From Las Vegas Boulevard to the VMAs: Sam King Is Building a Career on Both Sides of the Camera

The Las Vegas native has spent the past several years working both as a recording artist and as a producer for Chris Brown, Kehlani and Key Glock — and his biggest credit yet was shot on the Strip.

Las Vegas native Sam King has spent the past several years building a career that moves between two sides of the music industry: recording artist and creative producer. Now based in Los Angeles, King’s latest run has put him alongside names including Key Glock, Chris Brown and Kehlani, while still developing his own music and identity as an artist.

But one project in particular has brought King’s work back home to Las Vegas in a major way.

King served as producer on Chris Brown’s combined “It Depends/Obvious” music video, directed by Travis Colbert and produced through Projekt Studios. The six-minute visual was released June 19 and has already surpassed 10 million views on YouTube.

Shutting Down the Strip

For King, producing it meant turning Las Vegas itself into part of the production.

According to King, the team secured a controlled shutdown of a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard to capture portions of the video, before moving outside the city to film against the open Nevada desert. It is the kind of logistical undertaking that happens quickly on screen but requires coordination between production, crew, locations, transportation and permitting behind the scenes.

A VMA Nomination

The finished product has now reached one of music television’s biggest stages. “It Depends/Obvious” is nominated for Best R&B at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards, placing the Chris Brown visual alongside work from Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber, Kehlani, Dave and Tems, and Mariah the Scientist with Kali Uchis.

For King, that nomination carries additional weight because he was the producer responsible for helping bring the visual from concept to execution. Projekt Studios officially credits King as producer on “It Depends/Obvious,” as well as Brown’s “For The Moment” and “Fallin’” featuring Leon Thomas.

His recent work has also included Kehlani’s “Out The Window,” where King again served as producer for Projekt Studios. The visual was directed by Gabe Phoenix and Travis Colbert and released in November 2025, further expanding a production résumé increasingly connected to some of the biggest names in contemporary R&B.

The Other Side of Sam King

Away from call sheets, budgets and production logistics, he remains a recording artist himself. His latest releases include “FLAWS IN MY FLESH,” released in June, adding another layer to a career that allows him to understand the creative process from both perspectives.

That combination may be what makes King particularly interesting. He understands what happens in front of the camera because he has been there, but he also understands what it takes behind the camera to actually build the world an artist wants audiences to see.

And for a Las Vegas creative, there is something fitting about one of the biggest moments of that journey happening on Las Vegas Boulevard.

A road closure. A desert. Chris Brown. More than 10 million views. And now, a VMA-nominated video.

For Sam King, it is another reminder that some of the people helping shape the visuals behind today’s biggest artists have roots right here in Las Vegas.