Stamma Gramma
- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Michael K Williams, popularly known by his stage name Stamma Gramma, is a dancehall artist, producer, journalist, podcaster. Williams was born in Kingston, Jamaica, but relocated to the United States in 2008. In New York he studied Computer Science at Lehman College, graduating with a Bachelors of Science degree in Computer Information Systems in 2018. As a youth, Williams was highly regarded for his lyrical prowess by his Jamaica College school peers. Many of which had seen the young artist successfully challenge and defeat several rival student dancehall artists in lyrical battles despite the disadvantage of a speech impediment.
He was groomed musically from an early age by his father, Michael Williams senior, who was regarded as one of the top sound engineers on the east coast of Jamaica in the early 80's. Williams senior, to his credit, saw the talent, drive and potential in his son early and decided to guide him towards the path to success, contributing as his manager and mentor up until 2009. As a teen growing up in Jamaica, Williams delved into the field of graphic design and went on to become one of Jamaica's top graphic artists. He has been credited with helping to shape the brand identity of musicians such as Don Carleon, ZJ Liquid, DJ Frass, Shawn Storm, among others; creating their initial logos that went on to be popular worldwide.
In 2008, Williams co-founded Gesta Music Records alongside popular billboard charting producer Dane Ray. The pair who grew up as childhood best friends went on to release several albums featuring prominent dancehall artists such as Sizzla, Gyptian, Charly Black, Jahmiel, Elephant Man, among many others. The two would eventually separate professionally in 2014 to pursue their individual careers.
In retrospect, Williams was somewhat of a serial pioneer in the dancehall community. He is known for pioneering the art of conceptualizing "chopping" in dancehall music. The "chopping" sub-genre scene in dancehall is akin to the drill sub genre scene in rap music. It's a scene where dancehall artists creatively internalize and visualize the gritty conditions and illicit activities that are carried out in the streets on a daily basis. He virtually created the "chopping" sub-genre in dancehall by becoming the first dancehall artist to release a popular song conceptualizing the controversially debated topic in Jamaica. After the release of his debut song "Scammer Anthem" in 2013 on popular international website, envisioning "chopping" as a music art form, a new wave of dancehall artists borrowed the concept and inspired almost a decade of "chopping" songs that dominated the Jamaican airwaves up until its eventual airwaves ban in 2022.
Williams is also widely credited as being the founding father and inspiration behind the "vendetta" brand that is now used by dancehall superstar Alkaline. The V for Vendetta guy fawkes mask was the first to be worn by the artist in the music video "Scammer Anthem" in 2013 until Alkaline adapted it and used it as a moniker for his brand. In 2014, Williams founded gtunez; a platform and company that served as a digital distribution stream and database for reggae and dancehall releases. During the same year, Williams served as head investigative journalist on a campaign which exposed a prominent dancehall industry insider and a former music distribution giant for decades of corruption in the dancehall industry.
In 2016, Williams decided to take a break from the music scene in order to tend to what he described as "personal family matters" and nearly after a three- year hiatus from music, he re-introduced himself as a podcaster in 2020. In what the artist describes as a "new beginning", Williams's new podcast venture gained instant notoriety when his third episode, titled "Dancehall Gone Wild' gained over 800,000 views on popular website, WorldStarHiphop. The episode was noted for addressing contemporary social issues that plagued the modern dancehall scene. In a successful follow-up to the third episode, Williams released the episode titled "Obeah in Jamaica '' which was also noted for addressing taboo spiritual practices, highlighting the artist as a symbol of resistance, and activism against witchcraft.
In March 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Williams gained another when his podcast episode "Patient Zero" was featured in the Jamaica Star and the Jamaica Observer for its circulation of positive, inspirational and educational awareness amid a time when a large portion of the society The critically acclaimed episode went on to gain over 1 million streams on Facebook and other streaming platforms. Later in October of that year, Williams went on to seal another milestone with the release of his 28 track dancehall album titled Freddy v Jason Riddim, which featured the likes of Chronic Law, Intence, Jahvillani, Gold Gad, Blak Ryno, Shawn Storm, and more. Gold Gad's hit single New Scheme from the album would go on to gain over 2 million streams on worldstarhiphop.com. The hit music video would become the first in dancehall history to gain that amount of views on the entertainment platform.
