Cam The Artisan: Big Dreams
Meet Cam the Artisan, the 22-year-old artist from Atlanta, Georgia, who values creating authentic music more than anything. His discography is raw and packed full of a wide scope of emotions, demonstrating his range and depth as an artist.
After moving from Atlanta to Texas and then back to Atlanta, Cam was exposed to a plethora of musical styles that have influenced his unique sound. As a result of this experience, he is cognizant of the ways in which society tries to confine Black artists into boxes, but his upbringing has taught him not to limit himself musically.
Instead of indulging in Atlanta’s booming party scene, Cam would rather direct his energy entirely towards his music. This focus has allowed Cam to write and create some pretty amazing songs. Take “Bliss” for example, one of the songs off his debut album Hues. The song bleeds a storyline that most people can relate to, while having a catchy chorus to compliment the meaning. On Spotify alone, it has surpassed 2 million streams. Cam also does not stray away from topics concerning emotion that traditionally has been seen as taboo for Black men to discuss in their music. Instead, he is unapologetically proud of presenting art that people can relate to.
Cam the Artisan is many things, but what stood out to us the most while talking to him is his ambition. The Atlanta artist also has big dreams of exploring the fashion industry and television to inspire the younger generations with his art. His first project Hues showcases his potential, and we can already tell that Cam will go far with the amount of love he has for what he does.
What did you grow up listening to?
I grew up listening to a lot of El Debarge, Prince, Michael Jackson. Just a lot of old school music growing up. And I didn’t really start listening to rap or R&B music until about 2008 or 2009. My sister put me onto DeBarge and Prince. My dad was a fan of Michael Jackson and a lot of Jazz, smooth jazz and regular jazz. Also gospel music as well, and I give my mom credit for that. She used to play gospel music around the house.
How did growing up in Atlanta, moving to Texas, and moving back to Atlanta shape your sound?
I feel like the cultural difference between the two kind of gave me a broader sense of how people think and how different people are raised in music. In Texas, there are a lot of Hispanic people, so driving down the street you would hear a lot more Mexican music than American music. But I do feel like the duality of Texas, where you have one side that listens to strictly Mexican music and another that listens to straight hip-hop. Growing up Black the only two genres of music you’re really raised on is Hip-hop and gospel music. Out there there’s like a totally different culture, where you’re listening to Hispanic music, hip-hop, R&B. So many different aspects of music, and for me, that kinda pushed me into understanding that there are people that listen to a whole bunch of other stuff besides that one or two genres that you grew up on.
And that put me in the mind frame of hey, when you make music try not to put a boundary on what you make. Because most people, they listen to everything. So if you just make rap, rap, rap all the time, at a certain point it gets old, but if you switch it up here and there. It keeps the listener guessing for when you continue to release music.
You said in a previous interview that having a story behind whatever you are making is really important to you. Can you talk a little bit about the story behind Hues and the story you are trying to tell with that album?
So for me, I’ve never been the kind of person that can make a song just to make a song. Every song that I’ve ever written or every song that I’ve ever put out, it’s had some former experience that I’ve had in the past and it’s been translated in musical form. So with Hues, that being my first ever project, I just wanted to just make something that people could relate to. I also wanted to make something that allowed people to connect with me. I feel like there are a lot of people that are in the same situation that I’m in as an upcoming artist, and they want to make music about things that are totally far-fetched from the lifestyle they’re living right now. And although it works for some people like it’s cool sometimes, other times it’s a connecting factor, like I know you I see you every day. I know you don’t do these things that you’re rapping about. So it’s like what do you expect from me as a listener. I’ve always just wanted to be that person that is always true to what they do and true to what they say.
The themes of pain, loneliness, pressure, and love are really prevalent on the album, which to me makes it so relatable. What’s your writing process like for talking about those things in song form?
For me, I put myself in a situation of being very very closed off for very very long periods of time. And what it does for me is it allows me to gather all my thoughts, everything that I feel like is prevalent in what it is that I want to speak on and just giving yourself time to just adapt to what happened, whatever the situation was and just learning from it in the process of making the music. For me, that’s just my main thing. I’m already closed off as it is. I’m a homebody by nature. I’m one of those artists that’s never at any of the clubs or any of the parties out here. Because it’s like if you have too many outside things going on and you’re trying to center yourself to get to a point where you’re like I want to talk about this but you can’t really hear yourself think then that’s not really good. So I just close myself off and I just get to a point where I’m like Alright cool. This is what I want to talk about. That’s just really how it happens.
What’s the story behind the name Hues?
