There’s a difference between trying to send a message and actually speaking from experience. Storm the Unpredictable brings feel-good Hip-Hop while embarking on topics that culture enthusiasts of any age can relate to. Not only because of the subject matter but because of the way it’s done. Dope beats, well-composed lyrics and random doses of humor, all his offered on his latest album A2: What Should Have Been. From rhyming alongside Fat Joe in the VH1 Hip Hop Honors’ Freestyle 59 to winning a prestigious nod at the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Storm shows the world what he’s all about and where he should be.
AllHipHop.com: Your song “Get Your Weight Up” shows your sense of humor, but with that song in specific, were you trying to put forth a message?
Storm the Unpredictable: That song came from being at a store and seeing two girls looking at a magazine cover. One of them said to the other, “That’s gonna be me one day,” and the other little girl said, “That’s not gonna be you. You got to lose some weight.” I was looking at them surprised because the girl being made fun of was not nearly a big girl at all; so for her to say that just bugged me out. A lot of younger girls think that in order to a do a certain thing or to be considered a beautiful person, you have to look a particular way. That’s where the song came from. I like to put out songs that may add a bit of humor, but at that same time people can hear something behind the song to think about or relate to.
AllHipHop.com: So how would you describe your style overall?
Storm the Unpredictable: Unpredictable! That’s partly where the whole name came from. You really don’t know what my next song may be about. I try to not come with the norm. Even if I do have a topic or title of a song that might seem like its common, more than likely it’s something different. Take for example the title for “Get Your Weight Up”. People see it and read it and might initially think that it’s on some drug thing or something. But when they hear it, it’s something totally different. I like to do things like that to keep people interested.
AllHipHop.com: You hit the Internet very hard early on in your career. How do feel that the Internet and sites like Myspace have helped your movement?
Storm the Unpredictable: I can’t even fathom where I would be without the use of the Internet. It’s done so much for me. And when sites like Myspace came up, it just intensified all that. The Internet is changing because there are so many people that are making music right now. Internet sites have to decipher through certain things to end up finding what they want. It used to be a lot easier before to get in touch with people and network.
AllHipHop.com: What’s the next big thing that you are trying to accomplish?
Storm the Unpredictable: By next year, I’m trying to go overseas. That’s one thing that I really want to experience. Other artists have told me of their experiences overseas, but I really want to experience it for myself.
AllHipHop.com: Your first album was Amalgamation. You named your second and your latest album: A2: What Should Have Been. Is A2 supposed to be somewhat of a sequel to the first album?
Storm the Unpredictable: Definitely. I always try to tie things in. It’s been three years since the last album, so I did a couple remixes on the new album for the people who were familiar with me since Amalgamation. And on another note, I called the album A2: What Should Have Been, because this time I was more focused on what exactly I wanted to do. I came in with a clear vision of what I wanted the whole atmosphere of the album to be from the lyrics to the type of beats I chose. This one definitely had a pre-planned theme to it going into it.
AllHipHop.com: Why should people pick up A2?
Storm the Unpredictable: No matter what your age is, there are things you can relate to [on A2]. It’s a lot to listen to. Some people may need to listen to it a couple of times to really digest. Not necessarily because it’s “heavy,” but more so because there is a lot said. I think this is an album that even over time, people can go back to it at connect with certain songs. Like you may connect with a certain few songs now, but maybe later as you go through certain things in life and grow older, you might be able to connect with these other songs because you’ve been through similar situations. It’s definitely a feel good album, but has points that can gear towards the everyday man and woman.
AllHipHop.com: Upon listening to the album, I think “Grown Folks Biz” definitely seems to be a song geared towards people that have entered the real world of adulthood…
Storm the Unpredictable: A lot of older Hip-Hop listeners seem to like “Grown Folks Biz”. I think it’s because it speaks on a lot of issues that we deal with as older beings that still like Hip-Hop, but may feel like that the Hip-Hop that’s out now doesn’t really connect with you. These are the people that listened to groups like A Tribe Called Quest or De La Soul. It’s a song that talks about dealing with banks and creditors, losing a child, mortgage rates and all those type of things. One thing with me and music is that anything I do is personal. If I say something on song, it’s going to be about something I been through, witnessed or seen. It’s always personal and I think it comes across in my music.
AllHipHop.com: I just wanted to congratulate you on being one of the finalists for the VH1 Hip Hop Honors’ Freestyle 59 competition? How did you end up getting on there?
Storm the Unpredictable: My brother was telling me about the Freestyle 59 competition for the longest time, and I honestly wasn’t going to do it. But at the very last minute, I decided to do it and I uploaded my entry literally minutes before the deadline. From there, two days went by and I got a call from VH1 and they told me that I was one of the five finalists that get to go up to New York to record commercials, record ringtones, have a session with Fat Joe and all sorts of stuff. So I was definitely glad that I turned in my submission. I came in at fourth place overall.
AllHipHop.com: What was your highlight of the experience?
Storm the Unpredictable: We were all in a cipher with Fat Joe! And Joe had nothing but positive things to say about me. I had always appreciated him as an artist, but it was cool to actually see him come in that day because he carried himself in a way where he seemed like he was one of the finalists. I’ve been following him since back when he was in Lord Finesse’s first video. Not a lot of people can say that they rhymed in a cipher with Fat Joe.
AllHipHop.com: Do you thing the art of freestyling is going in a downward trend?
Storm the Unpredictable: I used to be with an organization called the Freestyle Union and all we did was freestyle. Back in the day, everybody knew what freestyling was. But through the years, it got to a point where now you have to specify every time whether your freestyle was “off the dome.” And that occurred mainly after the organized tournament-styled battles started coming up and corporate sponsorships starting getting involved and all that. The whole freestyle game changed. It got to a point where everywhere you went there was a battle. Then when the movie 8 Mile came out, everyone was calling themselves a battle MC. You used to be able to go to a battle where they had to turn people away from entering. Now if you have a battle, you got to fight to get people signed up.
AllHipHop.com: Now on the opposite side of the spectrum, you won the John Lennon song writing competition earlier this year. I’m sure new doors began to open for you since then?
Storm the Unpredictable: The John Lennon song writing competition is one of the biggest and if not, then it is the biggest song writing competition. It did open a lot of doors that normally wouldn’t have been opened for me. What won it for me was my song “Contradictions”, which is on A2: What Should Have Been. It’s a song about different contradictions that I see in life. I didn’t want to make the song too heavy, but I still wanted to bring forth some of the points to make sure everybody saw the truth behind them.
AllHipHop.com: Not a lot of Hip-Hop artists tend to enter songwriting competitions…
Storm the Unpredictable: I feel that a lot of artists don’t capitalize on opportunities that are out there. We wait too much for what I call the big bang theory. That is: record a song, someone hears it and then you blow up. There are many alternate opportunities for artists to get exposure and we need to start utilizing them. That’s why I really encourage underground and unsigned artist to enter these types of competitions as well as others; not just the MC battles. We have to stop complaining so much and sometimes take our destiny into our own hands. If you can’t get on radio, then find some other way to get exposure rather than sulking on the fact that you can’t get 10 spins a day. Sometimes in order to have what you are doing flourish, you have to get your music out to people that you wouldn’t normally get it out to.