Akira's Storm

Akira's Storm is the 12th Album by AMU Henry Smalls, the third album in the Storm trilogy (preceded by Tropical Storm A.H.S. and Hurricane Dotty), and the first album since FINAL FORM. After FINAL FORM failed to amplify the virtual underground scene and Dotty's presence in it, Dotty left the virtual underground scene in search of a new sound. Dotty began experimenting with more atmospheric beats and paradoxical, but honest lyrics, which lead to the Storm influenced theme of this album. Some of the songs were loosely about Dotty's falling out with 9enSokyo and how it affected him, while other songs are about how Dotty is finally getting widespread attention across his scene, but still longs for the same kind of respect from the people around him.

"I remember watching the Micheal Jackson biopic, and I realized that I can't let anything get in the way of my creativity. Any pain or hardships I have to deal with, I should find a way to turn them into fuel. That way, I don't have to keep being affected by the crazy shit. I am finally getting into the kind of art that motivates me" - DottyB

The album was inspired by Dotty's falling out with members of 9enSokyo, specifically Remilia Bandxz. Around the time the album was released, Dotty had also fallen out with Rukadoku and aktiveight, and became disillusioned with the VRchat rap scene. After the album's release, it was reported that Remi was harassing Dotty over Discord and making fun of him for a cryptic post. Dotty would call Remi out in a series of rant videos, stating that Remi is a hypocrite for making fun of his love for anime while rapping as an anime character themselves, and for allowing 9enSokyo members to scam others while having a rule against it.

The album was quite successful as shortly after it was released on Bandcamp, it was then found on P2P network Soulseek. Less than a month later, the album was downloaded 1534 times from Soulseek, with a lot of glowing reviews in the chatrooms. The CD came out not too long ago, and it comes with a very well-designed booklet. Legendary rapper Lil B owns a copy of the album, which is also quite popular in Japan, more so than in the US.