#AK CAMINO IS BLAZING
THEIR WAY TO THE TOP
San Diego-based duo AK Camino first caught our attention with their debut single “Already Here” back in March and they've had our ears at attention ever since.
Still relatively new to the industry, the duo has already begun gaining momentum on SoundCloud with their most recent releases, “Romancin”, a melodic banger that blends dulcet bars with heavy 808’s and an unforgettable chorus, “They see me rollin'/ They see me dancin'/ They say I stole ya bitch/ I call that shit romancing". Along with, “Want It All" an ode to their past and an introduction to their future, where Amilito’s inventive wordplay is backed by his omnifarious vocals and K-Dubb’s pulsating production.
Go follow AK Camino on Spotify and check out their latest hit "Want It All" below, along with an interview where we discuss their unique sound, musical influences and visions for the future.
"It's a journey,
but it starts with the music"
-AK Camino
ARTSYSHXT: Who is AK Camino?
Amilito: I’m Amilito, from Bakersfield and I do all of the vocals (sing + rap).
K-Dubb: I’m K-Dubb, from San Jose and I do all of the production.
How did you guys meet & decide to form the group AK Camino?
A: We met freshman year [in college] & hung out in the same crew who all have similar taste in music.
K: I listened to Amilito’s covers here and there throughout college but we never discussed making music together. With this being my last year, I was looking for a creative outlet and I’ve always liked listening to music, so I thought, why not try creating it. I started making beats, showed them to Amilito, and he liked the beats that I was making so we came up with the idea to start making music together and form a Hip Hop / R&B group.
How long have you been making music?
K: I just started producing at the beginning of 2017, in January.
A: I’ve been singing forever, but I began posting covers on SoundCloud 4 years ago. It all started with Marvin’s Room. I was going through some stuff and that song really spoke to me and it was one of my favorite songs at the time, so I decided to make a cover with my own story and remix the lyrics to relate to my own situation. Since then, I’ve received a lot of positive feedback and would receive SnapChats of people playing it at parties and singing the lyrics, so the response to that cover showed me that this is really what I want to do people liked my writing style and vocals; all I had to do was find a producer.
All images via AK Camino
Your sound is very unique and refreshing compared to what we are used to hearing from San Diego artist. How has San Diego influenced your sound?
K: The San Diego hip hop scene is pretty weak as a whole. I personally don’t draw any influence from any So-Cal Hip Hop. If anything, I am influenced by Bay Area music. I don’t think San Diego has much of a hip hop or R&B scene, it's pretty non existent on the larger scale. We’re definitely trying to put San Diego on the map with this new sound.
A: Our experiences in San Diego have influenced us, but not the artists. The closest to San Diego that we draw influence from would be Los Angeles.
In your own words, describe AK Camino's sound.
AK: Melodic flows over dark trap beats ,but not everything we do is going to be dark. It's a big part of our sound, but we’re very versatile.
What inspires your music and who are some of your greatest musical influences?
K: It’s a combination of where we are from and what we listen to. I'm really influenced by the Toronto sound, so The Weeknd and Drake and the whole moody down tempo vibes coming out of Toronto. Another huge influence for me is the trap scene, like Metro Boomin’ and 808 Mafia. So, in my production I try to combine the two; R&B vibes with beats that kick hard and have trap elements to it.
A: I grew up on Chris Brown, Trey Songs and the whole R& B scene. I also listen to a lot of Frank Ocean and Childish Gambino but I love hip hop too. Drake really helped bring me into hip hop with "Thank Me Later" and "Take Care". The Weekend is definitely my most influential artist because he is very versatile in his songs and his production taste and I am the same way. Ty Dolla $ign is a big influence on me too. I draw influences from Drake, The Weeknd, Ty Dolla $ign, and others, when writing and developing flows, but I still maintain a high level of authenticity for the final product.
K-Dubb, we got to hear some of your rap skills on "Already Here". Can we expect to hear more features from you in the future?
K: When we dropped our first song [Already Here] it was literally just for fun. Then we realized that we are pretty good at this so I decided to keep making beats and Amilito kills it everytime we record, so I might do a feature again in the future, maybe if it adds to the song. But so far I’m comfortable and I love producing; that's really what I enjoy doing and I think it’s working out for us so far.
Amilito, what do you look for in production?
A: I love slow songs, like my Marvin’s Room cover; when I go back home people I don’t even know sing the lyrics to me and I think that's cool, but I want to show the world that my sound is versatile and I feel that K-Dubb's beats allow me to do that. Sometimes he gives me beats that go hard, like XO Tour Llif3 type beats and I’ll start writing stuff like 'damn, I want to hear this on the radio’.
Does being bestfriends make it easier to work together?
A: K-Dubb makes a lot of beats but he knows my style really well. We’re both relatively versatile, so that definitely helps with our collaborative process.
K: 100%. Our entire recording process is very collaborative. When he records, he'll ask me for feedback on how he said a certain bar, how it goes with the beat or if he should ad in ad-libs and when I'm producing, he'll tell me if I should move around chords or claps and if he wants to do a 20 bar verse instead of a 16 bar verse. We throw ideas at each other to really customize the production around Amilito’s vocals. He can really sing, but he can also go in on hard beats too, so we have a wide repertoire that ranges, similar to The Weeknd and Drake’s range.
It looks like you're taking the mysterious route. Why are you choosing to keep your identity so low-key?
A: Music is our passion but we just graduated from college and are applying to grad school, so it is such a different lane than what we are doing in our lives. We want to stay low key until our music takes off.
K: Most of our favorite artists have that enigma and mysterious aspect about them and it's our desired way of going about this until we decide to do this full-time.
What do you guys hope to accomplish with your music?
A: Basically to become legends and not be forgotten. Decades after we make music we want people to still listen to our songs.
K: What Amilito said is definitely the end goal, but right now we just want to break into the industry by creating a new sound and make an impact to build a fanbase that resonates with our music.
What's next for AK Camino?
AK: We have so much music in store, so we're just taking it step by step and releasing one song at a time. Once we build our fanbase and feel that it is the right time, we will releasing our EP, “Visions.”
22 JUL 2017