El Camino – Walk By Faith

El Camino associated with the Buffalo,NY's Griselda label.The recent success of Griselda Records has brought more attention to Buffalo, New York's close-knit hip-hop scene--and even more so to the artists who are in that label's orbit. One of those is El Camino, whose frequent cameos on Griselda projects have led many to believe he's signed to the label. The truth is a little more complicated. "I'm always associated with Griselda because we really like a family," he says. "It's more than just rap to us, because we look at each other as family. So, I'm gang, of course. I just ain't on paper."Elcamino was born in Buffalo, where the majority of his family still lives. When he was nine years old, his mother moved Elcamino and his siblings to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He spent four years in the South--including 2005, the year Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. "I was in Baton Rouge, so the shit wasn't as bad as it was in New Orleans. It still affected us, 'cause it was a storm," he says. "But after that, everybody from New Orleans basically just moved to Baton Rouge. We weren't beefing with them, but you would always hear about somebody from Baton Rouge fighting somebody from New Orleans, 'cause they territorial. That's how that shit was. Down South shit. That shit fucks your brain up."Elcamino had started writing rhymes when he was still in elementary school, and laid down his first track towards the end of his stay in Baton Rouge. "I recorded my first shit in Louisiana at my cousin's studio," he says. "I want to say I was like 13 or some shit like that." In 2007, his mother reluctantly moved the family back to Buffalo. "My grandparents got old, so we had to come back to take care of them," he says. "But if it wasn't for my grandparents, my mom would never have moved back."Back in Buffalo, he started taking his craft more seriously, dubbing himself Meechy Elcamino. In high school, he linked up with a crew called the Local Residents. "T...