Today we’d like to introduce you to PUTYAHEARTINIT previously known as Stevie Hearts.
Steven, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
First, I was born and raised in Compton California, my mother’s hometown. I was heavily involved in arts as a child performing in numerous stage plays and talent shows. I come from an entertainment based family. My father Steven Russell – Harts was the lead singer of 1980’s multi-platinum selling group TROOP. He also went on to become a profound 3x Grammy-winning songwriter and producer whose work with the likes of Chris Brown, Aretha Franklin, Charlie Wilson, Jennifer Hudson, Tyrese, Avant, B2K, Omarion, Marques Houston, Monica, Fantasia, Keith Sweat, Tank, Lyfe Jennings, and many more, He also contributed to the music of the movies Dream Girls, Barber Shop, Kung Fu Panda, New Jack City and more. With this being my foundation I had a lot of exposure in the music industry as an adolescent.
Growing up in Compton it was a very bizarre dynamic. I had an industry/celebrity father while growing up in the heart of the hood where gang banging, shootings, theft, and death was a regular occurrence. While I was teenager to keep me out of the streets football was my main priority. As a Senior in 2012, I was selected to participate in California’s all-state game leading to me earning a full football scholarship to NW Oklahoma State. There I studied business management with a minor in music, I also studied theater and fashion at Santa Monica college. After leaving college, I began taking acting and music very serious. Within the first year of my music career, I had placements as a songwriter on various artist (Rotimi from TV Show Power, Tyrese Gibson and assortment of artist on his record label, Envogue).
As an actor, I have had the opportunity to tour on multiple stage plays. I played the role of Sin in gospel stage play “When Sin Comes Knocking”, The role Eddie Murphy played as a Barber in Coming to America the stage play which traveled from Los Angeles to Atlanta.
As a Rapper/Recording artist, I have received multiple record deals with labels affiliated with Wale and The Game but I didn’t end up signing any of them.
In 2017, I won the LA cypher and was featured on another well-known cypher named the GXPO Cypher, Where I rapped against/with TDE’s Reason.
At the beginning of 2018, my sisters and I packed up a car and drove 30 hours from Los Angeles to Atlanta with no destination. We were able to rent an Air BNB for the first two weeks and found a place to stay in the second week. The second day I was in Atlanta I was casted on the TV show STAR as a background actor. Since I’ve been in Atlanta I’ve been fortunate enough to work on STAR, The Bobby Brown Story, The Hate U Give, GreenLeaf, Black Lightening, Love Is, How High 2 and many many more.
In March, BET 2018 reached out to me and invited me to participate in the 2018 Freestyle Friday competition for the Award Show. Out of over 70 participants, I came in 3rd place and was selected as a Top 10 Freestyler in the 2018 Freestyle Friday Selection process…
In October of 2018, I was booked for first concert in Atlanta opening up for Eric Bellinger at Center Stage.
Henceforth, I have been working with Atlantic records writing songs for an assortment of their artist.
Before moving to Atlanta in the beginning of 2018. I started a cooperative enterprise named PUTYAHEARTINIT which services the industries of music, film, and fashion. We are influencing the culture to be loving, passionate, enthusiastic and full of desire (hints the name PUTYAHEARTINIT) I changed my stage name to PUTYAHEARTINIT to introduce the collective to the world. We are in the development stages and are excited to continue to grow and flourish while bearing the message of putting your heart in everything that you do.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it has not been a smooth rode what so ever, I have pushed past immense resistance. I was in a viral relationship during the early stages of Instagram with my high school sweetheart Crystal WestBrooks who is also a member of BET’s show the WestBrooks and a socialite on social media, the urban youth of the world knew about our relationship which came to an abrupt end in 2015, which affected me deeply. The same year I experienced three deaths really close to home. My great grandmother Bernice, my grandmother Mary and my childhood friend and manager Rob, Before these deaths I never experience losing a loved one. These series of unfortunate events led me into a deep depression, I ended up losing the studio that I had. The whole time I remained productive but my spirit was different.
Another challenge for me was in 2015 at 19 when I received my first recording contract. I was really excited about collaborating with that label from the way the staff believed in me and the promises they made me. When the contract was presented, they wanted 50% of the publishing on an album that I brought to them complete with no advance. Of course, I didn’t agree with the terms. It was such a disappointment. The second recording contract I received was the same type of contract terms but this time they had me surrounded by celebrities the glitz and the glam to entice me. I ended up declining as well.
Although being sought after and even offered a recording contract is an accomplishment in itself. It forced me to release my music independently. In the beginning, I made tons of mistakes on how to market and promote music independently. I’ve had projects and executions fail time and time again. But I have continued to keep going.
I’ve had major record labels steal my songs and then see the song that I wrote and submitted end up charting on billboard with no credit to me.
PUTYAHEARTINIT – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
PUTYAHEARTINIT is a cooperative enterprise which services the industries of music, fashion, and film. This collective collaborates with artists/creatives to assist with the creative endeavors of their desire. We use our relationships and resources to compliment artist/creatives in executing their projects, which include but not limited to artist development, song/EP/LP making(writing, production, mixing.mastering), digital distribution, registry of intellectual property, video production and strategizing in the music industry. In the industry of film, we offer artist/creatives assistance script writing, acting technique, and content creation. In the fashion industry, we offer artist/creatives assistance in styling, clothing design, jewelry design, and apparel construction. Pretty much whatever the artist/creative wants to do if we can find a way to get it done we will get it done if that means in house and or outsourcing. Most of the artist/creatives that we collaborate with fuse multiple of our facets together for their projects, for example, we recently collaborated with Recording Artist K. Stone on his new single “I Really” which was featured and Co-Written by PUTYAHEARTINIT, we also produced the music video and styled the artist and models in the video.
I am most proud of the message we bear. We are an example of representing substance. We are intentional and selective with the artist we choose to collaborate with to ensure that the PUTYAHEARTINIT message is consistent through all of our endeavors. I feel the thing that sets us apart from others, is money isn’t the motive. If we believe in a creatives vision, we will assist them in executing what they need regardless of budget. I know of other company’s that do similar things to what we do but our structure is different. We are able to handle the activities and actions that a record label can but instead of signing artist, we create collaboration contracts with them giving them full independence 100% of the time.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I am proud of multiple moments in my career but if I must choose I will say performing on BET was probably the proudest moment so far. I put performing on BET on my goals when I first began music and to actually have that goal manifest is amazing, and to be selected as a top 10 performer and place 3rd was pretty cool.
Contact Info:
- Email: putyaheartinit@gmail.com
- Instagram: @putyaheartinit
Image Credit:
Jason Crump
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