Neema of Unexpected Arrival

Neema Khorrami will never forget the day he found himself in the company of hip-hop heavyweights Eminem, Nelly and Cam'Ron. And he was on top. That was Aug. 21, when the 20-year-old local emcee — who calls himself Unexpected Arrival — reached the No. 1 spot on KUBE-FM's nightly countdown with his first single, "Take Control," a remix of a song from his self-titled debut. He stayed there for three days. And that was when everything started to happen very, very fast. "We recorded the song, and literally four days later, it was on the radio," Khorrami recalled. "Two weeks later, it was in stores as a maxi-single. As soon as it was on the radio, I started getting five or 10 calls a day from record labels." He hasn't signed anything yet. But spurred by the success of what began as a high-school hobby, Khorrami has recorded a second album, "If We Try ... ," in between taking classes at the University of Washington. "If We Try ... " hits stores Tuesday, and a record-release party, which is open to the public, is set for tomorrow night at the all-ages club Vera Project, 1916 Fourth Ave., Seattle. Producer Isaac Meek of the Seattle-based Undercaste Studios/Entertainment m... more...