Meet Themba Daniels | DJ, Record Producer and Songwriter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Themba Daniels and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Themba, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I’m originally from Johannesburg, South Africa and spent the first 17 years of my life there before moving to The United States. South Africa has a huge impact on the person I am today. Growing up as a privileged black person in South Africa is extremely rare and allowed me to live a life that the majority of black South Africans do not have access too. Growing up, it took me a while to realize how fortunate I am but also how unjust the world can be. As an artist, musician and DJ, I focus on showcasing music from South African talent as I recognize we do not have the opportunities that other artists in the world have. In my own music Africa plays a major role, always trying to stick to my roots and portray the sounds of my homeland is something that is very important to me. My upbringing has instilled a deep passion of gratitude within me. Many people in the world view Africa as inferior or not modernized. Many people do not know the beauty our continent has and thats something I will always carry with me wherever I am in the world, the passion and gratitude to be African and to have grown up in South Africa.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Something that makes me feel proud about the art I make is how far I’ve come in such a short period. Having only produced music for 3 years I am very proud of things I have accomplished early on in my career. Within the 3 year period I have been featured on Spotify’s New Music Friday South Africa playlist and had a music blog write a featured piece on me and my most recent single called Started From. I have also amassed over 10,000 streams across various streaming platforms. This makes me feel happy because it shows that the level of my music is consistently getting better and to have pieces and features on massive editorial playlists reinforces the fact for me that I make good music. However, being a black artist trying to succeed in the space is difficult. As a black South African the music I make has a lot of African elements to it. This is important because I love to stick to my roots but I have noticed that in the space of electronic dance music, black people are not at the center of it although they were the ones who created the genre. In the United States the majority of the underground dance music playlists feature and showcase white artists. I have found it difficult to break into that space of receiving recognition for my art because it was very rare of upcoming black artists to be featured in these spaces. This however is a challenge, I know I have to work twice as hard in order to grow as an artist especially a black one. But that makes me feel passionate because I want to help other black artists succeed in this space. My dream with my music is to inspire other African kids to create art and for them to know that their art matters. As black creatives we are often neglected but know that the world cannot function without black creativity. My goal for myself moving forward is to become an established artist so I can bring other black artists into this space because I believe we should be at the forefront of this genre.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If my mate was visiting I would definitely show him around the East Side of LA first. The eastside reminds me of being back in Brooklyn in NYC, so many artists and young cool people live there so we’d definitely hit some great spots to dance like Los Globos and maybe see an event at Catch One. I’d have to take time to my fav cocktail bar in Los Feliz Pinky’s too! In terms of food you cannot come to LA and not eat tacos. Avenue 26 tacos, one of the best and spots in LA to get Tacos is right down the street from me so we’d def head over there and check our Sanorotown too for their famous Tortillas. After having fun on the eastide it would only be fair to catch some vibes on the westside, drive through malibu and stop at the beach. Have a few drinks by the pier to complete the full LA experience

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to one of my best mates named Andy Polk. When I began making music I started off without any knowledge of using a software. My friend Andy who has been in the music industry for around 10 years is a very talented artist, DJ and producer. When I quit my job and decided I wanted to pursue music, I bought a software called Logic Pro X which is one of the main softwares used for music production. When I began it was so confusing, the equivalent to learning a new language. Something that was a game changer for me was having Andy’s help as he has been using Logic for over 10 years. Whenever I did not know how to do something I’d ask him a numerous amount of questions and he would never hesitate to help me. He first showed me the correct way to arrange a song amongst many other things that have helped me learn and excel as a producer. Now fast forward 3 years later we always send each other music we are working on and a major help for me is sending him unfinished stuff to get his opinion on. He’ll give me advise on what he thinks I should change and so forth and that truly helps because I respect his opinion as an artist and a producer. I am very grateful for him and definitely would not be where I am today without his help and mentorship!

Website: https://linktr.ee/thembad?fbclid=IwAR2pWjdhG64ctOwwc-neA8rc-oPSc6hPfy5j9OJVNpO0-0fwcjYTWw-WjSg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themba_daniels/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TMFD-110079664176478

Image Credits
Ryan Strongin