Featured Artist: Chuckie Campbell

In the Orange Mode:

Name: Chuckie Campbell

Sign: Aquarius

Hometown: Richmond, KY (Now residing in Buffalo, NY)

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Passion: The power of language: Aside from making music, as a hip-hop artist, I hold a Ph.D. in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern Mississippi. I am also a published author, writing short stories and poetry. Those interested in the literary arts should check out my online and print literary magazine, Sunsets and Silencers – I am the founder and editor.

O&A session:

OM: How long have you been expressing your artistic side?

CC: Art was always something important from a very early age – my grandmother was a writer and my mother and father always pushed me toward the visual arts – but more importantly, I think, my vision was cultivated by music. At this point, I have been making and recording music for almost sixteen years.

OM: What else have you done using your artistic skill and have you worked with anyone famous?

CC: I have learned to channel my energies into a number of different artistic outlets. As a writer, I have published my work in a number of online and print magazines, mostly for short stories, but some poetry as well, winning the Madonna Marsden Award (2007) for best Critical and Creative Writing on the Graduate Level and the Eastern Kentucky University Award (2007) for Best Fiction in a Graduate Course, as master’s student. As a teacher and tutor, I have also applied my ideas in the classroom, speaking around the country at conferences, winning the Julia Visor Award (2008) for supporting students in being advocates of their own learning process. Additionally, as a graduate student during my Ph.D. at the University of Southern Mississippi, I was given The Ronald E. McNair Graduate Assistantship (2009), where I worked preparing first-generation college students for doctoral studies. In all, I feel that creativity can be and should be applied to all areas of a person’s life. As far as working with famous names, along the way, I studied under the supervision of Rick and Steven Barthelme at the University of Southern Mississippi, brothers of Donald Barthelme, the American short fiction writer.

OM: You are a talented young man; I am sure all the ladies out in the Orangeverse would like to know if you are single?

CC: I am recently engaged to Beth Farmer. She just released her first CD, “Venus in the Morning Sky.” You can check out her music at this link: http://bethfarmer.bandcamp.com/album/venus-in-the-morning-sky

OM: What is your favorite body part or what do you like most about a young lady?

CC: A sexy smile.

OM: You are a romantic at heart I see. Do you have any children?

CC: No.

OM: What would you say your best attribute is?

CC: Drive and determination.

OM: Do you have any tattoos and do they have a special meaning?

CC: I have always wanted a tattoo, but I have never gotten one. Perhaps it is time to make that happen.

OM: Stacie Nurse shot and produced your video didn’t she, so how is your support chain?

CC: Stacie Nurse is a part of a long list of connections I have made with my music in the past year. I recommend

Staci Marie Photography, her business, to anyone looking to take that next step in developing website, business promotion, model portfolios, even weddings or personal photo shoots. She is professional and down to earth.

Recently, she aided in shooting a music video for a song titled “Four Elements,” a collaboration with the Crossfaders, an amazing DJ/Producer combination out of Algers, Algeria. The video will be released, along with three other video versions, on February 14, 2012 by 9G Records, and later that month, the “Four Elements” EP will drop.

Each video will feature a different remix of the song in a number of genres, including house, electro, and hip-hop. This is a big release and we are hoping for as much exposure as possible, especially since the song saw remixes from the likes of Sirkus Sirkuz and Pornscore, at its early stages of promotion, and has gotten radio play as far away as BBC in Ireland.

Other than that, I’ve worked recently on a number of collaborative mixtapes, one with Marc Jones (The CrackFactory) out of Orlando, Florida, titled “Constant Elevation,” which will feature some songs distributed by Global Attack Mixtapes (affiliated with Island Def Jam). Another project with David Elson (SE1DavidE) out of Bermondsey, South East London, titled “In a World Not of Our Making.”

My full-length album should drop sometime this year, produced entirely by Willie Breeding, singer-songwriter and member of The Breedings out of Nashville, Tennessee. The support chain is large and continues to grow. Really, it works to humble you. With each and every person who becomes a part of the movement. I want to thank everyone for their love and support.

Om: Loved your video and your music, it has an urban but pop sound to it, what inspired you to write it? How would you describe your musical sound?

CC: “Four Elements” was written in Buffalo, NY during a period when I had recently lost one of my best friends, personal music mentor, Ralph Prater. He committed suicide in March of 2011. During the next 10 months of that year, I would lose eight other people. When I hear the song, there is a lot of imagery dealing with time, but also, I think the song drifts into less serious places, the hip-hop braggadocio being one of them. The song supposedly serves as an artifact of that time period in my life, to some extent. Other than that, I would rather not reduce the song for others, by saying exactly what I think it means and let it resonate and ripple out as listeners bring other meanings to it.

OM: Do you dance?

CC: I have too much respect for those that do it for the culture, let alone professionally, to say that what I do is dancing. My fiancée, Beth Farmer, actually does contemporary and hip hop dance – another one of her many great qualities.

OM: Do you workout or go to the gym?

CC: I think it is very important to stay in shape and take care of one’s body. I absolutely have a gym membership and use it as much as my schedule allows.

OM: What are some clubs you would recommend from your city? What would you recommend someone who visits your city check out if they had to check out one thing or place?

CC: Pearl Street Brewery; The Pink; Nietzsche’s; Bottom’s Up – those are all cool bars in Buffalo, NY.

OM: in your everyday life where can you be seen at, you know (school, supermarkets) you know.

CC: I try to attend every live show of The Breedings (the band), as many as possible, that is, and spend the rest of my time writing and developing my craft. Check The Breedings out at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibyr9aa_Ns4

OM: Do you have any musical or other positive influences in your life, what Inspires you?

CC: The sunshine gives me inspiration.

OM: Again a Romantic your Fiancée must love that! What is your favorite color?

CC: Blue

OM: What is your favorite TV show or Movies?

CC: Dexter; Lost; Fight Club; Scarface; The Colbert Report; The Daily Show; The Universe;

OM: Do you have any other hobbies or special talents?

CC: I played basketball in college and some semi-professional basketball. I still like to play from time to time.

OM: While pursuing your dream, what do you do to pay the bills?

CC: I work full time as a college professor.

OM: Impressive, what is your favorite club and drink?

CC: My favorite beer is Abita Purple Haze.

OM: What is some of your contact information for our readers can get a hold of you?

CC: Find me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chuckie-Campbell/162954797068015 and for artists or club owners, for booking or collaborations, send your emails to [email protected]. You can also contact me through my reverbnation page: http://www.reverbnation.com/chuckiecampbell.

OM: If you could leave the Orange Mode readers anything what would it be besides make sure you get your Nine Livez on?

CC: We can disagree without being disagreeable; we can celebrate our differences, and maintain them, without alienating the very condition that renders our sameness. Our differences and opposing positions should not separate us, but open worlds for us; contradictions should not enslave us, but instead liberate our capacities for creative thought, connect us more succinctly to consciousness.

Joseph Campbell once said in “The Hero’s Adventure,” a chapter in his beloved book, The Power of Myth, that “We have only to follow the thread of the hero path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find God. And where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves. Where we had thought to travel outward, we will come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we will be with all the world.” I think therein lies something beautiful and forgiving about life.