Come Home with Me

Come Home with Me is the third studio album by American rapper Cam'ron. It was released through Cam'ron's Diplomat and Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records on May 14, 2002. The album features guest appearances from Jimmy Jones, Juelz Santana, Freekey Zekey, DJ Kay Slay, Daz Dillinger, Tiffany, Jay-Z, McGruff, Memphis Bleek, and Beanie Sigel. To date, it is his most commercially successful album, peaking at number 2 on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 226,000 copies and sold over one million copies, becoming certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).^[3][4]

Its three singles were "Oh Boy" (featuring Juelz Santana) and "Hey Ma" (featuring Juelz Santana, Freekey Zekey, and Toya), and "Daydreaming" (featuring Tiffany). "Oh Boy" held the number one spot on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles for five straight weeks, the number one spot on the Hot Rap Tracks, and peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The second hit, "Hey Ma", reached at number three on the Hot 100 and number eight on the UK Singles Chart, becoming his biggest hit. "Daydreaming" was a later single released on December 24, 2002, but failed to duplicate the success from his earlier singles.

The album was originally scheduled for a March 2002 release under the title Blow. The majority of the album was recorded while Cam'ron was still signed to Epic Records.^[5]

AllMusic's Jason Birchmeier praised Cam's presence throughout the record and Just Blaze supplying him with beats that strengthen him on "Oh Boy" and "The Roc (Just Fire)", concluding that "Overall, Cam'ron couldn't return with a stronger comeback album than this: he's affiliated with one of the industry's most successful labels, graced with a hot producer, and armed with a dynamite single."^[6] Steve 'Flash' Juon of RapReviews felt the pairing of Cam with Roc-A-Fella's team of featured artists and producers helped utilize his rap flow to its potential by crafting quality tracks with a "slamming assembly of b-boy beats" despite a few duds in "Live My Life" and the title track, concluding that "For the beats though, and for some of Cam'Ron's best rhymes to date, Come Home with Me will be a summer anthem album for Harlemites and Roc-A-Fella Records ryders alike."^[7] Jon Caramanica, writing for Rolling Stone, commended Cam's unique lyrical abilities but felt the stories he delivered about drugs and women were half-hearted and lacked charisma, and only partially worked when the production gave them "the substance and emotional center they otherwise lack."^[8]

Sample credits^[11]

• "Intro" contains excerpts from "Oscar" (aka "You Should Get an Oscar"), written by Norman Harris and Ron Tyson, as performed by Blue Magic.
• "Oh Boy" contains excerpts from "I'm Going Down, written by Norman Whitfield, as performed by Rose Royce.
• "Live My Life (Leave Me Alone)" embodies portions of
  • "Ambitionz az a Ridah", written by Delmar Arnaud and Tupac Shakur.
  • Sound of da Police, written by Lawrence Parker, Bryan Chandler, Alan Lomax, Eric Burdon, and Rodney Lemay.
• "Daydreaming" contains interpolations from the composition "Day Dreaming", written by Aretha Franklin.
• "Come Home with Me" contains excerpts from the composition "She Is My Lady", written by George Stanley Clinton.
• "Hey Ma" contains excerpts from "Easy", written by Lionel Richie, as performed by Commodores.
• "On Fire Tonight"
  • Contains interpolations of "Have You Seen Her", written by Barbara Acklin and Eugene Record.
  • Contains samples from "You, Me and He", written by James Mtume, as performed by Mtume.
• "I Just Wanna" contains excerpts from "Untitled (How Does It Feel)", written by D'Angelo and Raphael Saadiq, as performed by D'Angelo.
• "Dead or Alive" contains excerpts from "Lazarus", written and performed by Buffy Saint-Marie.
• "The ROC (Just Fire)" contains excerpts from the composition and sound recording, "Warlock", by Tilsley Orchestral.
• "Tomorrow" contains interpolations from "Love Me in a Special Way", written by El DeBarge.