Hues was a really really weird way of how it came about in terms of the name. Funny story, I did a photoshoot with one of my friends probably four years ago, and we took like this picture in these gel lights. He had one side of the room blue and the other side red. At this point, I was probably like two or three songs into making the album, but I didn’t know what I was going to call it. And once he sent those pictures back, I just looked at it and studied it for a second. For whatever reason, when I was just looking at the picture, it was really just speaking to what I had already written for the project. Like this picture is talking about these three songs, so I just thought about it for a second and I was like I’m just going to call the album Hues. Just because of the duality of the colors in the picture. And I kinda tie that in with emotion. The different colors that are in our lives can also determine the different emotions that are in our lives as well.
Is it easier for you to make music when there are heavy things weighing on you?
Yes, definitely.
Do you have a favorite song you’ve made? Is there a favorite aspect to a song you’ve made?
Favorite song that I’ve made so far is track seven from Hues, and that’s “Stress.” Favorite aspect to any of my songs would probably be the feature from Xiamara Jennings on “Bliss.”Adding her little touch to the chorus and separate parts to the song. That would be it for me honestly.
You’ve mentioned “Gambino, J.Cole, Kendrick, Vince Staples, Tyler and Jaden” as people you’d want to work with in the future? What do you look for in a potential collaboration?
Each artist you mentioned has a different spectrum as to what they do as an artist that I really enjoy. It’s not just them overall. So for example, I really enjoy Gambino’s singing, I enjoy Kendrick’s lyricism, I enjoy Vince Staples’ demeanor on his music. So if I was able, which I’m pretty sure will happen pretty soon. If I’m able to do a song with them, I’ll just work around how they make music. I’m really good at accenting what the other artist does on their song, enough to where Kendrick, Gambino, or Vince, if they do something this way, this way, or this way, I know how to add to that and make the song better.
Is fashion important to you?
Yes, always.
In what way?
I just feel like it adds to me as the artist. And for me, I’m not even phony with it. Some artists get into fashion because it’s cool. But nah, I’ve always been into fashion. So right next to me is literally like a whole rack of my clothes. And I just built another one on the other side of my room that has more clothes on it.
Do you have a favorite designer right now?
My favorite designer would definitely be Louis Vuitton. But since I can’t afford them yet, the places I shop at most frequently are Zara and ASOS.
How do you see your music evolving or transforming? Are there different genres that you’d want to tap into that you haven’t yet explored?
As far as evolving, I feel like everyday I evolve. This sounds crazy, but I listen to older songs of mine before Hues and I cringe so hard, so obviously everyone’s going to grow from their work eventually, but also too, I feel like if you do what you do very well, you can always look back and find the beauty. Even for Hues, I was just listening to “Vibe Out” before the [Zoom call] and I was just like I really did this three years ago. And this sounds crazy, but people are still listening to it. People are still playing it three years later. So for me, I always know I will continue evolving, but also I do want to tap into different genres. Like I want to make a jazz album, I want to make a 1970s 1980s soul album, I want to make a strictly R&B album.
A lot of my favorite artists don’t have the same album twice. Gambino, Kendrick, Tyler the Creator, Vince Staples, they don’t have the same album twice. So it’s like if they can do that then why can’t I. I would definitely challenge myself to do that.
How would you describe yourself as an artist? How would you want people to view you?
Just like one of those people you can just look at and say, “yeah, he’s the next it,” I know some of my friends joke about it like, “Nah, you’re a superstar,” just based on stuff that I’ve done in the city and the music I’ve put out. But I genuinely just want people to see and be like, “yeah, he’s that guy.” This is something I really enjoy doing and not even with that, but I really want to just be that sort of inspiration or for the people who are in my position now to look at me and be like, “nah I want to be like Cam.”
There are even people like that now who are like modeling themselves after stuff that I’ve done and I’m not even where I want to be like at all, which is crazy to me
What are you working on now?
The only thing I can say is that I’m working on a few projects.
How do you like performing?
I love performing. Performing is one of those weird things for me. Where the smaller the crowd is, the more nervous I get. The bigger the crowd, I just bloom. I love performing. I love making people in the crowd happy. I love the crowd interaction and especially the people who really know your song like all the words.
What were some of your most memorable show moments?
My first concert in my opinion was my album release party when I dropped Hues last year. Sold out the show. It was packed in there. It was hot. People couldn’t move. People knew the words to most of the songs already. I did the show a couple days after the album came out. That was about 250-300 people.
The next really big show that I did was the Homecoming concert and Kennesaw state university out here in Atlanta. And I was one of the openers for Meg Thee Stallion and I want to say it was about 750 to 1000 people in the crowd at that show and the reason I really like that show is one, I knew I did a good job, because there were so many people who followed me after the show on Instagram and Twitter. Also even to this day, I can interact with somebody that goes to that school for the first time, and they’ll be like “wait didn’t you like perform at our concert? And I’ll be like, “Yeah, that was me” and they’ll be like, “Omg, that was so good. Nobody knew what your name was.” Yeah both of those shows I’d say were my biggest shows.
