Following on from our review of Tommy Stoner’s single, ‘Sturdy‘, we took the opportunity to have a chat and ask him a few questions. The Atlanta, Georgia based artist has quite a substantial discography under his belt, and also has some great things to say, so we were surprised to hear that he’s not done very many interviews to date. We hope you enjoy our chat.
We really enjoyed your single, ‘Sturdy’. What is your definition of Sturdy? How does a person achieve sturdiness?
Sturdy to me is just being solid. Solid, meaning whole or having your (you know what) together. That’s financially, emotionally, and mentally. A person can easily obtain this “sturdiness” not necessarily by being perfect but simply by being the best version of their self that they can be.
Who has been the most inspiring person in your life? Why? What about your musical inspirations?
Naturally there are many people that have had a time where they have been the most inspiring person in my life. However, speaking to today the most inspiring person in my life is my manager Scoville Jenkins. Like he’s the real definition of “you believe in something, go get it”. It’s the all-in mentality he possesses that just strikes something in me to keep going to the studio everyday working on my craft. My musical inspirations are the current legends that have blessed me with features for my next project. I don’t want to spoil who’s featured on it however, it’s something about seeing a legend reach down and collaboration with someone like myself who happens to be a fan of them. Seeing this happen in my life has given me soo much inspiration musically to be great and one day also be able to reach down and collaborate with someone in my position today.
You are a frequent collaborator with your cousin Ghee Boe. How did that come about? Have you always sung together? What’s next on the horizon for you and will it be a collaboration with Ghee Boe again?
Man me and ghee are blood related and it’s crazy cause we’re actually blood related on both sides. My dad and his dad are cousins and some kind of way came across our dope mothers who are sisters and magic happened. As far as the music relates, we both used to ALWAYS freestyle in the car with my other cousin Makk who usually would be driving as well as freestyle with us. I actually started music as a producer and ghee was literally the first rapper I’d ever produced an entire project from. I would record a hook or two until eventually he’d motivated me to do my own full songs. Right now I’m working on my next project entitled “Rolling Papers 4” and Ghee is definitely featured on there as well. EVERYTHING I do he’ll be a part of much; However we also have a collaboration project we’ll be gearing up for after RP4’s release.
If you could do it all over again, what about your music career would you do differently and why?
It’s easy to have regrets in life in general and honestly if I could make a list, it’d be pretty long. Regardless though, I actually still think all of the decisions or mistakes I made just were simply just meant to get me here. Looking back at the start of my music journey from me learning the producer route and then being told I wasn’t a producer until I learned to engineer as well down to engineering and learning to engineer myself, to then mastering my artistry. If it we’re producing and engineering I wouldn’t have had the privilege of meeting all the legendary artist I’ve been so fortunate to work with on my own songs. Like everything just seems like it was supposed to happen so I don’t think I would change too much.
What three tracks are top of your playlist right now?
Off the top of my I head I would say: 1. ‘Priceless’, 2. ‘Up There’ and 3. ‘Sturdy’, all off of my TOMMY sober project I recently dropped.
What advice do you have for anyone starting out in the music business right now? Were you ever given a piece of advice that you’ve lived by during your music career?
Advice I would give is just to keep going and always try new stuff. If you’re an artist or engineer, learn to make some beats. If you’re an engineer or producer, try out recording yourself you never know what works until you try. I was given this same advice by many of my peers, so I’d just pass that along. As well as to never give up.
What question do you wish someone would ask you in an interview, but nobody ever has? What’s the answer to that question?
I’m fairly new to this interviewing part of the journey I’ve only had about 6 or 7 since releasing my first ever video but I never worry about question usually I’m just honored to even be interviewed. Like it’s truly a privilege to just share my story or life in general in hopes to inspire someone else. I think one thing that would be cool though is like a trick question or a game at the end that comes with a prize I love stuff like that lol.
Tommy Stoner can be found online on his official website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Watch the video for ‘Sturdy’ below.