Director Lance "Un" Rivera attends Queen Latifah's CoverGirl Queen Collection Casting Call at BB King Blues Club & Grill January 29, 2007 in New York City.
Cam’ron and Lance “Un” Rivera have officially hashed things out. On the "Lance starts from the beginning” episode of “Talk With Flee,” the rapper sat down with the music executive to revisit The Notorious B.I.G.’s legacy, signing Cam to his first deal, and Junior M.A.F.I.A., among other topics.
“So, a few weeks ago me and my bro [Lance ‘Un’ Rivera] had a couple [of] words to say to each other online. We spoke off camera and decided to have the convo on camera,” Cam’ron shared ahead of the episode. “And we got a lot resolved.” That much was true. Over the course of their discussion, they spoke about everything from why their relationship went south — though neither could recall exactly why — to Cam hilariously claiming he used to bust Un on the basketball court.
Without further ado, here are five gems from Cam’ron’s “Talk With Flee” featuring Un. Tune in to the full episode here!
1. Cam’ron on how a trip to The Notorious B.I.G.’s house led to his first deal
Just a few minutes into their chat, Cam’ron opened up about how a visit to The Notorious B.I.G.’s place paved the way to his first record deal. Ma$e, who was signed to Bad Boy Records at the time, took him to the late musician’s house, where he “rapped for Biggie for about maybe 35, 40 minutes.”
“B.I.G. was in the middle of doing an album at the time, and every beat that he put on, I just rapped to,” Cam’ron remembered. He hilariously recalled Biggie having “two b**ches in the bed” and “an elevator in his condo,” and immediately thinking, “This is the life that I want.”
When the conversation turned to business, Biggie asked him how much he wanted. “I just thought [of] a standard deal, like, ‘I want $250,000,’” Cam’ron added. “I remember walking out, and Ma$e was like, ‘Cam, don’t ever say that. Why would you just say that? You don’t negotiate in the bedroom.’” Eventually, everything was squared away later with Un.
2. Un on his forthcoming “Fulton Street” series exploring who killed The Notorious B.I.G.
The Notorious B.I.G. was shot and killed after leaving a Soul Train Awards afterparty in 1997, and several decades later, we still don’t know who did it. According to Un, however, that's finally set to change with the forthcoming release of “Fulton Street.” He clarified that it’s not a documentary, nor a book: “It’s literally a television series.”
“I say that it’s the All-Star game of the music business, and it’s really a story that’s told through my voice and my journey,” Un explained, noting that it’s also “Biggie’s voice and his journey.” He continued, “At the end, you’re going to see who the suspects are and who’s actually responsible for the murder.”
Like many people, you might be wondering why Un waited nearly three decades to share his side of things. He revealed, “Nobody ever asked me, ‘Yo, who do you think killed Biggie?’ No interviewer, no police. They’ve done a million documentaries, a million movies, and that question’s never came to me.”
3. Cam’ron on him being stuck at Epic Records after Untertainment fell through
Cam’ron has spoken about his less-than-favorable deal with Epic Records plenty of times, which came about after Un’s Untertainment joint venture fell through. It wasn’t until he released his debut album, S.D.E., that he realized, “They don’t really get it. They don’t understand it.”
“The way it was presented to me was that, ‘Look, Un is losing his deal at Epic. Contractually, Epic’s allowed to take whatever artists they want from Untertainment,’” Cam’ron explained about why he didn't stick with Un. “That’s when I was like, ‘S**t, what the f**k I’m ‘posed to do?’ You gotta realize, at this particular point, I’m probably 22 years old.” He then amusingly likened the situation to a rookie being traded from the Knicks to the Orlando Magic.
4. Cam’ron and Un on their relationship fizzling out due to a lack of communication
Shortly after, the conversation turned to why their relationship fell apart. Un asked, “Why didn’t me and Cam ever talk about it? What was going on at that time?” Cam’ron, who maintained he never had a personal issue with Un, admitted he couldn’t really remember either, aside from bumping into him a few times when he first met his Dipset partner Juelz Santana.
“After ‘Let Me Know,’ I don’t remember what happened,” Un confessed. “I can’t put a finger on when it went dark,” Cam shared moments later. “I can’t answer where it went to a point when me you and stopped speaking.”
5. Cam’ron on how he used to beat Un in basketball
It wouldn’t be a proper episode of “Talk With Flee” if Cam’ron didn’t get some jokes in between their reminiscing. Before their chat wrapped up, the pair recalled their younger days on the court. “I used to bust y’all a**,” Cam bragged, before Un called him out: “That’s such a lie.”
Un went on to suggest that Cam always had teammates doing the heavy lifting for him. “I’m the best n**ga in my crew, so I don’t know who you’re talking about,” he responded. To be fair, the “You Gotta Love It” rapper did play high school basketball alongside Ma$e back in the day, so maybe there’s a little truth behind the bragging after all.