Cam’ron doesn’t change for anyone, no matter how large a check is being waved in his face. The Harlem native has been able to parlay his rap fame into a lucrative media career, building up his Talk With Flee and It Is What It Is (reuniting him with Mase) shows from scratch.
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Back in June, Killa Cam announced a multi-million dollar partnership to bring his Talk With Flee show to Revolt and linear television. But before signing on the dotted line, one thing had to be crystal clear: nothing changes as far as how Cam conducts his show.
“I wouldn’t have done it if they wasn’t gonna let me be me 100 percent,” the Dipset rapper tells Billboard while enjoying his vacation. “That was part of the reason I actually didn’t mind working with them… It was one thing to do the show on YouTube and I make a decent amount of money on YouTube. They came with the right deal. To be honest with you, it was more of a linear television move.”
While the show will be built on Cam giving his unfiltered opinion on an array of topics — even the taboo subjects most talking heads wouldn’t go near — in the mold of ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith’s The Stephen A. Smith Show, there will be guests like Beanie Sigel joining Talk With Flee next week.
Cam’ron’s also planning to go into jails and prisons across the U.S. to interview rappers and hip-hop-adjacent figures to get their perspective from behind bars.
It Is What It Is will be returning in early September, which will bring back familiar faces like Dallas Cowboys icon Michael Irvin and Ohio State legend Maurice Clarett as contributors for the NFL season. Following the passing of former contributor O.J. Simpson, Cam’ron is recruiting former NFL star Adam “Pacman” Jones to join the show, but nothing is 100 percent locked in on that front.
Elsewhere in our interview, Cam opens up about his feud with Omar Gooding, his forthcoming memoir, notching a cameo in Happy Gilmore 2 and if he’ll ever record another album.
Congrats on the new deal with Revolt. They’re letting you rock with full creative control for Talk With Flee?
Before we even got a Revolt, I shot about 10 or 11 episodes of that before we even did anything with Revolt. So it was nothing really that we hadn’t been doing prior to doing the deal.
What made Revolt the right partner? Why did you want to scale the show?
My man [Chief Content Officer] Deion [Graham] up there at Revolt, he’s been trying to work with us for a couple years now. When I say us, I mean me and Mase. Mase has a price. Mase is like, “When me and you together, it’s a special moment. We didn’t talk for 20 years.” Anything Mase do has a price tag that Revolt couldn’t meet initially. They made me a great offer. It Is What It Is, I don’t think we did a deal until we did 35 or 40 episodes. A lot of people don’t know if you want to stay in the realm of being talked about, you have to stay consistent.
Did you feel any uncertainty partnering with Revolt in a post-Diddy era? Did you have to see what the leadership of the company was looking like?
They came to me really. They was telling me that they don’t work with Puffy anymore. That didn’t really matter to me. Everyone’s on this, “Puff’s not there anymore.” Even when Puff was there, he was trying to get the It Is What It Is deal done. He met with me two or three times.
It wasn’t about Puff not being there, it was more about, “Are y’all gonna let me do my thing? Is there gonna be any filter?” Sometimes when the network is based on ads, you’re not gonna have a Pampers or Fisher-Price commercial with the content I have. That was some of the discussion as well — what kind of partners for ads we could get as far as the content is concerned. My content is a little edgy, so people may want to stay away from it.
How did the feud with Omar Gooding start?
Before we did the deal with Revolt, I had an episode with 50 Cent, and we were just talking about how it’s hard for the B-list Black actor to get a role. And I may have worded it to where he got offended, but I didn’t mean it in any way. I was like, “They sit around and wait for people to call them, and then they may get the part or may not, and then still gotta wait.” I did a movie around 2011 called Percentage, and I booked Omar Gooding.
And I don’t mean this in a disrespectful way, —I was like, “Damn. I didn’t know it was this cheap to get them — and then, what if people don’t call them? They gotta wait.” On top of that, I called him by accident, Omar Gooding Jr., and so he got on Instagram or whatever app the next day and was like, Yo, you calling me out my name, and I ain’t sitting around waiting for anybody. I went back on YouTube and was like, “I sincerely apologize, I don’t want a problem.” He puts out these diss records, and I’m actually in the comments saying, “My bad, bro, I don’t want any smoke.” He wouldn’t stop. If he wants to play, I don’t think he knows how I play. Mase was like, “We don’t got time for that. We gotta finish the It Is What It Is season.”
