By his own admission, Cam’ron’s favorite gift he ever gave somebody was one he couldn’t afford. Some time before he could secure a record deal, Cam wanted to save his grandmother the trouble of hopping onto an elevator and heading to the laundromat to wash her clothes, so he planned to get her a washing machine. “It was a lot for her to do all that,” Cam tells REVOLT. The only problem? He didn’t have the money to cop it. But his friend Ma$e, who already had a record deal, did. So when the time came, he was finally able to spare his grandma the hassle of local laundry spots.
“That was probably the best gift that I was able to give anybody,” Cam explains. “And that's due to Ma$e giving me the money to give it.” These days, Cam’s got enough guap to give a lot of things to a lot of people, and he says he’s mostly into giving money, but the point is this: He comes through. And that last part is the focus of The Gift of Fresh, the new SNIPES campaign he's launching with the streetwear retailer today (Nov. 4).
In the commercial, the Talk With Flee host narrates a tale of folks plotting — and securing gifts for — the people they know. Throughout the clip, we see folks from every corner of the Holiday Season Industrial Complex. There’s Samara Cyn staring in the mirror to make sure her Christmas fit is right. There’s the semi-irresponsible bro who forgot to cop somebody a gift until the last second. Then there’s responsible Perris who already ordered his gifts from SNIPES online. Handled by Cam and some deft scriptwriters, it’s realistic and funny. It’s also a little touching.
SNIPES’ new Christmas ad reminds Cam of growing up in Harlem
“Just don't forget the person not expecting anything,” The Diplomats founder says in the commercial. “And this the part that hits different: when fresh turns into showing somebody you thought about them.”
“I turn down 90% of the things that's offered to me. So when they came to me with this, this was really dope,” he tells us. With plenty of Black faces and ‘round the way vernacular that doesn’t feel stilted, the commercial has a down-home feel Cam can rock with. It’s one that reminds him of Christmases past.
“Even though I didn't grow up with riches, my mother and my grandmother always made sure I had great Christmases. Atari, Nintendo, Sega Genesis, things like that. The family that I had made sure I had a lot of nice things,” Cam remembers. “As time goes along, you just see some of these things disappearing. I remember being in New York about two, three years ago. I hadn't lived in New York in the last couple of Christmases, but I'm like, ‘It doesn't feel like Christmas.’”
“And with this campaign, that's why I thought about doing it when I read it,” the entertainment maven continues. “I'm glad they were able to capture it visually because it gave me that feeling of when I was growing up as a child.”
Get in the holiday spirit with Cam's new SNIPES ad up top and shop gifts from SNIPES here. This season, give The Gift of Fresh!