For 34-year old Torontonian Darrin O’Brien, better known as Snow, maintaining success stateside has been tricky. His ’93 hit “Informer” scorched up the U.S. singles charts, but he’s gotten the cold shoulder ever since. With a new album dropping this spring, Snow sat down with us to speak on drinking, deportation, and his unexpected comeback album.

Being a white kid in reggae, you must’ve had lots of skeptics?

Snow: At first, there was a lot of racial stuff. Especially when Vanilla Ice came out, because he was claiming that he got stabbed. Then when i came out and said the real stuff, like, i’ve done prison time, people were like, “Ugh!” But now, thanks to people like Eminem breaking down the walls, i think it’s much better.

Word is you were banned from the States for a minute. What was that about?

Snow: It was probably the two attempted murder charges or the aggravated assault charge. In ’94, they threw me out, and two years ago, they let me back in. I haven’t been charged in seven years. Drinking was my problem. I would get angry and get into fights.

“Informer” was a big record, and it made your life hectic. How does this new music of yours measure up?

Snow: It’s more rootsy, more soca, too. I’m excited. Reggae’s getting hot again, so this is my time. When i first came out, not a lot of people knew about reggae. I mean, they knew about Bob Marley, but they didn’t really know what i was doing, like, “What the hell is this white kid doing?”

Rumor was that Snow was an acronym for Super Notorious …

Snow: …Outrageous Whiteboy? That’s not what it is. I hated that. I’m not super, i’m not notorious, i’m not outrageous, and i’m not… [laughs].