Rapper Cam'ron has expressed regret over his decision to join the Diplomats in their 2021 Verzuz battle against the LOX, calling it a poor choice made as a team player. The event, held at Madison Square Garden, ended in a loss for the Harlem group. Cam'ron shared these thoughts during a recent podcast episode discussing tough decisions.
The Regretful Decision
On a recent episode of the podcast It Is What It Is, hosted by Treasure “Stat Baby” Wilson, Cam'ron opened up about past choices he wishes he had avoided. The conversation, which included guests Ma$e and Maurice Clarett, shifted from college football coach Lane Kiffin's move from Ole Miss to LSU to personal regrets. When asked about difficult decisions, Cam'ron immediately referenced the Verzuz battle from August 2021, where his group, the Diplomats—also known as Dipset—faced off against the LOX.
Cam'ron admitted he had advised against participating but went along to support his team. “I should’ve never did the Verzuz, I told n—as, ‘Don’t do the Verzuz.’ I told n—as, ‘I don’t wanna do the Verzuz.’ But I’m a team player and it was the wrong decision that I made,” he said. He emphasized his pattern of prioritizing group loyalty, adding, “I tried to be team player a lot of times and that’s the first thing that came to my brain when you said, ‘Wrong decisions.’ It was the wrong decision.”
Background on the Verzuz Battle
The Verzuz event pitted the Harlem-based Diplomats, consisting of Cam'ron, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, and Freekey Zekey, against the Yonkers group the LOX, led by Jadakiss. Held live at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, the battle drew significant attention in the hip-hop community. The LOX emerged victorious, with Jadakiss's freestyle over The Notorious B.I.G.'s “Who Shot Ya?” often cited as the decisive moment that sealed the win.
Verzuz, co-created by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, has become a popular platform for friendly rap competitions since 2020, allowing artists to showcase their catalogs head-to-head. This particular matchup highlighted the East Coast hip-hop rivalry and drew a large audience, but Cam'ron's recent reflection underscores the personal cost of the defeat for him.