A Conversation with Cam The Artisan
modrNation: Where are you originally from?
Cam the Artisan: I’m originally from Atlanta, born and raised. When I was five my family moved to Texas for four years, but then we went back to Atlanta when I was nine. We moved around a lot, but always stayed in the Atlanta area after that.
modrNation: How do you feel growing up in Atlanta led to you wanting to make music? Cam the Artisan: For me during that period in my life, it was just discovering all these new artists. It started with Eminem, but then was introduced to Andre 3000 and Outkast as a whole. I also love Pharrell, TI, Jay-Z, and Kanye, and a little later I started mimicking all these artists as a way of finding my pocket in what it was that they were doing.
modrNation: What is the intention behind your music?
Cam the Artisan: To make an impact and connections with the audience and my fanbase. When you have a genuine connection with someone listening to your music, it makes them attach themselves to your music for the lung run.
modrNation: Take me through your writing process, where does your inspiration typically stem from?
Cam the Artisan: To be honest, just real life experiences and Twitter threads.
modrNation: Do you ever hit writer's block?
Cam the Artisan: Yeah definitely. I just let my inspiration and ability to write naturally flow, when I force myself to write something it never comes out the way I hope.
modrNation: You put out your most recent single “Circles” towards the end of 2022, what was the inspiration behind that?
Cam the Artisan: A personal relationship that I’d had, and kind of meshing that with stories and scenarios that I’ve seen on Twitter. People complaining about the same thing when talking about relationships, and talking about the same things over and over.
modrNation: All of your visuals are amazing, how involved are you with that process? Cam the Artisan: Fully involved, I never do a video that I’m not at least 80% directing. That’s just how I go about my process, when I like songs I already have images of how I want the video to look and feel.
modrNation: Up until your two most recent singles you’d taken almost a full year break from releasing, what were you working on during that time?
Cam the Artisan: I was just getting out of a bad artist-manager relationship, and kind of dealing with the after effects of that. It directly made me get into a bad spot mentally while writing, but at the same time I’ve been working on a full length project that’s about half way done I’d say. modrNation: Reflecting back on the last couple years, what would you say is the biggest lesson you’ve learned?
Cam the Artisan: Just being patient with myself and not being afraid to fail, not being afraid to create something that doesn’t live to my personal standards.
modrNation: What would you say is the importance of finding your own identity and individuality as an artist and a person in a time where so many people are making music? Cam the Artisan: For me I feel like putting in the groundwork to showcase my different abilities in a way to where it's not off putting to a casual listener, but also finding a balance between your own unique sound as well as what everybody else is listening to.
modrNation: Where do you see yourself five years from now?
Cam the Artisan: Billboard Top 200, at least a gold or platinum album. Modeling campaigns with certain clothing companies, and just solidifying myself as the next artistic visionary.