by Stephen Thomas Erlewine\r Rapper Camron was born and raised in Harlem, attending Manhattan Center High School, where one of his basketball teammates was Mason Mase Betha, who also became a successful rapper. Though his playing earned him scholarship offers from top colleges, Camron was unable to take advantage of them because of his poor academic record, and he enrolled at a small college in Texas instead. He quickly dropped out and returned to Harlem, where he became a drug dealer before turning to rap. \r Hooking up with the Bad Boy posse, he developed a pop-rap style similar to chief Bad Boy Puff Daddy. But Camron didnt sign with Bad Boy; Mase introduced him to the Notorious B.I.G., who in turn brought in his partner Lance Un Rivera. Un signed Camron to his Untertainment label, distributed by Epic Records. Camron first attracted attention with Pull It, which earned airplay in May 1998. 3-5-7 was featured in the movie Woo and became his first R&B chart entry in June. Then in July came Horse & Carriage, featuring Mase. It made the R&B Top Ten and just missed hitting the pop Top 40, setting up Camrons debut album, Confessions of Fire, which went gold and made the Top Ten of both the pop and R&B charts. Feels Good featuring Usher was another R&B chart entry in December. Let Me Know made the pop and R&B charts in June 1999. \r A year later, What Means the World to You heralded the release of Camrons biographical sophomore album, S.D.E. (the acronym standing for Sports, Drugs, and Entertainment). Camron worked with Ol Dirty Bastard, Mobb Deeps Prodigy, and producer Digga to complete the album, which was released in September 2000. After moving to Jay-Zs Roc-a-Fella label, his single Oh Boy became a big hit on urban radio in 2002, and the album Come Home with Me performed well, too. Early the following year, his protégés the Diplomats debuted with the two-disc set Diplomatic Immunity. Diplomatic Immunity, Vol. 2 appeared a year later, and Camrons own follow-up, Purple Haze, dropped late in 2004. \r On October 23, 2005, Camron made news when he escaped an attempted carjacking in Washington, D.C., with only a bullet wound on his arm. The next year he directed the straight-to-DVD film Killa Season and released an album of the same name. Message boards blew up right before the albums release when his Jay-Z dis track, You Gotta Love It, began appearing on mixtapes, and Killa Season reached number two on the album charts.