Draft:H3RO

Justin Daniels,known by his stage name H3RO, is an American underground hip hop artist and songwriter from Columbia, South Carolina. Often labeled as a conscious hip hop artist, H3RO manages to "combine battle-rap boasting, nerd-rap asides, deeply conceptual comic book narrative storytelling, and genuine emotional vulnerability into a seamless package."

Daniels developed his moniker from the Nas 2008 song "Hero", and originally did it because he wanted to be the "Savior of Hip Hop" after Nas said that "Hip Hop is Dead".

H3RO has been a member of the FiveSe7enCollective since May of 2019. He has opened up shows for Mobb Deep, Ras Kass, and Xavier Wulf as well as appeared on songs with the likes of Supastition, XV, Locksmith, and J57 with future releases featuring Blu and Jon Connor. In 2023, he released a joint project with J57 called "Prime Numbers".

2007–2015: Formative years
Daniels was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, where he spent his free time studying rap artists from the 90's and 2000's eras. With an early affinity for poetry and creative writing, he majored in English at the University of South Carolina and graduated in 2013. On nights and weekends, he would explore the city and do many performances, both solo and with a fellow artist Lite Gray, forming the duo YouNJustUs. This led to the two meeting Uzoma Udogwu and eventually signing with local label Elite Records. He released 13 DIY mixtapes from 2007 to 2015, culminating in his first LP release, "Between the Panels". This album started a relationship with an artist he would frequently work with, Christou, and also allowed him to work with local emcee FatRat Da Czar who Daniels cites as someone who gave him many early opportunities to perform in the city.

2016–2020: Tragic H3RO, FiveSe7en Collective
After departing from Elite Records H3RO began to perform more frequently in the southeast leading up to his second LP release in July of 2018, "Tragic H3RO". Wanting to put a twist on the superhero persona he had created, Daniels took this project as a means to display darker themes such as infidelity, police brutality, and suicide. He developed a reputation for having a energetic live show and developed a relationship with many touring artists, including Jamo Gang in 2018, which led to his eventual signing as a member of FiveSe7en Collective in 2019. H3RO was able to work with fellow collective artists and featured on many songs for them including Mark Ski's Catch-Rec, who's album was listed as one of the Best traditional boom bap albums of 2020.

2021–Present: Between the Panels II, Prime Numbers, and upcoming projects
H3RO spent many months leading up to 2021 working on a few collaborative projects with several local and regional artists. Out of this came his follow up to his 2015 debut LP, Between the Panels II, featuring artists such as XV and PatX. It was listed that year as the seventh best album of 2021 from South Carolina. H3RO also continued to work on a collaborative project with J57 until Prime Numbers was released in June of 2023.

Studio albums

 * Between the Panels (2015)
 * Tragic H3RO (2018)
 * Between the Panels II (2021)

EPs

 * Prime Numbers (with J57) (2023)