Now that I’m on vacation, I got some time to f—k around. Basically, I didn’t forget about it. I took a shot at him the other day, and he bit on it. I had this footage from three weeks ago. For me, that’s how it started and that’s how it ended. You don’t want to accept my apology, and then you want to bait me into a rap battle. I’m not getting into a rap battle with you. I got 30 years of professional rap experience. Get another 15 and I may pay your music some mind. He’s still going on about it. I know he had a rough day yesterday.
This is like the stupidest beef ever in the world. It doesn’t even really make sense. I got two and a half weeks until I go back to work, and the first portion of my vacation, my son and I traveled a bit. I’m sitting around writing my movies and TV shows, but I was like, “Let me take a day and a half to see what I’m gonna do with this n—a.” I just put it in motion because I had time.
You just gotta salute that kind of pettiness right there.
I don’t know whether to say thank you or I’m trying to grow up. It is what it is.
What do you have planned for the rest of the season?
I’m so creative — not to pat myself on the back — it doesn’t take a lot for me to do a show. I’m seeing the landscape of what’s going on. Like, if you look at Stephen A. Smith’s podcast, he has a great podcast outside of what he does on First Take, and he doesn’t talk to anybody. He doesn’t have anybody asking him questions. He presents the topic, and he gives his opinion. That’s kind of where I’m at with Talk With Flee. If I get guests, it’s a bonus. Memphis Bleek is on the show, I got him and Beanie Sigel back-to-back.
I’m going into these jails to see some of the rappers that’s locked up. I’m in the process of doing that. I don’t know if you want to call it Forensic Files, but I’m actually going into the jails to have convos with some rappers and iconic figures in our culture to get their perspectives on why they’re in jail or what happened. Things the media run with where they might want to get their side of the story off. I got somebody that used to work with the A&E channel on American Justice, so he knows what it takes.
How’d you get the Happy Gilmore 2 cameo?
Joe Vecsey, he writes with Adam Sandler. Been working with him for 20 years. Joe’s really [embedded] in the culture. He’s a streetball player. He’s a white guy who’s played AND1. He reached out to me, and was like, “Yo, Cam, they doing this podcast segment and I think you should be in it.” I was like, “Adam Sandler, Happy Gilmore, hell yeah.” They didn’t have to give me a dime. I would’ve did it for free to be a part of it. You don’t turn opportunities like that down.
They let me be myself. It was me playing myself, and it was really dope. He also has a stand-up comedy [special] that I’m putting out through my network as well. It’s gonna be coming out toward the end of October, early November. I got a comedy show with him on Oct. 9 at the Beacon Theater with DeRay Davis, Will Miles, Tony Rock, Jay Pharaoh and Corey Holcolm.
We wasn’t on set with Adam [Sandler]. The studio we work out of in Las Vegas is SiriusXM. We use the SiriusXM studio in California, and we shot it in L.A., because of the relationship I have in Vegas. We spoke after that. He did Uncut Gems, the writers are friends of mine, and they came to me to learn about the diamond district. Adam Sandler’s son in the movie is my jeweler’s son. I put that all together. I just put the Safdie brothers in contact with the right people. Originally, that movie was supposed to be me and before they got Adam Sandler, that was supposed to go to Jonah Hill. The movie got put on hold for a year and a half for what Jonah was going through and they got Adam. Everybody knows Jacob, but they don’t know Tito. Then Jacob became the man [of the diamond district].
O.J. Simpson was a major part of It Is What It Is for the NFL season. What was your favorite memory of having him on the show?
O.J. brought a lot to the table football-wise – and his knowledge of the game, and because of his situation, a lot of it gets swept under the rug. There was so much stuff that we didn’t know he held the records for. The NFL doesn’t talk about the records he hold, because of the situation.
The reason we hired him because he was found innocent. Whether in public opinion people think he was guilty or not, he was found innocent. I never seen anyone handle the situation he was in with such charisma and grace. It’s a bunch of people that may get off that people may feel were guilty, but in the court of law you’re not guilty. [Ed. note: Simpson was found guilty in a 1997 civil suit of the wrongful death of Ron Goldman, as well as the battery of Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson.]