He was groomed musically from an early age by his father, Michael Williams senior, who was regarded as one of the top sound engineers on the east coast of Jamaica in the early 80's. Williams senior, to his credit, saw the talent, drive and potential in his son early and decided to guide him towards the path to success, contributing as his manager and mentor up until 2009. As a teen growing up in Jamaica, Williams delved into the field of graphic design and went on to become one of Jamaica's top graphic artists. He has been credited with helping to shape the brand identity of musicians such as Don Carleon, ZJ Liquid, DJ Frass, Shawn Storm, among others; creating their initial logos that went on to be popular worldwide.
In 2008, Williams co-founded Gesta Music Records alongside popular billboard charting producer Dane Ray. The pair who grew up as childhood best friends went on to release several albums featuring prominent dancehall artists such as Sizzla, Gyptian, Charly Black, Jahmiel, Elephant Man, among many others. The two would eventually separate professionally in 2014 to pursue their individual careers.
In retrospect, Williams was somewhat of a serial pioneer in the dancehall community. He is known for pioneering the art of conceptualizing "chopping" in dancehall music. The "chopping" sub-genre scene in dancehall is akin to the drill sub genre scene in rap music. It's a scene where dancehall artists creatively internalize and visualize the gritty conditions and illicit activities that are carried out in the streets on a daily basis. He virtually created the "chopping" sub-genre in dancehall by becoming the first dancehall artist to release a popular song conceptualizing the controversially debated topic in Jamaica. After the release of his debut song "Scammer Anthem" in 2013 on popular international website, envisioning "chopping" as a music art form, a new wave of dancehall artists borrowed the concept and inspired almost a decade of "chopping" songs that dominated the Jamaican airwaves up until its eventual airwaves ban in 2022.
Williams is also widely credited as being the founding father and inspiration behind the "vendetta" brand that is now used by dancehall superstar Alkaline. The V for Vendetta guy fawkes mask was the first to be worn by the artist in the music video "Scammer Anthem" in 2013 until Alkaline adapted it and used it as a moniker for his brand. In 2014, Williams founded gtunez; a platform and company that served as a digital distribution stream and database for reggae and dancehall releases. During the same year, Williams served as head investigative journalist on a campaign which exposed a prominent dancehall industry insider and a former music distribution giant for decades of corruption in the dancehall industry.
In 2016, Williams decided to take a break from the music scene in order to tend to what he described as "personal family matters" and nearly after a three- year hiatus from music, he re-introduced himself as a podcaster in 2020. In what the artist describes as a "new beginning", Williams's new podcast venture gained instant notoriety when his third episode, titled "Dancehall Gone Wild' gained over 800,000 views on popular website, WorldStarHiphop. The episode was noted for addressing contemporary social issues that plagued the modern dancehall scene. In a successful follow-up to the third episode, Williams released the episode titled "Obeah in Jamaica '' which was also noted for addressing taboo spiritual practices, highlighting the artist as a symbol of resistance, and activism against witchcraft.
In March 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Williams gained another when his podcast episode "Patient Zero" was featured in the Jamaica Star and the Jamaica Observer for its circulation of positive, inspirational and educational awareness amid a time when a large portion of the society The critically acclaimed episode went on to gain over 1 million streams on Facebook and other streaming platforms. Later in October of that year, Williams went on to seal another milestone with the release of his 28 track dancehall album titled Freddy v Jason Riddim, which featured the likes of Chronic Law, Intence, Jahvillani, Gold Gad, Blak Ryno, Shawn Storm, and more. Gold Gad's hit single New Scheme from the album would go on to gain over 2 million streams on worldstarhiphop.com. The hit music video would become the first in dancehall history to gain that amount of views on the entertainment platform.