The French dj Cam (Laurent Daumail) distanced himself from the European hip-hop milieu of the 1990s by focusing on instrumental music that incorporates elements and samples of dub and jazz (especially snippets of obscure jazz records). The subliminal jams of Underground Vibes (Street Jazz, 1995) hover in an ether halfway between trip-hop and ambient jungle. Gangsta Shit is emblematic of his chilly noir atmosphere with those liquid piano chords and nonchalant beats Mad Blunted Jazz is even somnolent with late-night cocktail lounge piano. A more intricate beat and ominous electronic drones envelop Underground Vibes. The last three cuts are particularly creative. Other Aspects is the most effective collage of jazz moments, Dieu Reconnaitra Les Siens is a mix of scratching, jazz and female vocals, and the seven-minute closer Free Your Turntable And Your Scratch Will Follow recasts trip-hop for an African jungle before some soulful scratching and some easy-listening strings. That album and 9 Underground Live (Inflammable, 1996) were later packaged together as Mad Blunted Jazz (Shadow. 1996),

There is relatively little hip-hop in Substances (Inflammable, 1996), an album which instead deconstructs Arabic music in Meera, Afro-pop in the propulsive standout Sound System Children, film soundtracks in Innervisions, world-jazz in Angel Dust, etc.

While uneven, occasionally Abstract Manifesto (1996) reaches new peaks of collage art. The dizzying Maiden Voyage remixes an African chant The standout Hip Hop Opera blends Brahms, Soft Machine, Don Cherry and Ahmad Jamal. The intricate beat of Freestylelifeshit spans jazz, drum'n'bass, Caribbean music and Afro-pop. Yes Yes Yo combines Cypress Hill and a saxophone fanfare. The way the closer Deep In A Mind Of A Slave remixes the sources is almost harrowing

These albums established his credentials as a creative mixer, arranger and, ultimately, composer.

The mix DJ-Kicks (K7, 1997) opened the doors of big business.

There instead a lot of hip-hop and in fact exuberant one on The Beat Assassinated (Columbia, 1998), with Cam conducting an army of guest MCs, fundamentally a tribute to his New York idols. Success and Harcore Freestyle are diligent evocations of the classics. But DJ Cam truly shines where he diverges from the classics: his mind-bending transformations design the abstract Inside In A Mind, Brooklyn 1 2 and Baron Samedi.

Loa Project Vol. 2 (Columbia, 2000) is his most sophisticated work, a sequence of doleful, impressionistic sonatas like Juliet (de facto a multi-part suite) and the dreamy Candyman that caress multiple genres. The ebullient beat of Voodoo Jazz blends jazz and gospel, while the stately and austere Ghetto Love toys with orchestral and choral effects. Millennium is his indifferent and almost psychedelic anti-anthem. Constructs like Ganja Man filter musical stereotypes through an alien psychedelic sensibility.

DJ Cam still released Soulshine (2003) and Liquid Hip Hop (2004).

He then formed a DJ Cam Quartet, actually a quintet with Alex Tassel (bugle), Christian Brun (guitar), Jerome Regard (bass) and Eric Legnini (piano, keyboards), that released Rebirth of Cool (2008), Stay (2009) and Diggin' (2009).

DJ Cam later released Seven (2011), Miami Vice (2015), and Thug Love (2017), 90's (2019), his tribute to his favorite producers of the 1990s, and Westside Gun Soul (2023), while Tropical Gypsy (2021), Broken Melancholy (2024), and Sunburst (2025) were credited to DJ Cam and DJ Cam Quartet.