Show & Prove: Hurricane Wisdom
Words: Peter A. Berry
Editor’s Note: This story appears in the Fall 2025 issue of XXL Magazine, on newsstands now and available for sale on the XXL website.
Hurricane Wisdom’s name sounds like the result of some deep spiritual introspection or maybe a moniker for a shady fortune teller. But, like the best rap names, its inspiration is decidedly functional; a nod to a hairstyle he had as a teen. “I had waves in high school,” he explains on a humid August day via Zoom. “It was a little phase, I guess.” These days, his hair’s grown into locs and instead of rocking waves, he’s making them.
Since emerging with tracks like the NoCap-assisted “Patience” in 2023, Wisdom has used wounded melodies and everyman songwriting to become one of Florida’s most promising young exports. His melodic murmurs helped his 2024 single “Giannis” earn over 20 million Spotify streams. A strong work ethic, along with cosigns from Rod Wave, NoCap and Lil Baby have pushed him to the brink of stardom.
More tangibly, Wisdom’s talent has earned him a black-and-purple Mercedes-Benz GLE, one of the first big purchases he copped with his rap money. “I’m just a car guy,” Wisdom shares. He’s an animal guy, too. In his new Miami home, he’s got two dogs, two crested geckos, two leopard geckos, a tortoise and a scorpion as roommates. It’s a rural touch appropriate for a 21-year-old who came of age in what might be called “the middle of nowhere.” “You not going to see a Walmart for ’bout a good 20, 40 miles,” Wisdom says of growing up in Tallahassee, Fla.’s Little Havana community. “It’s just country.”
Raised alongside 11 siblings, Wisdom Mikeal Oluola had a lot of things to do, very few of which involved actively attending the local Christian schools he enrolled in. When he wasn’t being a goofball in the classes he actually attended, he’d play with his siblings’ hand-me-down toys. That is, when his behavior didn’t land him in trouble. “I didn’t even get to play my [PlayStation Portable because of] how bad I was,” he says. “My grandma kept taking my sh*t.”
When she wasn’t taking his PlayStation, Wisdom’s grandma exposed him to the sounds of Donnie McClurkin. By age 11, he’d grown to appreciate gospel, so he joined the church band. He rapped, too. At around the same time he began performing in church, he became mesmerized by the sounds of Chance The Rapper and Fetty Wap. But it was fellow Floridian Rod Wave who inadvertently planted seeds of Wisdom’s own eventual rap career.
“Pretty much everything bro was saying hit home with me,” Wisdom tells. “In my middle school years, he was in high school-type sh*t going through the hallways, rapping and sh*t. [It was the] sh*t I was trying to do.”
In 2020, Wisdom’s friends wanted him to try harder. So, he did. After testing out his skills by posting song snippets, he released “Grannys Baby,” a 2020 single that quickly earned over 300,000 streams. The track also crystallized his stylistic DNA—a powerful cocktail of flexible vocals, immediate songwriting and Earthly sincerity. “We ain’t have no silver spoon or house up on the hill/We had rats and we had roaches, but we had somewhere to live,” he spits on the track. It’s an earnestness that emits concentrated warmth that can only come from someone who’s lived through hard times without being completely defined by them.
Wielding those tools to their fullest effect, Wisdom cultivated a fan base with projects like Hurricane Season (2021), State of Emergency (2022), Category 5: The Biggest Hurricane (2023), Eye of the Storm (2024) and Perfect Storm (2025). Through the latter effort, Wisdom released “Drugs Callin,” a twitchier, more delirious take on Future’s “Perkys Calling.” To date, the track has collected over 16 million Spotify streams. With the recently released Lil Baby-assisted remix, the total will only grow. It’s a come up Wisdom’s team foresaw years ago.
“‘Better’ was the first song that I was like, Yo, this kid is special. He’s onto something,” says Don E, A&R at Rebel Music. He met Wisdom after the rapper signed to the label in 2021. “I think with every song, Hurricane speaks nothing but realness and truth. I think that one was kind of like it could connect to any person, no matter who you are, how rich you think you are or how poor [you are], it’s going to connect. Life gets better no matter who you are.”
For Wisdom in particular, life’s gotten a lot better. This past spring, Rebel Music reportedly signed a deal with Gamma, home to artists like Snoop Dogg, Sexyy Red and Usher. This puts more power behind Wisdom. He also joined BossMan Dlow on the Dlow Curry Tour earlier this year, which hit cities throughout the U.S., and “Giannis” was certified gold just a week after this interview. Though they haven’t collaborated yet, he and Rod Wave are in contact with each other. He’s also been on the phone with Young Thug. “Everybody I met in this music sh*t always got something to tell me,” Wisdom maintains. “And I just pick it up.”
Looking ahead, Hurricane Wisdom wanted to add collaborations with G Herbo to his expanding list of rap star linkups and did so on the track “Clippers.” He wants to get more plaques, too. He might get them with the release of his Perfect Storm deluxe project, which arrived in October. There were times when he thought a viable rap career might be out of reach. Now it’s within his grasp—and he’s not modeling his career off anyone’s but his own.
“I know one of his favorite artists is Rod Wave, but I think now he’s just found his own way and he kind of just became his own person,” says Don E. “I view him as somebody who’s going to be up there with the biggest of them all.”
For his part, Wisdom doesn’t seem too concerned with mapping out career trajectories. “I’m on my own journey right now,” Wisdom says. “I didn’t think it was gonna be easy. I didn’t think it was gonna be hard,” he adds. “It’s everything I thought it was gonna be.”
The storm’s coming.
Listen to Hurricane Wisdom’s Perfect Storm: Sorry 4 The Rain Album
The fall 2025 issue of XXL magazine featuring Hurricane Wisdom’s interview is available to purchase here. The issue also includes Joey Bada$$ and J.I.D’s cover story interviews, conversations with Chance The Rapper, Curren$y, Hit-Boy, Rob49, KenTheMan, Wallo267, Bay Swag, Hanumankind, Babyfxce E, Ghostface Killah, Conway The Machine, Pluto, TiaCorine, Isaiah Falls, comedian Josh Joshson, Vice President of Music at SiriusXM and Pandora Joshua “J1” Raiford, a look at the change in album rollouts over the years highlighted by Clipse’s Let God Sort Em Out album and more.
See Photos From Joey Bada$$ and J.I.D’s XXL Magazine Fall 2025 Cover Shoot
