I recently had a sit down with Southern University’s Daniel Heartless. He is more of a household name here on campus and in the New Orleans area. He is also building a fan base nationwide, claiming his music has reached countries such as Italy, Canada and even Malaysia. After sitting down with him during a brief interview, I learned that he is very passionate about his work in music. He is very humble but also has this larger than life aspect about him. Daniel is a Rehabilitation and Disability studies major that will be graduating this spring. Heartless mentioned that though he is working on his music as much as possible, he can’t really travel like he would want to because he is pursuing his degree. Aside from the music he plans to establish his own rehabilitation center.
The name “Heartless” came from a mentor of his who he said told him to always stay sharp and heartless. After an unfortunate break up he took the name and made it his own. He has been rapping since he was two-years-old, choosing to watch things like the movie “The Temptations” instead of cartoons. His biggest inspirations from a musical standpoint are Drake and Kevin Gates. Heartless’ biggest overall inspiration is his mother. He says that she teaches him things such as prayer and sacrifice and other life lessons.
Heartless says his music is for those with dreams and ambitions. He used a person growing up in a single parent household as an example. Heartless claims it is only right that he makes music for those type of people being that he a has a dream that he is chasing and it is coming to reality.
Daniel has his own trademark that you can see on various Instagram posts which is “#TSR”, an acronym he uses to describe how surreal his growing success feels to him at times. He described to me how he has had fans come to him crying which has to be a great feeling to be able to connect with people like that through music. You also won’t have a problem finding a person on campus wearing a shirt or sweatshirt with “Heartless Gang” on it. I asked him if he felt he represents Southern University in a way he answered “Of Course!” He is takes pride in the fact that he will soon be graduating from Southern and also said that he has recruited a lot of students to attend.
Heartless had a list of achievements that he shared during the interview. The achievement that was a standout was him being mentioned by XXL for the track “Listen 2015” The track is collaboration with Juvenile, his son Young Juvie, Daniel Heartless and Lil Soulja Slim, son of the late great Soulja Slim. Being from New Orleans this was a great accomplishment for him he seemed like he was still grasping the concept of working with someone that he grew up listening to. He is the recipient of a couple of awards from the NOLA Hip Hop Awards. He won the award for best male artist last year and the year before he won the award for best mixtape and best new artist.
Daniel is a very talented artist that has the ability to draw a fan base that is actually loyal to him as an artist. Being able to balance earning your degree and building a brand for your art is not an easy thing to do. Daniel is a living example that it is possible to maintain both and to be successful in both endeavors. If you want to check out his music he has various videos on YouTube you can also follow him on Instagram at “@danielhless”.
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Sit Down with Daniel Heartless
March 30, 2015
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