Cam’ron has revisited the time he coughed up almost $5 million to bail out two of his friends after they were arrested while accompanying Dipset on the road.
Gathering his Instagram followers around the proverbial campfire on Wednesday (August 28), Killa Cam shared the amusing story about his crew’s brush with the law, which took place on a freezing cold night in New England back in 2003.
“One night, we was just driving down I-91, I believe, and the cops pulled the tour bus over like [it was] the end of Set It Off when Cleo was about to run through the barricade with all the cops. They had like 92 cop cars out there!” he began.
“They pull us off the tour bus talking about, ‘Yo, somebody’s car windows got shot out.’ [I said,] ‘I don’t know how that happened, officer’ […] Now, it’s three degrees outside. I’m freezing. I’m looking at n-ggas like, ‘Y’all know what’s going on? ‘Cause I don’t.’”
Alongside actual footage of the traffic stop, Cam’ron explained how the cops ordered him and his crew, including fellow Dipset rappers Jim Jones and J.R. Writer, to “get their face[s] out their shirts” despite the cold weather, noting that their tour bus billed them as “gangstas.”
Juelz Santana, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen and must have been hiding under the bus’ muffler, Cam suspected. “That boy know how to hide,” he remarked.
“Now the car pulls up that got the windows shot out, talking about, ‘Yeah, it was one of them,’” Cam continued. “We like, ‘[Sigh] Nobody got time for this nonsense.’ I’m standing there like it was not one of us.”
As the camera zoomed in on the bus driver’s face, the “Hey Ma” rapper joked: “Bus driver looking like, ‘I’ll tell on any of y’all.’ Look at him. ‘I don’t know nobody.’”
Unfortunately for Cam’ron and co., the cops discovered several weapons on the tour bus — all of which Cam denied belonged to them — and carted two of his friends off to jail.
“Now they lock two of my n-ggas up, I start talking shit. ‘I don’t care what the bail is, I’m bailing n-ggas out.’ The bail was $4.8 million. Oh my God, I was sick. But I bailed n-ggas out, though, and everybody was good. Peace.”
According to a report from AllHipHop at the time, the arrests were made in February 2003 while Dipset were touring in support of their debut album Diplomatic Immunity.
The men arrested were Orlando Young and Piri Pantoja, who were charged with unlawful possession of a firearm without a license and three counts of assault with intent to murder.
Authorities claim shots were fired from Dipset’s tour bus and were directed at a 2003 Toyota Camry containing three female passengers. Both the tour bus and an accompanying Ford Excursion then traveled south on I-28 in the early hours of the morning.
The driver, Monique E. Garnett, was also charged with one count of unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of a class D controlled substance, while a passenger named Keith Blacknell of New York was hit with three counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and one count of possession of a class D controlled substance.
Neither Cam’ron, Jim Jones nor Juelz Santana were charged over the incident, although they were reportedly present during the gunfire.
