Maya Gwynn
With KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn with Black Perspectives IE,a show we learn about the amazing things members of the Black community are doing in the Inland Empire. My guest today is Cam Gnarly, creator, educator and artist whose album I Took It Personal is out now. Thank you so much for being here.
Cam Gnarly
Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
Maya Gwynn
After listening to your album, I noticed a laid-back west coast vibe. Very proud to be from Southern California, and I feel like you are too. It immediately reminded me of artists like Nate Dogg, who I grew up listening to because both my parents are from Long Beach, so that's all my dad used to play. Or one of my favorite songs that came out last year was Dodger Blue by Kendrick. It's just such a good just laid back, like windows down. It made me curious who your first influences in rap were and how they helped shaped your style.
Cam Gnarly
Well, I think it's funny that you say Nate Dogg too, because Nate Dogg helped me find like the melody in my vocal delivery. I feel like every rapper goes like these phases before they find like their niche tonality, or like vocal where you start, I want to be a rapper. And I used to be in the studio with my friends, and he was like, Man, you wrote it and it sounds like you have a melody. Why are you trying to rap it like that, like you, you're stripping it away of what is making it more unique. And after that, I got into listening to like, a lot of Nate Dogg and allowing the melody to come out, and kind of figuring out why I'd like to do that. Because I went to a performing arts elementary school. So I used to sing in plays and stuff like that. So I always had like - music is, like, a second nature, because I've been doing it ever since I was really little. That kind of, like, started me toward music. But my dad is from Venice, so I grew up listening to, like, a lot of James Brown and, like, he was really into, like, the G funk era and stuff like that. My mom's from the Midwest, so I listened to, like, a lot of gospel and a lot of RnB and a lot of jazz. So I feel like my earliest rap introductions, like they were big music heads, so they would take me, like, to Kris Kross concerts, and so it's kind of hard to say, like, where my style comes from. I'm just really interested in music and art. I feel like, in general, I'm just a big student of hip hop.
Maya Gwynn
That's awesome. In March 2024, you were honored as Citizen of the Month by the City of San Bernardino, which is incredible, a well-deserved recognition given all your community work we were talking about before we started. Recording artists are often labeled as narcissistic because of the intense focus their craft requires. Yet you've organized two annual Dino USA holiday giveaways and even handed out free food on Thanksgiving. Where does your strong sense of community and your strong sense of giving back come from?
Cam Gnarly
That kind of just came about. You know, when you don't have a lot, you share. We didn't have a lot growing up, so we shared. And in the indie music community, you share, you build with other people. And when I reached a certain level of like notoriety within my own community, after I did my album Northend Gnarly, I got this Citizen Award and the album being so much about San Bernardino and telling my story about where I'm from, and getting that award was such a - I didn't even know it existed and when I looked into it, they give that to people like the President of Pepsi and all these business owners and stuff like that. And realizing that it could happen to me in that way was like an eye opener, but also made me just stay in the form of fashion, of like, how do I give this back to people? I thought the best thing I could do is take the lead single of the album, which is called Dino USA, the whole album's about that, and turn it into a holiday giveaway, something that we could keep doing over and over and over again, so that no matter what we do, where we go, the roots are planted in San Bernardino. So I can move. I can go wherever, but as long as I come back home, I feel okay morally. So we planned the giveaway. I partnered with One Love IE. I housed it at this middle school that I used to go to and work at in education. And then had Bakers sponsor too. So we gave away, like, 600 food vouchers, 1500 toys and like 800 people showed up, and it was super unexpected. And then I did it again this last December. It was really moving, because some people are like, these kids wouldn't have even gotten a Christmas if you didn't do it. And it was really important for us to do it the week of Christmas. It feels really surreal for me, because I feel really in flow with the stuff that's happening and I'm just trying to navigate it the best way.
