"I'm doing it all trying to set trends, not follow them." On the song "Me, My Moms & Jimmy," the rapper actually trades lines with his mother. "I want to stay nine or ten blocks ahead of the pack," Cam'ron insists. "Now that I've done a joint with Ma Dukes, I'm sure there are a hundred rappers slapping themselves in the face, sayin' 'Damn, I shoulda thought of that!'" Born Cameron Giles in 1976, Cam'ron was raised in New York's Harlem village. As a basketball-loving student at Manhattan Center High School, he developed into a superb All-City and All-American point guard playing along side his teammate and fellow rapper Mase. The two made themselves known for their game, and later paired up as underground rappers Killa Cam & Murder Mase. It was Mase who connected Cam'ron to the late Notorious B.I.G.

"At the time I met Biggie, he was working on Life After Death, so he had all sorts of fly tracks around his apartment," Cam remembers. "He flipped on about twelve or thirteen beats, and I flowed to every one of them. Big said, 'yo, you nice?I wanna sign you!' He called Un [B.I.G. partner Lance Rivera] and I was put on. On the spot, I was the first artist signed to their new label, Untertainment." Cam'ron introduced himself to the listening audience with his songwriting for some of hip-hop's hottest names, including the platinum single "Crush On You" by Li'l Kim. Cam later revealed his own rhyme skills on two soundtrack cuts: "Casanova," a collaboration with Lil Cease, from How To Be A Player; and the savage single "3-5-7" b/w "Pull It" (featuring DMX), as heard on the Woo soundtrack album. In late '97, he began recording Confessions Of Fire. "The first few months were hard for me," he admits, "because I wasn't used to writing in the studio. But after a while, I got used to the schedule and I was in there almost every day for about eight months.