Like his previous albums, Purple Haze is long: nineteen tracks and five skits. And like many long albums, it could’ve been made better if the weaker tracks were cut out (mostly found in the latter half of the album). Still Purple Haze holds its listener’s attention through a wide array of beats, from the swaggering elegance of Earth, Wind, & Fire-sampling More Reasons to the West Coast G-funk of Dope Man to the rousing anthem cuts that Dipset is known for. Also, being on Roc-a-Fella meant that Kanye was able to make time to lend a production hand. More importantly, Cam’ron dazzles with his flow throughout the album. He wisely does not let Dipset guest appearances overflow the album, though he is generous in his shoutouts to his fellow crew members.

Essentially the ghetto MF Doom, Cam’Ron patches together multisyllabic rhymes with a casual arrogance. The result is an incredibly refreshing take on the usual gangsta rap topics of selling drugs, screwing women, and hurting people. Oftentimes, the pressure to keep up the rhyming streak leads Cam’ron to spit repeated phrases, non sequiturs, and eyebrow-raising lines. It can be unconventional insults like “A hustler and Cam famous, you damn anus / I don’t know but I can’t change this” or absolute laziness like “Shake, bake, skate, vroom-vroom / Seventh to eighth, zoom-zoom, boom-boom tunes / ‘Fore I get like that boom-boom room” on Get ‘Em Girls. More often than not, though, Cam’ron wields his lyrical skills with an effortless shrug of the shoulders and it is taking considerable restraint on this writer’s part not to just simply make this review a list of Purple Haze quotables. Down And Out, the strongest track and the single that should’ve replaced Girls, is chock full of them.

Whether it’s all genius or gibberish, Cam’ron undoubtedly has people wondering where they can get their hands on the purp he’s smoking. Really, you have to wonder whether lines like “Money missin’, Oh shit, I almost chopped some fingers / Slit some wrist, that’s when they said, ‘Oh shit, he’s not a singer’ / Fuck the rap, fuck the movies, fuck Siskel and Ebert / This pistol I’ll squeeze it, missiles if needed (Killa!)” that made sure no one made fun of Cam when he was rocking the all-pink outfits, were coming from the same person who raps, “No Rice-a-Roni, that’s the okie dokie / Me and Toby homie, make you do the hokey pokey.” All I know is that it makes for one hugely entertaining listen.