The two years leading up to
Killa Season found
Dipset leader
Cam'ron coming off as more of a newsmaker than a rapper, and the news was often bad, mostly confusing and oddball. There was his beef with
Mase and his bigger beef with
Jay-Z, which found
Cam'ron fighting battles for
Damon Dash while
Dash just shrugged. He was also the victim of a botched carjacking with all sorts of questions orbiting around it, and he directed an over-the-top movie that shares this album's title. Plus, when the leader of one of hip-hop's most irresponsible crews announces he's the man to wipe pedophiles off the Internet with a series of entrapments that are caught on tape and released on
Dipset DVDs, you've got wonder what in the world this mixtape-spewing, freak-show ringmaster has going on upstairs, and where's the music to convince everyone they should care? The overly long and scattershot
Killa Season won't convince everyone as it literally laughs at detractors, shoves most of its fire to the end of the album, and carelessly bounces from cold gangsta to vulnerable. Best of the latter and best of show is the great "I.B.S.": a quirky number that explains
Cam'ron's significant weight loss was due to irritable bowel syndrome. Every doctor visit is chronicled and the scatological puns are numerous, but the hardcore
Dipset fan will jump right ahead to "You Gotta Love It," an ambitious
Jay-Z dis that has no shame ("It was Rocawear/When
Dame had it/Now you got it/Call it Cockawear" or the slaying observation that the Def Jam boss has actually worn sandals with jeans!). The memorable "Wet Wipes," the
Alchemist-produced "Something New," and "Touch It or Not" with
Lil Wayne are all sane and hooky enough to reach past the core audience, proving the man hasn't lost touch.
Killa Season would have benefited from trimming and better planning, but those things are extremely rare in the world of
Dipset. Taking that into account, the album is exceptional and a good enough excuse for two more years of mouthing off and starting trouble. ~ David Jeffries