During the first scene of Killa Season—the directorial debut from Cameron Giles, which went straight to DVD eight years ago today—the rapper, playing a thinly-veiled version of himself named Flea, smashes an empty bottle of Sizzurp © over a man’s head. He then proceeds to unzip his pants, take out his dick (not before repeatedly warning on-lookers “No homo, no homo”) and urinate on the gentleman’s face. The man convulses, tries to spit out said urine, but ultimately has to just lie there and take it, because it’s clear from Act I who runs these goddamn streets. The French New Wave had Godard, Italian Neorealism had Fellini, and Harlem had Killa Cam. Call Killa Season a triumph of Purple No Wave, a pioneering work of Dogme 17.5, a masterpiece in the field of Cinéma Véritráp, whatever. The movie’s a goddamn classic, and I’m here to tell you about it.
Killa Season is an undeniable cult classic, but a film doesn’t earn its spot in that particular canon overnight, nor does it happen without at least a smidge of misguided pastiche and a dash of accidental genius. Part of its brilliance lies in the fact that you can never quite tell what’s intentionally funny vs. what’s unintentionally ridiculous. But really, that doesn’t matter—in the end all that’s left is an undeniably enjoyable film, one that can be processed and appreciated with zero irony. So what if the occasional boom mic can be seen swinging through a shot? So what if it looks like it was filmed with a purple Motorola Razr? So what if there’s a sequence where two female Dominican drug mules are seen literally shitting out baggies of heroin? With these wondrous details, a plot is unnecessary. Character development? Nah, son, Killa would rather count his money while freestyling. Cam’ron doesn’t give a fuck about that shit, and eight years later we shouldn’t either.
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The movie, for those of you who haven’t seen it yet, follows Cam’ron, aka Flea, from his days as a high school basketball star and part-time weed dealer to cocaine cowboy and cold-blooded killer. Though the film is presented as fiction, the basics resemble the lore of Cam’s own life. He was an outstanding athlete who lost a college basketball scholarship after getting into drugs and letting his grades slip. Not all too surprising considering the fact that in addition to directing and acting in Killa Season, Mr. Giles also wrote the fucking thing. Wondering how much of the weird shit in this movie actually happened will keep you up at night. Well, that and the scene where a seven-year-old girl is shot in the chest with a rifle by some random dude and Omar from the Wire for no apparent reason.
Though there’s virtually no mention of Cam’s rap career in the movie, save for a freestyle eulogy during his grandfather’s funeral (god this movie rules), the Diplomats are all over Killa Season. Cam (who actually turned in a pretty decent performance alongside Wood Harris in Paid in Full), along with Juelz Santana as Bandana (because rhymes), and Hell Rell as Hell (because names) are pretty decent actors, probably because they were basically playing themselves, but still. Everyone from the main ensemble to the extras can be seen rocking Dipset t-shirts, button-downs, hats, and hoodies, which makes no sense conceptually while also managing to make the most sense.
A few highlights of the film, presented in no particular order.
—Cam’ron using actual footage of him as a high-school basketball star and then miraculously aging like, 12 years overnight.
—Cam’ron doing the drive-by on the bike.
—The paper inexplicably stuffed up Juelz Santana’s nose in the first scene, also the dude Cam calls “The Hood Internet.”
—CAM POURING THE BOX OF RATS ON THE DUDE IN THE TRUNK EW MAN WHAT THE FUCK OH MY GOD.
—They apparently used paintball guns instead of real guns, if the gun sounds and the red, paintball-y bullet stains are to be believed.
—Cam’ron helping his drug-addicted friend go back to college because he puts the hood in Robin Hood and then sort of falling in love with her, only for his ex-girlfriend to attack her with a bottle outside a bodega.
—The part where they just fly to Atlanta to go to Magic City for no reason.
—”Take your hand off my hat.”
—Cam’ron and Hell Rell playing videogames while Rell’s on the phone and Cam’s holding a blunt.
Killa Season is worth your attention to every second of its two-hour-plus runtime and your undying admiration if only because it’s a testament to Cam’s unique, signature ballsiness that he went ahead and made a movie and very clearly didn’t give a shit if it was any good, let alone might earn him his investment back. When looked at as yet another insane, brilliant way for Cam to blow his money, simply another pair of yellow diamond earrings the size of Lemonheads or a gigantic purple fur coat, Killa Season becomes a work of transcendent beauty.
Here is 2006’s Killa Season in its awe-inspiring entirety. Don’t be a snitch and tell Cam it’s up on YouTube.
Jackson Connor left the Webbys one night just to make a sale. He’s on Twitter – @JacksonMConnor
For more Cam’ron, check Drew Millard’s love letter to Killa on his birthday, Paul Thompson’s love letter to “Get It in Ohio,” and Jon Peltz’s love letter to the time he went to Cam’ron’s very, very sad birthday party.
