Esco: How have you been?
Carmen Cameron: I'm good , working hard man
exhausted
Esco: So, Miss Cameron... let the people know who you are... I'm well aware!!
Carmen Cameron: Lol, I almost forgot this was an interview
Esco: lol
Carmen Cameron : Well my name is Carmen Cameron, I am a singer and songwriter for Emi/Bad Boy and an aspiring Solo artist
Esco: Songwriter.... What are some of the songs you have written? Who have you written for and with whom?
Carmen Cameron: Well I'm a fairly new writer.. I was blessed to be taken under the wing of writer Jack Knight.. He groomed and developed me for a publishing deal, along with Mario Winans at Daddy's house studios in Ny. Working there allotted me the opportunity to work with Mario Winans, Cassie, Day 26, Jay Z , Sean "Diddy" Combs and the Hit Men, Brandon Howard and a host of others as well...
Esco: Dope, how did you get started?
Carmen Cameron: My first Placement as a writer was for MTV's making the band 4 ... I penned the theme song for the show entitled "Exclusive." I also had a chance to perform on 2 records on Jay z's
American Gangster album "Pray" and "Sweet" .. and I currently have a song out with Brandon Howard that is making great international buzz.. its entitled "Dance Floor"
Esco: Wow, how did you get started with music or writing?
Carmen Cameron: Music or writing?
Esco: Both.... we never had this convo so now I'm all in!!
Carmen Cameron: LOL, okaayy welllll... My mother started me on the violin at the age of 4 , then I moved to clarinet , then the trumpet , throughout my school years... I didn't fall in love with singing until I was in high school.
I always knew I could sing , but I was afraid to sing in front of ppl , because I didn't know if I was any good, andy didn't want to be ridiculed for something that secretly brought me so much peace... so I kept it a secret for a loooong time.
My God brother heard me singing one day and snitched on me when we got to school, telling the choir director about what he heard the day before....
Esco: O wow..... this is interesting. and to think of all the times in the studio joking and clowning, you have a sensitive side
Carmen Cameron: so of course the choir director made me sing infront of the entire choir , and then in front of the entire school.. i was terrified!! but i got thru it , and from that day, I've been in love with singing and music fully.. thats when i knew i had found the love of my life
Esco: Cool, most of us have other hustles outside of music... besides music what else are you involved in?
Carmen Cameron: yes thats true... I hustled up the money to move to NY and chase my dreams working in a nail salon.. lol.. so when I decided to move back to baltimore and focus on a solo career, I accepted that my lifestyle would change, I knew I would be making a sacrifice as far as income was concerned , so I decided to go back to what I knew... which was doing nails, to help smooth my lifetstyle transition. From that I decided to use some of the same techniques that I learned doing nails and apply them to making jewelry... so in the end, it all led to me having my own jewelry brand , named
Hard Candy Couture.
Esco: Dope.... lmao at doing nails tho!!!! I never knew that.
Carmen Cameron: lmao right!! I've been a hustler since middle school though
Esco: How are you adjusting with the big shift in how the industry has changed?
Carmen Cameron: I used to smuggle candy to school in a pringles can and sell a can a day
and draw graffiti picks on pals notebooks for money.
Well to tell you the truth, the whole industry thing is new to me .
I've been studying for years though so I was aware of the changes going on. Luckily I had good folks around me to guide me and school me as things were happening. But from day one, I've always known that in order to succeed in this business you have to put your allll into it , you have to find ways to stand out, you cant depend on ANYONE to care about you or your career as much as you do... so that means giving it your all ANYWAY
NOT looking for the hand out or the easy way!!!
Esco: So what's planned in the near future?
Carmen Cameron: Well I got this bright idea to put out a visual project... everyone is doing mix tapes so I wanted to come in at a different angle.... so I'm telling a story , visually , through video and song... I wanted to get the chance to paint the picture of who I am and where I'm from.. take some of my experiences and doctor them up with a little creative imagination and just give the people something other than a mix tape...
The songs that are included in the visual project aren't singles... they are just some records that I cut , and I love, andy want to share them in a different way.
The inspiration came from the first buzz song I put out... I wasn't expecting it to get half of the attention that it did, But when it did , I decided to follow through with this project ...Shout to everyone who watched and supported "
Say That You're In Love" btw
Esco: How can you be contacted for writing?
Carmen Cameron: You can hit me up at
www.facebook.com/carmencamren or
www.twitter.com/carmenCamren
Esco: If you could replace one person in the industry, who would it be?
Carmen Cameron: OMG do I really have to answer this LOL??
hmmm to play it safe , I'll just say to anyone who doesn't appreciate where they are and what they are doing, but have been allotted a space in this industry to "do ya thang" if you take it for granted for too long, I will gladly swoop in and take your spot.. IM ON YA HEELSSS , believe that! lol ;)
