In the wake of recent controversies, Cam’ron offered advice to the beleaguered NBA star Ja Morant, drawing on his own squandered hoop dreams as a sobering lesson for the basketball player.
The founding member of The Diplomats delved into his younger days on Instagram this past Sunday (June 11), sharing vintage snaps from his college basketball stint at Navarro Junior College in Texas. As he reminisced, the New York legend recalled his abrupt dismissal for pistol-whipping another person.
In his message to Morant, who has been confronting his own legal fallout for carrying a firearm, the rapper implored him to remain focused on his promising career.
Cam recalled his university experiences, “I was on bull s**t in college. I got kicked out for pistol-whipping a n**ga. (Which I don’t condone). Lucky I had a plan B and C. Ja don’t be me, you can’t rap!!! Lol as you can see, its a lil blurry, but it’s still the set.” The slightly blurred image contained an old photo of himself making a gang sign.
Earlier in March, Cam’ron attributed Morant’s gun debacle to what he called “Gary Coleman Syndrome” and expressed incredulity when media outlets reported Ja’s commencement of an “ongoing healing process.”
He responded in disbelief, “N**gas gotta stop playing with this mental health s**t, for real. When n**gas get in trouble and n**gas ain’t doing s** right, n**gas is running to that. ‘You know what? I bugged out and my brain ain’t working right.’”
Once more, the Harlem native commented on the Memphis Grizzlies point guard’s predicament in May when dancers demanded an apology following an incident where Morant brandished a gun in a Colorado strip club.
Cam’ron’s basketball dreams met an unfortunate end in the mid-’90s when academic negligence and a hamstring injury dashed his hopes at junior college in Texas.
His past missteps were not without consequences, as evidenced by his 2000 album, SDE, which scandalously juxtaposed the NBA logo with a gun, infuriating the late NBA Commissioner David Stern. Reportedly, the ensuing controversy cost Killa Cam’s label approximately $15 million in settlements with the league.
Now, in a move to prevent Morant from stumbling into similar pitfalls, the rapper urges him to consider his past as a cautionary tale. The basketball player currently awaits a decision from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver following his recent gun-related controversy.