In the annals of hip-hop history, Cam’ron’s “Confessions of Fire” is akin to debut solo albums like RZA’s “Ooh I Love You Rakeem” or Mobb Deep’s “Juvenile Hell.”

Those albums were all created by these iconic artists at a very young age. The projects house a sound much different than the artists’ succeeding works. And the albums are occasionally completely forgotten in conversations about these artists’ discographies.

That’s not to say “Confessions of Fire” wasn’t a solid debut project worth remembering a quarter of a century later.

25 years ago today (July 21), the Harlem legend released his debut LP within an East Coast hip-hop landscape that was in transition.

By July 1998, both the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac were tragically killed. And the genre in general was becoming more and more commercialized. This included Bad Boy Records being in full swing, which is adjacent to Cam’s early story.

As the tale goes, prior to his death, Biggie had met with Cam’ron in New York. This was not long after Big had injured his leg during a car accident. Ma$e, Cam’s childhood friend, had already inked a deal with Puffy’s label and released his debut LP “Harlem World” the previous October.

Now it was Cam’ron’s turn. During a 2021 interview with N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN’s program Drink Champs, he explained how he was brought to B.I.G.’s house sometime prior to his death. At that meetup, the Brooklyn great told Cam he would sign him after Cam rapped for him on the spot. Unfortunately, due to Biggie’s passing, that deal didn’t come to fruition in that specific way.

Instead, Cam would sign a deal with Epic Records through B.I.G.’s business partner Lance “Un” Rivera. Rivera served as executive producer on Junior M.A.F.I.A.’s debut album “Conspiracy.” And he began his own label, Untertainment.

When asked by N.O.R.E. why he doesn’t perform Confession’s hit song “Horse & Carriage” anymore, Cam’ron explained that his first LP kind of leaves a bad taste in his mouth.

“Even though that album is dope, everybody likes ‘Confessions of Fire,’ it’s not 100 percent mine,” he explained. “I wrote everything and did everything. But Un had a lot of say on that. Un is a creative dude and I’m a creative dude. But if you’re in a car, it’s only one steering wheel and only one person can drive. So we clashed heads a lot. Not in a bad way, just creatively.”

Cam also explained how Biggie’s shadow still very much loomed over the album’s creation.

“They lived with Big. That’s their man. Everything I did was compared to Big. Like, ‘Yo, Big would have did it like this. Or Big would have did it like that.’ Cause that’s his crew. I’m like, ‘I’m not from Brooklyn. I’m not Big. There’s only one Big, you know. You gotta let me be myself.’ So a lot of that Confession of Fire album, there was clashing. And I don’t listen to that s**t as much. A lot of people love it but it’s not me.”

Released on July 21, 1998, “Confessions of Fire” had a very strong tracklist. Top tracks included the Ma$e-featured “Horse & Carriage,” the Swizz Beatz-produced and N.O.R.E.-featured “Glory,” “A Pimp’s a Pimp,” featuring Jermaine Dupri, and singles “357” and “Feels Good,” featuring Usher.

Originally titled “Who Is Cam’ron?” the “Confessions” project was also commercially successful. The album earned Killa a gold certification and a No. 6 peaking spot on the Billboard 200. It sold over 107,000 copies in its first week.

“Confessions of Fire” was also a departure, somewhat, from Cam’ron’s Harlem roots.

Previously, he had been a member of a group called Children Of The Corn — alongside Murda Mase, Big L and his cousin Bloodshed. But upon Bloodshed’s death from injuries sustained from a car accident — the group disbanded and decided to seek out solo deals.

It was Ma$e’s eventual deal with Bad Boy that helped Cam’ron land his own record deal. “Confessions” would be the first of two albums he recorded under the Epic umbrella — the other being 2000’s “S.D.E.” He then skated from Epic to create his own venture, Diplomat Records, under Jay-Z’s imprint Roc-A-Fella.

“Come Home With Me,” Cam’s first album under The Roc, was most hip hop fan’s introduction to him. Many also came to know Cam through his group The Diplomats.

But “Confessions of Fire” still stands as an important piece of Cam’s catalog.

On its own, “Confessions” was extremely thematic. The then-22-year-old covered bleak topics like mortality on “Death”, drug addiction on “Prophecy” and “D Rugs,” and heartbreak on “Confessions.” Sonically, it featured the piano loops, smooth ballads and drums, very similar to Biggie’s previous work.

“Confessions” also begs the question of what the album would have sounded like had The Notorious B.I.G. not died.

Would we have gotten the Killa Cam we know today. Or would his legacy had taken a different sonic turn? Regardless, as Cam would say, is what it is. And “Confessions of Fire” is definitely worth a listen again today.