After a breakout year with Strange Music, Stevie Stone is looking to solidify his spot with a brand new mixtape that he hopes will give the fans exactly what they have been asking for.

The Midwest native is slated to release his debut Strange Music solo, Rollin Stone, in 2012, but before then he will be dropping the latest mixtape in his Himmi Hyme series. Locked inside the studio, Stevie Stone has been busy wrapping up Himmi Hyme Volume 5: Chain Reaction. Taking a break from the studio, Stevie Stone spoke to us in an exclusive interview and revealed new details behind his soon to be released mixtape. Determined and more focused than ever, Stevie Stone insisted that Himmi Hyme Volume 5: Chain Reaction will be some of his best work to date.

You’ve been pretty busy in the studio lately. What are you working on at the moment?

Right now I’m finishing up the mixtape, Himmi Hyme: Volume 5. I don’t like to call it a mixtape because it’s not really a mixtape. Usually a mixtape is with industry beats and you’re blazing over industry beats. I took a lot of original joints that we had and I blazed them. It’s still an album format, you know, Himmi Hyme Volume: 5. Himmi Hyme Volumes, everybody who follows me knows I be up on my Himmi Hyme. Himmi Hyme is my lingo. I been dong these Himmi Hyme volumes for a minute now and this is the fifth volume. Here we go, Himmi Hyme Volume 5: Chain Reaction. It’s really setting up the album, this album is called Rollin Stone, it’s almost like a prequel to the album. That’s how I wrote it.

What do you think separates this mixtape from the others in the Himmi Hyme series?

Usually the progress is in it as you listen. I got all the Himmi Hyme Volumes on my website, http://1steviestone.ning.com/, go download them all for free. I think the most thing in there, as I sit back and look at them, is the progress that’s been made. It seems like each one is getting better and that’s what’s suppose to happen. We listened to it last night and we was like, this is killin Himmi Hyme Volume 4 that we did last year. Progress is being made, we getting better. That’s what we strive for everyday in the studio, getting better as writers, artists, and all that stuff like that. I hope the fans love it, I think they’re definitely going to. I did it different than I usually do. I was real 808 driven on this one for some reason. The beats was very, very important. I’m picky on my beats, I’ve always been picky, but they’re not usually always 808 driven. This, I wanted it bangin, I wanted to hear the pulse in it.

What was the influence behind the 808 sound?

Probably everything. Everything that’s been happening. All the energy, the fans wanting new music. Being on the All 6’s And 7’s Tour, being able to see what the fans like, what they like from me. It’s just a mixture of a whole bunch of different things. I can’t pinpoint one thing and say, “This is why it’s like that.” I think it’s a little bit of everything. I think one of the most important things is the shows. I know what the fans want to see from me by being on the All 6’s And 7’s Tour and the K.O.D. Tour. I sit back like, “Ok, this is what they liking from me.”

You and ¡Mayday! recently traded some tweets, is there a collaboration in the works?

Me and ¡Mayday! did do a record last night and it’s going to be on Himmi Hyme Volume 5: Chain Reaction. We did do a record, actually a remix to a different song that everybody’s really enjoyed called “Get Down On the Ground”. That was one of their favorite joints that they liked me doing, and on the tour we were like, “We need to do a remix.” Now with Himmi Hyme Volume 5, perfect timing. I shot it to them, both of those guys killed it. Wrek killed it, Bernz killed it. It’s a beautiful thing.

Be sure to visit http://1steviestone.ning.com/ and download all of Stevie Stone’s Himmi Hyme mixtapes for free! Don’t forget to follow Stevie Stone on his official Twitter page: @StevieStone09

-Victor Sandoval, Assistant Editor Strange Music

Follow Victor on Twitter: @VicMSandoval