“‪I hope when I fall asleep tonight, my dream is in 8-bit.‬”

One year into his first job post-grad, Jarius Powers is eager to make his future as productive as possible.

Now residing in Atlanta, a city often attributed with the new renaissance of southern hip-hop, the producer has opened up and is playfully vague – but genuine – when addressing the struggles.

Through all of his life’s pressures and personal strains, Jarius hasn’t stopped creating – though, at times, he does seem ready to abandon his social sphere like others in the past have. This tendency to reject convention doesn’t manifest itself any more clearly than through his method of self-releasing projects with a nonchalance rarely seen in the age of online buzz.

Speaking solely of his production, Jarius tends to orchestrate swelling synths against strict drum grooves. In his life, Jarius himself mirrors these rhythms, treating the most mindless parts of the secular convention as his drums treat his synths – something to operate within and at the same time, something to stand in contrast with.

Below, Jarius discusses the state of his current music, his outlook, and teases the possibility of returning to rap.

This interview was originally carried out upon the release of COLORBLOCK. Jarius has since released its companion project, COLORLESS.

 With the name COLORBLOCK, it reminds me of your naming convention with your songs, how you used to name them after HEX colors.

Yeah, I try to assign a color to each of my instrumentals so I can remind myself what emotion it’s kind of connected to. Plus, it makes searching for my beats a lot easier too in my library.

What is your vision behind each of these…do you picture anything in particular when you were making these?

I begin each session with the melody. Whether it’s a synth or arpeggiator, every beat starts with the melody. So, whatever instrument catches my ear first, I just build off that. It seems like my ear catches different sounds each session.

Which is your favorite of these 5 beats?

I really couldn’t tell you which of the five are my favorites because they all are my creations. But I will say, Clairvoyance is special because it was the first beat I made for this group. Also, it was the first beat I made in this new chapter of my life so that’s pretty special.

What’s a typical day like for you these days?

Just a regular 9-to-5 life. Going to work and not doing anything on the weekends. It’s cool for right now, but I wish my social life was there to balance it out. Ready to meet the right people and place myself in positions to where I can showcase myself and my talents.

What’s necessary for your creating space?

A healthy mindset. If my mind is clouded with negative thoughts, I tend to shut down and focus heavily on those negative thoughts. So, as long as I feel like things around me (friends, family, work, health, etc.) are in the best shape possible, then it gives me great focus.

 Something I learned about you recently was that you started messing with Ableton in 2012, right? You did all of COLORBLOCK on Ableton?

Yeah, I made every beat on Ableton. I like Ableton, but still to this day I prefer FL Studio over any DAW. I just can’t afford a Windows laptop at the moment haha. I feel more comfortable with FL Studio, even though I make better “darker” beats on Ableton, in my opinion.

Where do you seek to go next?

I’ve been told countless of times that my instrumentals are very theatrical and not so “rapping” friendly. Of course, I believe otherwise. I just think it takes the right individual to “rap” or sing on my beats. But, I really want to hear my music in commercials, TV shows, movies, video games and in YouTubers’ videos.

Around the time you put this out, you had recently moved to Atlanta. How has the move affected your work and your output? Do you feel encouraged or inspired?

At this moment typing this, I’m not really inspired by music because I’ve been doing this on and off since I was in the 6th grade and I haven’t made any significant progress. It’s extremely hard breaking into the music industry. And honestly, I can make better music. My move has inspired me, but it was declined recently because I’m not connecting with the right outlets to broadcast myself.

Some may say your Twitter is a goldmine for much needed “hot takes”, you pass them out like hot cakes. What are some elements of your personal code or philosophy?

Lmao, man, it’s whatever that comes into my mind. I’m not a personal troll. I just tweet however I’m feeling. It used to be worse years ago, so I’ve learned how to pick and choose my battles. Some elements of my philosophy come from my upbringing in Memphis. My family and my peers were far from passive-aggressive. You say however you feel in a respectful way because if you don’t, it will slowly eat you up inside. I believe people are scared to be themselves nowadays. Also, opinions aren’t valued anymore. If you go against the popular opinion, you’re scrutinized and outcasted. I believe people have forgotten how to coexist with each other, even when we have different opinions. You can agree to disagree.

Who are you listening to at the moment?

I’ve been listening to “Black Messiah” by D’Angelo lately. Been listening to Project Pat a bunch this year too.

Small question, but curious – aside from Jarius Powers, you’ve also produced under the name J16, where did it come from?

I’m still searching for a moniker. But “16” is an important number in my life. My birthday is on the 16th. I graduated college in 2016. The year 2016 was the hardest year of my life. Fun fact: on my 16th birthday, I tweeted “Happy Birthday” to myself and it was my 1616th tweet lmao it was purely by accident.

You had taken a video of some old 2011 bars. You said something like “she knows I’m the one, you’re only ‪12:59″…

Yeah, that was me at 17 just rapping about nothing lmao just having fun.

Will you introduce rap into your future work? Was there a reason you’ve stayed producing versus rapping for a while?

One day I will introduce rapping. I just keep putting it off. I’ve always known how to write. I went to a Creative and Performing Arts school in middle school and I was in creative writing. I’m always writing verses and bars down. I just wanted to focus on my craft in beat-making because I always felt like the writing was the easiest part in making music. It’s the “technical” side that’s very important, if not more.

What’s your top priority right now when it comes to your music?

Mixing and mastering. I can’t stress that enough. You can have a great instrumental, but if it isn’t EQ’d correctly, it can come out flat and sound completely different from how it sounds in the session of your DAW.

If your music was in a film or show, what would you see it being in?

I couldn’t tell you what show, but I wish one of my beats could be in the “Super Mario Odyssey” game that’s coming out later this year. Or one of these boutiques here in Atlanta.

You can follow Jarius Powers on Soundcloud, Twitter, and read his blog here.