Cam’ron Reveals That Jadakiss Was Originally Tapped To Co-Host ‘It Is What It Is’

After Ma$e was a guest, the chemistry between Cam and him just made sense for the Harlem natives to co-host the program together.

Two Harlem buddies with basketball dreams became successful in hip-hop instead of sports. But after a fallout and feud between the two, the bond has been mended as the two rappers turned broadcasters are having a successful run in the sports world.

Now that Cam’ron and Ma$e are true buddies again, it was revealed that the pairing almost didn’t happen, as Killa Cam wanted his co-host of “It Is What It Is” to be Jadakiss, of the hip-hop group The Lox.

Luckily, Jadakiss’s busy schedule changed the trajectory of the new sports show that Cam’ron brought to fruition, which led to the reunion of Killa Cam and Murder Ma$e. The two Harlem natives and childhood friends were part of the Harlem group Children of the Corn. The group was formed in the ’90s with Big L (who was signed as a solo artist to Epic Records before being killed), Herb McGruff (once an Uptown Records signee), and the late Bloodshed.

In a conversation with Complex, Cam’ron (Cameron Giles) explains how the two reconnected to do the sports show “It Is What It Is.”

“We reconciled maybe a little over a year ago,” said Cam’ron. “Mase actually helped me get my first record deal ever, and it was kind of my fault that we was beefing. I was going hard at him for years, pause, and saying a bunch of slick shit. So when we got cool again, I just wanted him to know that all that shit was dead for me.”

Once Cam’ron took responsibility for the feud he started with the man that essentially “put him on,” he felt he needed to gain the trust of his longtime friend turned adversary.

“I just wanted to gain his trust back because I don’t want him to think that I could flip out again. I’m a grown man now. I can look back because I’m old enough to say that’s maybe what I was going through because he just left and was like, fuck everybody—not fuck everybody, but he was following his path of what he needed to do, and I didn’t recognize that at the time,” Cam’ron explained.

He also revealed that Ma$e wasn’t even the co-host when he started the show. He had a plan to do it with Yonkers-based Jadakiss, who was a labelmate to his Harlem friend when both were on Bad Boy Records. But due to Jadakiss keeping a busy schedule with running businesses, it just didn’t happen.

“It was supposed to be me and Jadakiss, but Jada is busy as well. Jada got sh** to do, so he never came. He kept saying he’s gonna come, and it’s not his fault, but he’s busy as well. But that was my plan, to do this show with me and Kiss,” said Cam’ron.

He then decided he’d be the sole host and invited Ma$e on as a guest.

“One day, I was like, I’ll do this shit by myself. I’m gonna just have guests, and I had Mase as a guest. So when Mase came on as a guest, and we vibed, I was like, ‘That shit was dope. Come back every week. We could do this once a week.’ So he called me. He’s like, ‘Would you wanna be partners on this?'”

And, as they say, the rest is history!