They treat my stuff like wine. It just gets better with time.

If you don't stay up with technology, you're gonna fall out of the loop and not make any money.

You like me, or you hate me. There's really no in between.

The movies that I've done in the past, everybody's been like, 'Cam always gets away in a movie playing Cam.' So, like, I'm trying to step outside the box a little bit just to show my range in acting.

What people have to realize is this: You have rappers who are popular or whatever for the time being, but that don't mean you necessarily want to dress like them. You may have a guy who sells five million records; do you want to dress like him? When you see me, you think you may want to dress like that guy because that guy is fly.

I think I'm the best at everything that I do. I may be biased because it's me. But if you ask me that, that's what I'm going to tell you.

I'm a fashion icon.

Where I come from, once word gets out that you've cooperated with the police, that only makes you a bigger target of criminal violence. That is a dark reality in so many neighborhoods like mine across America. I'm not saying its right, but it's reality.

I wanted to stand out and look different. It wasn't nothing that was done purposely, or I was going to be the guy who wears pink forever. It was something for me to stand out.

I'm a caterer, interior decorator - a lot of hobbies people don't know I do.

Me and 50 had a conversation. We good.

No record company in the world would say, 'We're not promoting if you keep calling somebody a snitch.' They know what makes money. A record company would never be that stupid. Ever.

I just think that rap takes way more slack than the video games and the movies. We don't make guns. Smith and Wesson makes guns. Like, white people make guns and bullets, and all we're doing is rhyming and putting words together.

There's nothing really to talk about with the police. I mean, for what?

Just growing up in Harlem, it didn't matter what you had to do to get fresh - you would do it.

When I did pink, I did it so I wouldn't be dressing like everybody else.

When I was young, I wanted to be like the rappers. I remember being in junior high and wanting a fisherman hat and a link because EPMD had one. I wanted to wear Adidas because Run-DMC wore Adidas. As I came into my own, I just wanted to do me.