Crime Pays

Album Review

The low sales of 2006's Killa Season took the Dipset member off his album every-two-years-schedule with this follow-up landing in 2009. Even if Cam'ron's delivery — sort of a rigid mumble — and his lyrics — strange and nasty as he wants to be — all suggest he just doesn't give a damn, Crime Pays seems like a definite reaction to the dwindling numbers right down to the modest gear the rapper sports on the cover. This is a back to basics effort with no superstar Lil Wayne guest shot, and plenty of mixtape flavored production mostly from the hands of Skitzo or araabMUZIK. Best example that the Killa's back on the streets is the "Get It in Ohio," a lumbering behemoth of a single where Cam grinds in the land of "Blue pills and Grey Goose" and takes full advantage of a state hit hard by the 2009 recession. Topical rhymes also fill the great "My Job," a piano-driven, uptempo number that would love to kick down the cubicle walls, but there are bills to pay and no one else is hiring. "Cookin Up" offers the wonderfully Cam "Sledgehammers/Smash his melon/I'm the black Gallagher" while "Who" is his usual clever swagger with ""Who is Mr. Right?/Make sisters fight." There are a couple tracks that would make R. Kelly and maybe even Luther Campbell blush, and there are too many skits, although "Grease" is a drop dead hilarious example of how this Diplomat handles a lover's quarrel. "Cookies -N- Apple Juice" covers the same ground but with an infectious, ridiculous hook. Add it all up and Crime Pays is just what the fans want, without any sense the man is pandering.