Buffalo, NY-based emcee Elcamino of the underground hip-hop collective Griselda, has released a flurry of EPs and full-lengths of the classic mafioso style of rap from the 90s since hitting the scene in the mid-10s, and has shown no signs of slowing down whatsoever. His material calls back to the works of legends like Raekwon and Mobb Deep with his grim portrayals of crime and urban chaos, inspired and informed by his own past as a drug-dealer. Frequently Elcamino has found himself paired with Griselda cohorts such as Conway, Benny The Butcher, and Westside Gunn, but on his 2019 EP Abraham & Lot, he's riding solo for a more insular and introspective experience. Amidst his usual tales of street thuggery and cocaine-proliferation are occasionally mellow and reflective, backed by orchestral and piano-driven production from DJ Shay.
ElCamino is one of the most important talents emerging from Buffalo, New York currently, and yet he’s still treated as the stepchild of Griselda. As with Benny The Butcher before him, he’s been quietly playing the background until it’s his time. However, considering the momentum he built in 2019 and what he has planned for 2020, that time might be right now. After dropping his self-titled debut in early 2018, Camino appeared on almost every track on Benny’s A Friend of Ours EP the same year. He then followed that up with a strong sophomore effort titled Walking On Water. In 2019 the baby-faced Buff rapper dropped his third LP, Don’t Eat The Fruit, the well-received Lot and Abraham EP, a joint project with Dutch beat architect Oh Jay titled Where’s My Pyrex?, and finished the year strong with his Elcamino 2 album. You’d think that would be enough to start getting on the media’s radar, but as to not leave anything to chance, he just dropped yet another album titled Martyrs Prayer. This offering is fully produced by in-demand multi-hyphenate 38 Spesh. The sole feature on the record is by th