Earlier this year, legendary hip hop stars Camron and Mase, childhood friends, launched their own sports podcast called It Is What It Is.
The pair each invested $250,000 of their own money to make it work. And boy has it ever.
The It Is What It Is podcast is now one of the biggest sports shows in the world. And Media Take Out learned that yesterday they signed a multi-million dollar deal with their first major sponsor Underdog Fantasy, a sports betting company.
Look:
Camron started his career in the mid-1990s as Killa Cam, Giles signed to Lance “Un” Rivera’s Untertainment under the aegis of Epic and released his first two studio albums Confessions of Fire and S.D.E. (Sports Drugs & Entertainment) in 1998 and 2000 respectively; the former achieved gold status by the RIAA. After leaving Epic, Giles signed to Roc-A-Fella Records in 2001 and released his third studio album Come Home with Me the following year; it achieved platinum status by the RIAA, and also contained Cam’ron’s highest-charting singles to date; “Oh Boy” and “Hey Ma”, which peaked at No. 4 and No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively. His fourth studio album and final release on Roc-A-Fella, Purple Haze was released in 2004 to critical acclaim and commercial success, being certified gold by the RIAA.
Mase also started his career in the late 1990s, he recorded on the Bad Boy Records label alongside its founder Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs to significant mainstream success. In 1997 and 1998, as a lead or featured artist, Mase had a total of five platinum singles, five US Rap No. 1 singles, and six Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles, including “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down”, “Mo Money Mo Problems”, “Been Around the World”, “Feel So Good”, “What You Want” and “Lookin’ at Me”. Both “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down” and “Mo Money Mo Problems” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Mase’s 1997 album Harlem World was certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA. His other two albums, Double Up (1999) and Welcome Back (2004), have been certified gold.
