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You may not know his name, but you definitely know his music. K Camp, the artist behind some of the biggest dance crazes and party anthems, has dropped Kiss 5, a deluxe version of his star-studded R&B album “for the ladies” (as he likes to say). After the huge success of “Lottery (Renegade)”, K Camp has slowly been receiving the attention he deserves as a versatile artist in both the hip-hop and R&B worlds. He’s been working non-stop: dropping new freestyles, new projects, and even starting his own clothing brand.
So what is K Camp’s music and work process really like? WRSU got the chance to ask him a few questions all about it over Zoom.
Q: What is the reasoning behind your work ethic?
A: My reasoning is momentum. It’s gotta be momentum. In this game it’s so easy to lose momentum. You could drop a record, and they’ll forget about you next year. My strategy is to just engage my fans. I drop a lot just so my shows can go up. When I’m on tour, I got a lot of stuff to perform. My fans go crazy, they wanna hear more.
Q: With a track like “Renegade” that became so viral on TikTok and that got pulled into this dance craze, as an artist, did you feel as if some of your original art was not as appreciated because it became more like a social gimmick of sorts?
A: I would say yes and no. These days, I don’t let that type of stuff get on my brain. As long as the record goes up and folks are hearing it, folks are vibing to it, they’re hearing K Camp, they googling it, and stats going up… A lot of people don’t know that a lot of my records, I don’t know if it’s my fans or the dance community, but they turn my songs into dance songs. From Slum Anthem or from my old records that I get tagged in daily, I just feel like Lotto was the one that went over the edge because it was building in the dance community for so long. I think that was the one that pushed it all the way up cause people stay dancing to my stuff. But, to go back to your question, I love it. Any type of publicity, good or bad. As long as I stay true to myself and continue making great music, satisfying my fans, and doing what I gotta do. I don’t care where it goes.
Kiss 5 (Deluxe), his most recent release, is an album that features the R&B hitmakers of today such as Ari Lennox, Sevyn Streeter, 6lack, and Jacquees. Each artist, so unique and different in their own styles, what was collaborating with them really like?
Q: I wanted to ask about Kiss 5 and Kiss 5 Deluxe because they’re stacked with so many incredible features. Who was the most fun to work with and who was best able to hop on one of your tracks and execute the original vision for the song and maybe even expand it?
A: The only record I did where we was both in the studio was with Jahlil Beats. That was the only one. Everybody else was through email. But as far as like who fit the most… everybody I sent the song to, everybody did their justice. The process was me creating the record, me living with the record, and me seeing who I think fit on the record. It gets tricky when you send it to that artist and they send something back that you’re not messing with. It’s like uh…. It goes through clearance, and you’re in clearance trying to drop the feature out, but everybody did they thang! 6lack went crazy. I was waiting on a verse from Ari. That audio was something she sent me to my phone when she was just playing around acting like she had a verse, but she never did her verse. So, I took that and put it on the song. I never really got the full verse from Ari, but that’s the homie. Me and her got more stuff in the future. As far as making music in the studio, me and Jahlil Beats was the only ones in there together. That was a whole vibe. Me pulling up to his studio, his time had ran out, we pull up to mine. We’d play Madden, then we’d start recording, it was just quick. We did about 3 records in about 30-45 minutes. That was the one of the ones that was cool.
Q: Speaking of the studio stuff, the Float Sessions are a great insight into your music creating process, why did you wanna create that series?
A: I think it was time for my fans to get a deeper understanding of how I work. Lots of folks just get into the process and DSPs and stuff. I wanted the people to see exactly how I create. And I ain’t even tapped in! I ain’t even show y’all s*** yet! It’s just a cool lil… like my cameraman’s sitting in the corner recording, but y’all ain’t really seen me emode yet, but that’s coming soon. I’m glad you brought that up! Float sessions out now! *snaps fingers* Appreciate ya!
Q: What’s next for you? What do you want us, as fans of your music, to do?
A: I want my fans to know that I’m going in exec mode. I’m still gonna be an artist. Think of how Jay did it. How P did it. I’m still gonna give albums, still gonna be an artist, still tour, but I’m trynna take it to another level as far as being an exec. Making sure my label, and the artists I put on next, are superstars. I’m trying to build something. I don’t wanna just be the artist where my time is up. I want you to see the fruits of my labor. I’m in exec mode. 21, that’s what I’m on!
Well, Jay-Z did say, “what’s better than one billionaire? Two.” And maybe we’ll be seeing K Camp as the next big music mogul.
Interview By: Kaylee Landrigan
