Review & Interview: ThunderPlump! – Elusive Thoughts Of An Illustrated Mind

ThunderPlump! is a 14-year-old producer and rapper. He recently released his debut album Elusive Thoughts Of An Illustrated Mind, and it took me by surprise. He may be young, but his artistic vision is mature, and it’s apparent that he’s going to continue growing as an artist. I spoke with him about the album and what it means to him, which you can read below. You can see his linktree or find the project on Spotify below:

Q:
What has the reception been by your peers to music?

A:
My reception from my peers has been quite well, they’ve been very very supportive for example my best friends Riley and Kylee they’ve supported my music from like day 1 so I love them for that. Usually theres like a person who shits on it trying to be funny but f**** em [to be honest], as long as I’m vibing I’m good.

Q:
What does this project mean to you?

A:
This project honestly means a bunch to me. I started working on it during quarantine just as a little project to make time pass, but It slowly took up time. I have a homie—his name is Cayden but goes by Underdawg, and we worked together. [This project] shows my hunger and my true will for the love of music. So when it dropped I was so proud of myself. Something I spent my time, my blood sweat and tears on fully coming out for public made me crack a huge smile.

Q:
Is Underdawg producing? What’s his role like?

“Something I spent my time, my blood sweat and tears on fully coming out for public made me crack a huge smile.”

A:
Underdawg is also a producer like me; we actually met on Discord in a Tyler, The Creator server, and we clicked like crazy. So in Discord call we worked on it, sharing samples with each other, ideas and everything. He’s a good friend.

Q:
How’d you go about getting features?

A:
With getting features, I mostly used Insta and Reddit trying to find artists that would be down to work with me. I usually like listened to the artists full discog for like a few days to make sure they’ll fit on my s***t…. when I did, I would hit them up about what I was doing, send them audio files, and told them to not be afraid to experiment.

Q:
What are your future ambitions (music related or not, both are good)?

A:
My future ambitions are to blow up honestly and inspire kids just like me. I started loving music but my parents always wanted me in basketball which I kinda did not enjoy. It wasn’t until I discovered artists like Ye, and Tyler, and Andre who were themselves and made things they liked. I realized I can do it too. So my goal is to change kids lives as they did mine. I want to just, touch people’s lives as much as I can. Even if it isn’t through music, just helping people is my goal.

Thunderpump! also is part of a collective called ANGELS INC. In their group is Underdawg, Violet (who designed album art for Thunderpump! in the past), Ashley, Finn Trevino and Dakkari (who belong to another collective LLAMASPIT). He said he’s thankful to these people for inspiring him, challenging him, and providing advice.

Looking for more underground artists? Checkout our collections of Underrated Hip-Hop Songs From 2021 Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3!