THIS FORMER CONSTRUCTION WORKER IS NO FAN OF THE MUSIC BUSINESS; HE JUST WANTS TO PLAY
By Andrew Daly
CAMERON GRIFFIN HASgone from working in construction to being a Grammy nominee for his work on Coco Jones’ 2022 EP, What I Didn’t Tell You. That’s pretty astounding, and he’s enjoyed the ride, but he remains tempered.
“Being recognized is amazing,” he says. “But I don’t like how the music business is. To be successful, you’ve gotta be like John Mayer, but I have other dreams. I play guitar, but I’m not a ‘guitar player.’ I’m Cameron, who plays guitar.”
The fact that Griffin doesn’t wholly identify as a guitar player — despite having worked with Usher, Chris Brown and others — seems hard to fathom. “All of this — writing songs, guitar and producing — came suddenly,” he says. “I never thought about any of it until about four years ago.”
Four years ago, Griffin was a Los Angeles kid playing linebacker at UCLA and strumming his guitar in a dorm room. He’d been at it for years, but guitar was just a hobby, not his life’s work. Or so he thought.
“It was Covid,” he says. “My stuff with Summer Walker [“Secret” by 21 Savage feat. Summer Walker] came out in 2020 — and [then] all these opportunities came along. I evaluated the life I wanted and the trajectory. Once I jumped, I spent a lot of time and energy on it. But Covid was the push; I went for it after tha
