Over the past year, Camper has quietly been steering the sound of contemporary R&B. The producer, whose real name is Darhyl Camper Jr., has sat behind the boards for tracks from Justin Bieber, Coco Jones, Mary J. Blige, Ty Dolla $ign and Victoria Monét, among many others. So when it came time for him to release his debut album “Campilation” in early January, it came as no surprise that the tracklist read like an R&B fever dream, touting features spanning Stevie Wonder and Jill Scott to Tank and Brandy.
How exactly did Camper become your favorite R&B artist’s favorite producer? “At the end of the day, I’m doing all this work and I know I have the work ethic. I know that I’m equipped to do the job,” he explains. “I just needed just to connect the dots and have a year that I’m having. I didn’t plan on it. I put in the work and it’s starting to all happen for me now. And I’m just very grateful and humbled that I’ve lived long enough to see this type of shift.”
For nearly two decades, Camper has gradually built out his discography on R&B’s main stage. Just this year, he produced Scott’s “The Math” on her comeback album “To Whom This May Concern,” helmed Monét’s latest single “Let Me” and, last week, popped up in the liner notes of Kehlani’s eponymous fifth album for his work on “Still.” But it was with “Campilation” that he took his first real step into the spotlight, pulling together a slate of tracks he recorded along the way and contributing his own vocals to songs like “Love Me” featuring Wonder on the harmonica.
The 35-year-old explains that his solo foray was a matter of timing, where he could have continued producing for other artists or tapped into the resources sitting in front of him. He began asking collaborators to return the favor when they were in the studio, and started to amass what would become a full body of work. “Everybody that I work with wants to see me win,” he says. “I’m just happy that I get to pay it forward and show them that. And the response that I’m getting with the album is surreal. Even with Stevie Wonder, I’m still pinching myself.”
That standout feature came about when Camper was at the Los Angeles radio station 102.3 KJLH, appearing on host Tammi Mac’s show. He credits it to kismet: Mac asked him who was on his dream list of collaborators and right as he mentioned Wonder, the legendary artist happened to walk through the door. “I’m like, is this fucking really happening right now?” he says with a laugh. “I know God works fast, but I ain’t never seen him work that fast before.” Wonder joined the conversation and they exchanged information, leading to a session the next day. “I was probably crying for like a month straight” after they hit the studio, he says.
What distinguishes Camper, at least musically, is his deference to classic R&B signifiers without kowtowing to pastiche. His production feels timeless yet crisp and familiar, a style he’s refined over the years in working with artists. “Music can start anywhere. That’s the special thing about it,” he says. “The keyboard’s up and running, you start playing chords, something might hit you right there and then boom.” Or, he says, it blossoms from a conversation with an artist about their current state of mind. “Just jamming out with my musician friends, I might hear a loop or something or a sample like Stevie before the studio. It doesn’t matter. I draw inspiration from anything because anything and everything inspires me in some way, shape or form.”
If 2026 feels like the year of sudden ubiquity for Camper, it wasn’t without a long road to get there. Camper grew up in New Jersey and fell into music after his grandmother and father forced him to take piano lessons. He gradually warmed to the instrument and began playing in church, where he met Jordan “Infinity” Suecof, who had worked with Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins. Together, he secured his first placement on Bow Wow and Omarion’s “Hoodstar” and continued to contribute to records from R. Kelly and Backstreet Boys.
Camper split off from Suecof and went solo, producing tracks for Mariah Carey (“Dedicated” featuring Nas), Keyshia Cole (“Trust and Believe”) and Elle Varner (“Refill”), the latter of which earned him a Grammy nomination. Since then, he’s worked across genre lines to collaborate with H.E.R., Mary J. Blige, and Ye and Ty Dolla Sign, contributing to a third of their “Vultures 1” project.
At this point, Camper is aware that he has the luxury of being picky as a producer, a freedom that many musicians fail to achieve. These days, his litmus test for working with an artist is that “I would have to believe you. If I don’t believe you, I’m not doing it.” And while he tends to work with artists for a few songs on a project, he’s exploring full-length collaborations following the release of “Campilation,” noting that he’s producing the entirety of Monét’s upcoming album.
But for now, his main objective is to steer the sound of R&B in a new direction, however he can. “We need to push it forward. I get sampling and all of that, but 2026 needs a fresh sound,” he says. “I just know what R&B means. And the more that I grow, the more that the cure gets to spread if we’re in a world filled with viruses.”
Source:
variety.com