He was very funny, very entertaining, and I’m glad we got to let people see some of his personality before he left… One of my favorite moments was — and like I said, it was a bunch of them… it was Mase was saying something about a football player, and O.J. said, “Mase, you have a firm grasp on the obvious.” That quote lasted about three or four months. Even when O.J. wasn’t on the show, we were still saying it about things pertaining to that.
Is there anything you could tell us as far as special contributors for It Is What It Is?
Michael Irvin’s coming back. We’re talking to Adam “Pacman” Jones right now. Of course, Maurice Clarett, who comes on weekly. We’ll see if he’s gonna join the show. We got a female named Arabia, she’s out of Washington, D.C. and her football knowledge is incredible. We’ll have guests throughout the year. A lot of times, because of the location we’re in, we’ll get guests that’s just walking by when we’re filming. Stephen A. [Smith] was walking by the studio and he came in and sat down for 30 minutes. Same thing for Rich Paul. Chris Mullin, we got by accident. Just being in that location is really dope. We had Terrell Owens last season.
I know you have a relationship with Deion Sanders. What did you think about Shedeur Sanders dropping to the fifth round [of the NFL Draft]?
I went to Colorado games the last two years. The kid’s an incredible player, especially with the duress he played under. No offense, but the offensive line didn’t play that well. As far as him dropping to the fifth round, we all know that was some bulls—t. That shouldn’t have happened. Sometimes, just having the last name Sanders makes them feel that their family is arrogant. They feel that their family does too much. I think that when you work hard, you just want to display your confidence in yourself, and some people don’t like that. But I just think the hard work and the dedication that they put in… sometimes they like to talk about it. Me being a former athlete, I didn’t get past college, but I’m from a s—t-talking city. We’re from New York, so that’s part of it.
When people have their favorites, they have their favorites. I’ll jump to music — let’s say I did a song with Nas and Nas is your favorite rapper, but this particular song, I may have had a better verse than Nas. You’re gonna say Nas had a better verse, because you already premeditated that, because that’s your favorite rapper. I think with Deion or Shedeur, people have premeditated judgment, no matter the situation.
On the NBA side, what do you think about players getting caught up in the gambling schemes? We see Malik Beasley under investigation now. What do you think is leading into that?
I just seen a clip of Michael Porter Jr. — and you know what went on with his brother [Jontay Porter], who got caught gambling and he’s banned forever from the NBA. MPJ made a statement about getting your friends rich from a bet on yourself. I’m sitting there listening to him talk about you taking a risk on your career to get your friends $50,000. Some of these players make $300,000 a game. If you really want to help them, give them a game check instead of risking your career. You’re not making them millions. You’re making them a few thousand. For that, you got endorsement and salary. Take $300,000 out and start a company, so that way they’re not gambling and they’re working. It could be a tax write-off and the company may prosper.
I didn’t understand the logic. How rich are you really making them? Terry Rozier sat out a game and [the bet] went under and you got somebody putting a parlay on Terry Rozier and this n—a hit all 30 [legs of the parlay]. Nobody is betting that on Terry Rozier. When I spoke to Mase about it, he said they gotta be addicted to whatever they’re doing.
What can you tell us about your memoir coming up in 2026?
After I get off this call with you, I have two more interviews today for writers. I have an outline of how I want the book to be done, but I’m still in the process of figuring out a writer, and I’ll actually have one by Friday for who I’m going to pick to be the [co-author]. But yes, I know how I want to do it, but I haven’t started the process yet. I’ll probably start sometime in the middle of next month, but I don’t think it’ll be that long to get done, because I have an idea of how I already want it to be read. If it was up to me, everything would be done by late October, early November — and then I would hand it in, and then it’s really up to the company when they would put it out.
Is there anything that’s exciting you musically? Are you still recording?
I’m just having fun with music when I feel like doing it. It’s not like I have an obligation to have an album out. It’s not like the ‘90s or 2000s when you had to have an album out. A lot of older artists don’t like streaming, because they can’t keep [track] of it. But I think it’s dope, because you can put a single out and don’t have to worry about when the album’s coming out. I’m just doing freestyles on my show and people are loving those. We’re in the process of finishing up a couple TV shows and a couple movies, and maybe I’ll put some music in those soundtracks.
But as far as like doing the album full-time, I doubt it. That’s why I really love the space that I’m at when it comes to music — because it’s like, look, y’all know this is what I do full-time. So if you get anything musically from me, it’s a treat.