By Nathan J. Lee
Photography By Mason Davis
Anthony Clemons Jr., better known as Ant Clemons, is one of hip hop and R&B’s most honest and genre-fluid artists. A 4x Grammy-nominated artist, songwriter, and producer, Clemons has become a consistent voice behind some of the most impactful music of the last decade, with credits spanning Chris Brown, Latto, Mary J. Blige, Luke James, and more. Yet, when asked how he defines his artistry, his answer is stripped of ego or industry polish: “I'm just happy to be here. I'm happy to be able to present what God blessed me with to the world and anybody that wants to listen. That's truly my artistry.”
Raised in Willingboro Township, a suburb in New Jersey, Clemons rose to prominence as a guest performer on Kanye West’s 2018 single All Mine, later contributing heavily to West’s Jesus Is King, which won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album in 2021.
Clemons’ eight-track debut studio album, Happy 2 Be Here, was a critically acclaimed success, earning a nomination for Best R&B Album. He cites Michael Jackson, Frank Ocean, and Stevie Wonder as key influences on his sound. “I like to take what they do and kind of press it a little forward,” he confesses, like a student speaking with quiet gratitude for his teachers.
When asked what people can expect when they press play on an Ant Clemons track, he answers with the kind of confidence only earned through consistency and credits: “That work.” A reply that needs no explanation, that requires no translation, just a head nod and the recognition that this is the real thing. “Truly like the best R&B, hip hop, or just any type of song that I feel like presenting at the time,” he continues.
It also means lending his pen to Mood 4 Eva with Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and Childish Gambino, and contributing to standout tracks for artists like Justin Timberlake, Kash Doll, and Camila Cabello.
Clemons approaches songwriting with a focus that prioritizes meaning over melody. “I like to think of songs as movies. What is the scene calling for me to be in this moment as I attack this perspective for the song,” he says. “I'm concept first. The ‘why’ is the most important part of the song for me. I love songs with meaning.”
That love translates to discipline. “I have not stopped writing a song a day since I started,” he says. “It's one of my favorite things to do. When I figured out I was able to do it, I decided: I'm never not going to write. I write on a train, on a plane, in a car. I just love writing.”
From writing rap verses with his cousins as a kid to co-creating chart-topping anthems,
Ant Clemons’s journey started with a pen, a beat, and a spark in the living room of his childhood home in Jersey. “It was horrible,” he laughs, recalling his very first rap, written alongside his sisters and cousins. But something clicked.
Long before the studios and Grammys, Clemons was clocking shifts at Red Lobster in Cherry Hill with his friends, then heading straight to the studio after work. “All my boys were there, and I was like, I want to be where my friends are at,” he says. “And all of the people that were at that Red Lobster, to this day, I'm still cool with.”
He soon began taking bi-weekly flights to Los Angeles, chasing opportunities to collaborate with songwriters and producers. By 2017, his mother encouraged him to make the leap and stay in L.A. full time. “She was like, ‘I'll take care of you for a year as much as I can financially. And then if you can't make it happen, you got to come back home and figure something else out.’”
It was a deal that paid off, a seed sown in the right direction, as he never looked back.
Today, he is shaping the sound of a generation. From Damage with H.E.R. to Up at Night with Kehlani and Justin Bieber, his fingerprints are on some of the most iconic records in recent memory. “I feel like I wouldn't be here without every single thing that I had to go through,” Clemons says. “I had to go through riding a bus to get to Red Lobster, to walk home just to realize the value of money, time, and organization.”
This year, that position includes more music on the way, an EP and a full-length album, and a growing buzz from his Behind the Song series on Instagram, where he invites fans into the stories behind his biggest records. The series is part documentary, part diary, and fully Ant Clemons.
He still listens to gospel first thing in the morning, We Must Pray by J. Moss. His dream collaboration? Hov himself, Jay-Z. His pick for who’s next is Amy Allen, who has been quietly penning hits for Sabrina Carpenter. “Her songwriting is just incredible,” Clemons says. “And I'm just a super huge fan of great storytelling.”
“Some days I feel like I should go back to Red Lobster and figure it out,” he says with a cocked smile. But I trust that God has placed me in a position that I'm able to be who he wants me to be at all times.”