Cover Photo Cred: Bigsuazo

Eladio Carrion has had a monumental 2024, dropping his album Sol Maria, a trap EP with Porque Puedo, and headlining tours around the world. When FAME finally gets the opportunity to speak with him, he’s on tour in Mexico, rocking the stage. 

He’s given us a moment to answer some of the questions we have for the hottest name in Latin trap. 

FAME: We just saw you on Sneaker Shopping (congrats on that, we love to see the Latino representation), how does it feel to be on such a legendary show for urban culture? Why did you decide to join New Balance out of all the shoe companies?

Eladio: Sneaker Shopping was a super cool experience. I was a fan of the show for a long time, so I was happy it finally worked out and at the right time too. It was the perfect opportunity to give that shout out to the Olympic Puerto Rican team with the Olympics happening in Paris. It was overall such a cool experience. 

The collaboration with New Balance came naturally. I like good comfortable sneakers and started to use them for my concerts long before. The more I wore them, the more the fans started to show up with them and it became a staple in my shows so when the opportunity came to collaborate with them, it felt authentic to me. It feels nice to be part of this family. I recently got to visit their headquarters in Boston and it's been a nice start. They treated me and my team so well and showed us around their space. I can’t wait for people to see what we have planned for the future. 

FAME: How has becoming a father changed your perspective on life and being an artist?

Eladio: They always say you will never understand until you’re a parent and well now I get what they mean. Now I have this new driving force in life. It’s important to be aware that to me, family comes first. I have this big responsibility to mold my kids, they can either turn out to be gremlins or who knows the next president. In the entertainment business, it's hard to not work around your schedule but to me, I work around my family. 

FAME: You've worked with countless rappers starting off early in the tapes with Smokepurpp, going as high as having a track with your hip hop hero, 50 Cent. What do you think is the connection between Latin rap and American rap? Do you think that this connection will continue to grow stronger? 

Eladio: Rap and hip hop are about expression, in any language. Now making audiences combine and creating Latin rap and trap is difficult, there was a time when no one was doing it but we have done it before and there is always room to grow and create. 

FAME: If you could make a collab tape with any American rapper, who would it be and why? 

You dropped "Porque Puedo" months after your album earlier this year. Do you think it's important to drop consistent trap projects so that people don't begin to box you out of the Latin trap genre? 

Eladio: Sol Maria was more of a commercial album, which I enjoyed making and dedicating such a special album to my mom. But I also felt I owed my fans who follow me for more trap or hip hop songs some music. Since my Choli was coming up, I wanted to surprise them with music so they know that even if I try out new sounds, I love trap and Hip hop and I will always be ready to drop some bars. 

FAME: Sol Maria, an album named after your mother rocked the charts earlier this year. What did you tap into as an artist to create that project and would you say that it's the one where you expressed yourself the most vulnerably?

Eladio: It was definitely different from everything I had dropped before but at the same time, my mom is the best person I know and it was important for me to tell the world how special she is. I would say it was more vulnerable than the other projects I’ve done but it felt right to do it and it felt like the right time to do it. 

FAME: How did your swim training discipline and work ethic transfer into your artistic work regime?

Eladio: With training you learn that you get better the more time and effort you put in. Same thing with music, the more passionate you become, the more comfortable you get with your craft, the more it shows- in shows, in the music, etc. I’ve said it before, there is no amount of talent that can outdo someone who practices a lot. That might be the athlete mentality but it stays true to this day as an artist. 

FAME: How did imitating voices propel you to become an artist?

Eladio: After writing for other artists, I chose to become one myself. It was a risk at the time but I love a good challenge and I believed in myself. You never know in this industry but I had the confidence that one day people would see my vision and I am big in manifesting. Now we are here and we are still going and have no plan on stopping.

FAME: During these Olympics, you staked $50k for any Puerto Rican athlete that brings home a gold medal, why is it important for artists in PR to support Puerto Rican athletes?

Eladio: I want to clarify that because I think people misinterpreted it. I am going to give any athlete that gets a medal the prize money. Any medal. It takes dedication and a lot of discipline to get to the Olympics. I was an athlete once just like them, and I know how much you have to put in to get there and they deserve getting something for representing PR at such an important international stage

FAME: What are some other philanthropic ventures you would like to pursue? Have you ever thought of doing something with the Puerto Rican Swim Association?

Eladio: One of the best parts about growing professionally in my career is being able to give back and I take that responsibility seriously. Maybe one day, I would love to do something like become president of the Puerto Rico Swimming Association. 

Right now I am focusing on my foundation Sauce for a Cause. We hold activities to help spread information on animal care. We held our first Sauce Dogz event outside of Puerto Rico recently- in Medellin- while I was there performing at a festival. We sponsored the neutering and feeding of over 60+ dogs and helped adopt a couple in the city as well. I was able to stop by and say hi to some fans and visit some of the dogs up for adoption. 

We are also hosting the 4th annual Saucegiving in Puerto Rico in December so stay tuned for those details!