Maya Gwynn
That's amazing. On your album, I Took It Personal, you open with the track What They Do, repeating the lyric the radio version, "Keep a foot on their neck". Then you move to tracks like Problem Addict and then Hit Dogs Holler where you say "hit dogs gon' holler, let God sort 'em out" and close out with my favorite song on the album, Last Call Out, which begins with the voicemail hinting at finding peace, which I really liked. Listening to the album, it feels like, and you've already talked about this, it feels like a personal journey that eventually reaches the light at the end of the tunnel. Can you share what headspace you were in while creating this project, and what discoveries you made about yourself as an artist along the way?
Cam Gnarly
On a personal side, I was just going through a lot, because I was going through a lot of changes too. And I think even going into releasing Northend Gnarly, I felt really at a crossroads after COVID. I dropped some other music, and it was, it was doing okay. But just on my personal life, was just not feeling the way that I wanted to, especially with the stuff that I was trying to achieve. So I started really leaning more in on my faith and trying to understand what to do next. So I couldn't keep going the way that I was. So that's when I actually started fasting. And I strictly remember saying I must give it to God and see whatever happens next for me is going to show me how good it can be if I just give it up, and what needs to go with that, I'm gonna let it go. And, you know, from there, I just started seeing all these opportunities and all these moments and friendships showing me what was good to keep and what needed to go for where I was trying to go. So I do Northend Gnarly first, but I had those songs done. And then stuff happened in life where it brought me to write songs like What They Do and Problem Addict, and then Hit Dogs Holler, and I wrote those songs. Once the project really started to form, I was just like, you know what, I did take these things personal. I can't pretend like it didn't bother me. For me, a lot of the songs on there, especially the Last Call Out, which was one of my favorite too, is that song is really about me, like it's almost a eulogy to the old version of myself, whereas, like, this shit for the dead homies, including me, and I can't be that way anymore. And if anybody expects me to be that way by the time you get to it, it's not about taking it personal, but it's about like, identifying the things that trigger you so that I could work through them. And that was really the theme at the end, was like, don't take it personal, take care of it. But you have to feel it first. I feel like a lot of people try to disassociate from negative feelings. It's important for me to try, anyway, to be, like, emotionally intelligent in my music, especially if my brand is called Very Positive. I'm trying to, like, shift the dichotomy of that. It's like, I do believe in going the way of least resistance, but that doesn't mean you don't fight for things that matter, especially yourself, advocating for yourself. So the intention of this album was to recognize my edge and kind of stay on that edge while also showing how to deal with this stuff without, like, crashing out.
Maya Gwynn
Yeah. We're gonna move to our rapid fire portion. I'm excited to hear your answers. Besides your own, if your work had a theme song, what would it be?
Cam Gnarly
The first thing I have to say would probably be Cam'Ron Killa Cam, that would be the one.
Maya Gwynn
if you had to teach a master class or give a TED Talk on a random skill you have, besides the work you do, what would it be?
Cam Gnarly
I don't know, like, how to make my dad's mac and cheese. Probably that. That's something very specific.
Maya Gwynn
Speaking of food, what's your favorite San Bernardino restaurant or landmark?
Cam Gnarly
Probably Bakers, and that's not a product placement either. I have to say, you know, I grew up that that specific Bakers, where we did the pop up at and everything.
Maya Gwynn
How can people keep up with you and support the work you're doing?
Cam Gnarly
Follow me on social media, probably be the best. I'm really active on X: Cam Gnarly on everything, C, A M, G, N, A R, L, Y. If you want to support directly, visit or buy anything from my Very Positive store, VeryPositive.store. I think that is the link, it's in my bio on Instagram. Or you can visit camgnarly.com.
Maya Gwynn
Awesome. Thank you so much for being her. This was such a good conversation.
Cam Gnarly
Thank you for having me. Thank you so much.
Maya Gwynn
Of course. Cam Gnarly is a curator, educator, and artist. Find this segment and others at kvcrnews.org/bpie. Support for the segment comes from the Black Equity Fund at IECF, advancing racial equity and supporting long term investments and black led organizations in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Join us again next week for Black Perspectives IE. For KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn. Thank you.