Are there any specific music festivals that you would want to perform at?
Specific? No, the only one I could think of is Coachella. I feel like the other festivals are more revolved around what I call moshpit rappers. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but you have to realize that there are certain crowds for certain things. For me, not saying that it would never happen, but I could never open for Travis Scott because knowing what style of music that I make, it wouldn’t resonate with the crowd. Those fans are so ready to move around and jump around. Not saying I don’t have songs that you can do that to, but I have more “vibey” songs so they’re going to be as turnt.
Who do you make music for? Do you make music for anyone?
That’s a great question. I don’t try to make music for anyone, it’s just for me. But at the same time I make music for everybody because I don’t like to get into the whole, “my music is strictly for Black people, and if you’re not Black then I don’t want you listening to my music.” I don’t have more White fans, I have more fans in LA than I do in Atlanta which is weird, but it’s more of a mixture of cultures in LA than it is in Atlanta. So I don’t really get into the whole, “I only make music for Black people,” because at the end of the day, if people enjoy the music they enjoy the music. I can’t really force people to not listen to my music. But at the same time, I don’t think of being that person that says, “I can’t just make music for this person, this person, this person,” because at the end of the day I make music for myself. It’s more so a stress reliever than anything.
We already talked about your writing process and a little bit about your creative process. Let’s say you get an idea for a song. What are the next steps and what would that look like?
For me, I listen to the beats for at least 7 days. After a week, if I don’t like the beat then I scratch it but if I like it then I write something to it. At that point I just write a lot of melodies in my head and see what works and normally I go with the very first melody because it’s good to never overthink music. Whatever aspect I want to begin the song with. I just put together what part of the melody goes with what part of the instrumentation. Once I get that together and I can get through the entire beat and hum all of the melodies throughout the entire beat, then I write to it and the writing takes between 7 days and 3 months just depending on what the song is talking about or what I want it to feel like. I don’t think I’ve ever revised a song yet. If I had the chorus sound one way I don’t think I would ever change it. After that I just record it. It sounds crazy, but a song to me takes so long to make.
If you weren’t pursuing a career in music, what do you think you would be doing?
I don’t know. That’s how invested I am into this. For me, growing up I’ve always wanted to be normal– like a basketball player, football player, whatever. Looking back I’ve always found myself making something musical. Even though I would change my career path between the ages of 7 and 14, I would always be writing some kind of song. I wrote my first song when I was 6 and then I remember writing songs in 4th grade, 6th grade, and 8th grade. Once I was a freshman in high school I said, “You know what, I’m going to make music.” There was no point in still trying to figure out what I wanted to do since I had been writing music in bits and pieces of my life already. But to give you an answer, if I was not making music at all I would be a fashion designer.
Who is in your creative circle and who do you bounce ideas off of?
I have a creative circle, but I don’t bounce ideas off of any of them. Everyone in my creative circle knows that no one can listen to the music until it comes out. I don’t even play music for my family. The only two people that will ever hear anything early are my two best friends from school. One is from 6th grade, and the other is from 10th grade. They are really blunt, and it’s good to have those types of people around to make sure I get an honest perspective on my music. For me, I’m so enclosed into my own musical world that I’m like, “Y’all aren’t hearing anything until it’s out.” I also have this weird thing about me where I like to see everyone’s reaction to my stuff. When everybody else has the first reaction. For the last song that I dropped, “Brownskin,” my two closest friends didn’t even hear that song beforehand just because I wanted to see everyone’s reaction at the same time to truly see what would happen if I drop a song like this.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Definitely at a level where all of my favorites are. If I had to model exactly where I would want to be using my favorite artists, it would have to be a mix between Gambino and Tyler because I want to be able to do shows and arenas. I definitely want to have my own store in Atlanta. I definitely want to have my own TV show on FX or wherever. I want to perform at the Grammys really bad and I want to win at least 5 Grammys. Stuff in that superstar realm is where I see myself in 10 years.
Is there a place where you really want to perform?
I really want to do a show in LA. That’s really the first show on my bucket list since most of my streaming comes from LA. I’m just really curious to see if people in LA really know who I am. After LA, there’s a lot of people in the United Kingdom that know who I am. If I had a third it would be a close tie between New York and Chicago.
Do you have anything else you would want to tell our audience about you?
Only thing I would say is just give me a chance and give me some time. I say that because we live in a world where people will only give you a chance if they see everyone else give you a chance. For everyone that is going to dive into this interview, give me a chance and give me time. The give me time part of that speaks to don’t stop following me on instagram or don’t stop listening to my music just because I don’t blow up a year from now. Everyone’s favorite artist took a long time to get to where they’re at. I have a lot of really good things going on behind the scenes, but I can definitely get to 25% of where I want to be in the next two years. I just pray that people give me time and are understanding that I’m not going to rush myself to validate myself to other people.