A brief history of the Mase and Cam’ron beef

The Harlem natives’ decades-old feud spilled over in the form of two diss tracks over the weekend.

November 27, 2017

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Cam'ron and Mase stoked the flames of an old beef, trading diss tracks back and forth. On Friday, Mase shared "The Oracle" and promptly took to Genius to annotate it. Cam'ron responded on Saturday night with "Dinner Time," in which he alleges that Mase retired from rap to run a Ponzi scheme and calling into question his roots in Harlem.

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The two Harlem natives' relationship goes back decades —Mase and Cam'ron famously hooped on the same team at Manhattan Center High School and formed Children of the Corn with Big L in 1993. Take a look at the history behind Mase and Cam'ron's recent disses.

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1997 — Mase and Cam'ron appear together on Rap City

Mase introduced Cam'ron to the world on Rap City. During the interview, Cam'ron says, "I do a lot writing. I'm not gonna say who I write for." When the interviewer presses him on who he's written for, Mase replies, "We can't do that."

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April 1998 — Cam'ron uses a fake Mase in the "Horse & Carriage" video

After Children of the Corn disbanded in 1996, Cam'ron unsuccessfully tried to restart his basketball career at a junior college in Texas. Upon his return to New York in '97, he linked back up with Mase, who then introduced him to The Notorious B.I.G. and Lance "Un" Rivera.

Cam's debut album Confessions of Fire was released on Rivera's Untertainment label and its lead single, "Horse & Carriage" featured Mase, but the Harlem World founder demanded $40,000 to appear in the song's video. Instead, Cam'ron employed a body double, and Mase is nowhere to be found in the Rivera-directed clip.

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April 1999 — Mase retires from rap to becomes a pastor

During an interview with Funkmaster Flex on Hot 97, Mase announced that he was retiring from his rap career to become a pastor. However, many speculated that Mase's move towards God, and out of Harlem to Atlanta, was a result of ongoing beef with Harlem street figure Baby Maine.

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July 2004 — Mase, Cam'ron, and Jim Jones argue on live radio

After five years, Mase announced his return album Welcome Back. In an interview on Hot 97, a month before the August release of the album, Mase explained why he left Harlem and the rap game. During the interview, Jim Jones and Cam each called into the show to question Mase's story about leaving Harlem and call him a "fraud."

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December 2004 — Cam'ron and Juelz Santana diss Mase on Purple Haze

Following the radio argument and Welcome Back, Cam'ron and Juelz Santana went at Mase on "Take Em To Church," a track from Cam's Purple Haze album. "Everybody Welcoming this, Welcoming that / He wasn't welcome in the first place, how we welcome him back?" Juelz rapped on the track. "Do Harlem a favor, get a church or something," Cam added.

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March 2006 — Cam'ron says he'll never speak to Mase again

In a 2006 interview with XXL, Cam'ron told Bonsu Thompson, "I'll never speak to Mase again." The rapper said that he had met up with Mase six months prior to the interview, and Mase, who was associated with G-Unit at the time, told him he had $1 million from Dr. Dre to record an album.

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March 2017 — Cam'ron reflects on Mase becoming a pastor

On Instagram Live, Cam'ron discussed why he thinks Mase really became a pastor. "See that’s what Mase did. Mase went real wild,” he said. "He said, "Yo, they can’t beef with me, they can’t ask me for nothing. I’m gonna throw on the Rev. Run collar and get the fuck out of here."

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November 2017 — Cam'ron disses Mase on "It's Killa"

In November, Cam'ron released a new mixtape entitled The Program. On "It's Killa," he rapped, "Got this ni**a home and he passed me a hundo ($100 dollars?!) / Told him straight up I ain't feeling him / Let me curve this ni**a 'fore I end up killing him." In another bar, he again referenced the real reason why Mase left New York: "I watched him play Pop Lotti against Baby Maine / At this time I'm moving heroin in Maryland / They both died and this n***a turned reverend."

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November 2017 — Mase finally responds on "The Oracle"

After years of silence, Mase finally responded to Cam on Friday with "The Oracle," addressing years of controversy and putting forth some strong allegations. He took to Genius to elaborate on the stories behind the lines.

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November 2017 — Cam'ron hits back with "Dinner Time"

The next night, Cam'ron responded with "Dinner Time."

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November 2017: The two rappers go back and forth on Instagram

It seems as though the beef is squashed, even as the two rappers continued to go back and forth on Instagram. Mase declared himself the winner of the beef, while Cam asked, "When u leaving Harlem again?"

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A brief history of the Mase and Cam’ron beef