What’s your stage name and where are you from?
My stage name is Stephen Hero, and I’m from Saint John, NB, Canada.
What’s the story behind your stage name?
I found the stage name when I was reading a James Joyce book back in my teens. It was the original working title for Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which was kind of what I felt like I was writing back then. Over the years, it has stuck and just feels right for the sort of working-class ethos in my music.
Describe your musical journey in three sentences.
Hip hop came into my life in the 4th grade and completely changed my point of view. I found myself in it and discovered a deeper sense of empathy for the world around me and people with different experiences than mine. Throughout the years, no matter what I’m working on, I always come home to hip hop and find peace, humor, love, and confidence in it, for which I’m extremely grateful.
Share an interesting experience you had while creating your latest track.
When creating “Can’t Stop (Working)”, I was in Halifax and went into the studio with the producer of this album, Uncle Fester, and Aquakultre, who collaborated with us on the track. The energy in the studio was so positive and the vibes were so good that it made me a more optimistic person for a while! Aquakultre and I spoke a lot about the themes of the record beforehand and how we wanted it to be super fun live. By the time we were in the studio, we were ready to create something special. For the final section of the track, we sat side by side and wrote back and forth off of each other’s parts. I think you can feel the energy that was in the room when you hear the track.
What message do you want to convey through your music?
Worker solidarity. The fact that people are all really the same and that we’ve been tricked into fighting over differences that are shallow. When we all realize everyone just wants (and deserves) to live in peace and equality, we might start to get somewhere.
Tell us about a challenge you faced during production and how you overcame it.
The biggest challenge with this project was being in different cities while we worked on it. Communication can be hard long distance, and you can’t really get a feel for what the other person is feeling as you go, so you can feel out on a limb a little bit. We decided that once the record was almost done being written, I would go up there and record a lot of it in person even though it wasn’t strictly necessary. I ended up going up for the weekend and just being in the studio with Fes to record and re-record. That did a lot for my confidence because just vibing in the room, you can tell if someone’s feeling the work you’re doing. I came away from that weekend feeling like we really made something pretty special.
If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?
This is tough, of course, to nail down. Many of the heroes I would have picked have passed on—Dilla, DOOM, folks like that. Producers come to mind first because it would be a dream come true to rap on a Madlib track or something from The Alchemist. I also think it would be really fun to rap with Wiki or anyone in Bruiser Brigade—they’re my favorite in the game right now. When it comes to this question, I always think about what would actually make sense and result in good art. I think if I got a hold of some Madlib beats, that would be crazy.
Where do you see your music taking you in the next year?
I’m just taking it a day at a time and trying to build a solid fan base in the hopes that I can create a bit of sustainability with my craft. I’ve been doing it so long, I’m never going to stop, but I’m trying very hard to make it so I don’t have to do as much work around it and can focus on it more. I really think there’s no limit to what I could do artistically if I wasn’t stuck working other jobs.
What’s the next big step for you as an artist?
Festivals, I think, might be key. Where I’m at, it can be tough to get on festivals because they don’t tend to feature a ton of hip hop. When they do, it’s usually stuff that’s a little less explicit than mine, but I’m still pushing. As far as a big grand step, I really don’t know—I’m pretty focused on the steady build.
Where can we hear/watch your most recent work?
The new album The Squeeze by myself and Uncle Fester is streaming everywhere now!
Listen here.
What is the best way to contact you if fans want to give feedback or if other artists/producers want to collaborate?
Email me at stephenherohiphop@gmail.com or DM my Instagram @stephenhero506.
