INSPIRE INTERVIEW: Change of Hart

Aaron J Hart experienced a sort of epiphany recently. He was working in retail, and had just been at the receiving end of an earful from a customer. Of course, as the customer is always right, he had to smile and take the bashing. But it was what happened next that made him think.
“The next man in the queue was about 80 years of age. He looked at me and said, lad, what are you doing here?”Aaron says.
“You're a fine fit looking young lad, what are you doing standing here taking grief – go live your dreams,” he said to me. “You have it all ahead of you.”
It set the 23 year-old Navan lad thinking. Well, thinking more than usual. Because he had already started to follow his dream, and maybe all he needed was those few words from a stranger to give him that final push to make the leap of faith.
There was a time when the Galway native didn't feel like he had it all ahead of him. As a youngster growing up in England he had experienced homelessness, seen drug abuse within his family, and attempted to overdose himself a couple of times.
But, paraphrasing Kelly Clarkson, he says 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'.  Moving to Navan in 2007, he began a new life.
“I'm not ashamed of my past,” he says. “It has made me what I am today, and I hope to be able to help others by sharing that experience.”
Where he is today is on social media, Facebook in particular, as a rapper putting out tunes that are helping others through dark patches.
He has just signed up to a management company, and deals with big recording companies are on the horizon.
“I started writing when I was 12 or 13,” he says. “When the hard times started, the difficult times. But I always wanted to be a writer of books, or a film producer or director. Music wasn't top of the list at the time.
“If it wasn't for writing, I wouldn't be here today,” Aaron says. It was a form of escapism for him, writing himself into happy family scenarios, around a kitchen table or heading off to college.
“Every time I wrote, I'd become someone else, imagine myself as a different person.”
Then he discovered American rapper and actor, Tupac Shakur, who has sold over 75 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He died in 1996, aged 25, from gunshot wounds after a drive-by shooting.
“Most rappers will tell you he was their first big influence,” Aaron says.
Aaron's friends knew he was a good rapper. “Give us a freestyle there,” they'd say if they were out socialising.
They also encouraged him to post videos online, something he wasn't that keen on as a fairly private individual.
And that's when it all took off. Suddenly, his music videos were going viral worldwide.
“It's crazy the attention that started happening,” he says. 
He is amazed that a simple video where he freestyled over an instrument, shot on a phone and posted on Facebook could become so popular. It got over a quarter of a million hits. “Its around 283,000 at the moment,” he says.
Another video shot around Navan town was 'Daddy's Little Girl' featuring Brian Dunne, the local singer and guitarist who featured on 'The Voice', and it also proved a hit.
“ I like to put up music that relates to people, and people can relate to,” Aaron says. 
“I've received messages on Facebook saying that my material has helped them through the dark times.”
A quick perusal of Aaron J's site confirms this, and posts includes one from a psychiatric nurse in a hospital whose patients have been helped by his work.
“I suffered from depression and anxiety, I'm not afraid to say it,”Aaron says.
“And I'd hope my songs are not dark or sad, but are uplifting or motivational for people in that position. 
I'd like to be a voice for those people afraid to speak,. Social media has blinded people. They feel they need to portray a certain image, and are afraid to open up and be honest,” he says. “Not everyone needs to live a 'Geordie Shore' lifestyle,” he says, even though he counts Kyle Christie from the MTV reality series as a mate.
He does get some negative feedback online, but doesn't often respond to it, as there is often more positive than negative, and he lets the songs speak for themselves.
His online presence has led to him being signed up to Al Skelton's Allstar management, and through him an introduction to the festival circuit and a clubbing scene where he has been mixing with  aforementioned Geordie Shore stars, musicians and DJs.
Aaron, while careful about what he posts online, says that social media is the way to go for anyone hoping to reach a wider audience with work. 
“It can make you or break you,” he says. “It does take balls. People will tell you if they don't like you. But you get a great feeling from all the views and shares. I'm not that pushed about getting likes, but when people caption my lyrics, it's great. It means I'm doing something right.”
He also admits to enjoying the attention he gets from people wanting to take selfies with him at clubs.
This year, he featured on a summer hit with Axel Knox, 'Summer Eyes', which went to number eight on the itunes charts, and was an 'Essential Emerald' hit with John Gibbons on iradio, and he is working on a new release due out at the end of this month, which he hopes will do well in the charts. 
“Of course I'd love to do well and get the big Merc! But I'm just as happy to know that my songs are helping people,” says Aaron, as he sets off the follow his dream.

 

First published Meath Chronicle's Inspire magazine, October 2017