Steve 'Flash' JuonI assumed right from the jump on “Bethlehem” that ElCamino & Chase Fetti were some Griselda rappers from Buffalo, New York. I mean after all the first song and video that hit me was “Josh Allen.” What would you think? If you know Benny the Butcher, Mach-Hommy, et cetera and are a fan of their work you’d be one hundred percent convinced the duo was part of the family too. The comparison is meant entirely positively too. Like so much of Griselda’s output, the sound is a throwback to 1990’s rap about hustling on street corners until you could make it in music.
You know what they say about “assumptions” though. Chase Fetti hails from Cliffwood, New Jersey although he’s definitely a Griselda fan AND collaborator on many of their projects. ElCamino on the other hand is one hundred from Buffalo and possibly even closer to his fellow Queen City citizens given they put his first album out. He’s so tight that if you type his name into a search engine the phrase “Is ElCamino in Griselda” will autocomplete for you. There’s mutual respect from all parties here and it’s apparent in the music on “Bethlehem.” You won’t find any cameos on songs like “Black Bar Mitzvah” but they’d slide right in seamlessly on the track or on an all-star remix.
Producer Ill Tone Beats handled the entirety of this release and he’s got that sound down too. It makes me slightly uncomfortable to call this imitating Griselda or vice versa because that doesn’t do either one justice. I’d rather say they’re both sounding like a bygone era where rappers didn’t sing, didn’t step into the booth high on Xanax and lean, and didn’t spend whole songs in their feelings. I’m not advocating toxic masculinity but there’s big dick energy to songs like “Emma Aispuro” I can’t pretend to not enjoy. “You can’t see through my frames” is what I want in bars. Tell me about YOUR LIFE pah. Tell me about your struggle, your hustle, your dreams. Make me feel you and where you come from.
While only 50% of ElCamino & Chase Fetti may hail from where Josh Allen is the starting quarterback, the sound of “Bethlehem” is undeniably from a city that also starts with a B. If you’re a Christian it’s also the place you hail as the birthplace of the Lord, and although it’s overstating it to say Buffalo is redeeming New York, you simply can’t deny how influential the trap rappers and music producers from there have become. The five boroughs own the history of being rap’s birthplace, but there’s something in the water in Buffalo that makes it sound like NYC reborn. If this duo accidentally gets thought of as Griselda by sound, association and their collaborations with the label, that’s fine by me.