J. Bles Gets Candid About Being An Artist, Entrepreneur and the Support in Atlanta

Atlanta is most know for it’s music and black success. Most people will say that you can’t go wrong while being in Atlanta. J. Bles; artist and entrepreneur, was born and raised there and says that everyone wants to see you win down in the A. We got the chance to chop it up with him and hear about his experiences while being an up and coming artist and spreading the knowledge that he’s learned along the way.

Question: How did you get started in music? Was there anything in your childhood that sparked you to want to do music?

 J. Bles: My dad was a DJ and he was in a band. That was the first influence. I was also in a band at a young age and I was playing the trumpet. The way I got into DJing was in middle; I told my best friend that I wanted to DJ the middle school dances. The school looked at it as saving money because it was better to play a kid than a DJ. They let me do it and that’s how I became known. I DJed the dances from 7th grade until I went to high school. Then one of my ex-girlfriends in high school, I had taken her from her boyfriend, so me and him had beef because of it. I was already writing poetry at the time, so my first song was a diss track to him. I had made a studio in my room and I remember making it and thinking it was so hot, but it was trash. After making that, I realized how much I like manipulating words with music. As I grew, I realized I could tell stories and add that to music.

Question: Being from Atlanta, it’s considered black Hollywood of America and you have an advantage down there. Would you say that it’s easy for you to network and thrive in the music industry while being in Atlanta?

J. Bles: it doesn’t matter if you’re in Atlanta, New York, it’s still competition. The difference is, in Atlanta we work together. You don’t really hear about us (ATL artists) beefing like Lil Baby, Migos, 21 Savage, Young Thug. Everybody is together, nobody is against each other, we just move together. The advantage is if you get in, once you’re in it, everyone is welcoming you with open arms.

Question: I hear from residents of Atlanta and people who visit that says that Atlanta is really supportive..

J. Bles: it Is way more supportive. You see a lot of “us” out here. I stay in Buckhead and the reason why is because that’s where the money is. I rub elbows with a lot of folks versus if I stayed in the hood, I wouldn’t
rub elbows with as many people. Out here (Buckhead) you can simply say “what hannening, I see you moving, I want to move like you” and they’re going talk to you because they want you to be successful. Nobody is trying to hold you anyone back out here; everybody wants everybody to be successful out here. It’s enough
money for all us to eat, the table is big enough for everybody.

Question: You had the opportunity to open up for T-Pain at Clark Atlanta Homecoming. How did that opportunity present itself?

J. Bles: if I say I want something I’m getting it. At the time, I was attending Clark and I went to a GA and said I wanted to open up for T-Pain and I didn’t care what I had to do to get the opportunity, I was going
to make it happen. All they said I had to do was provide the music. It’s really about creating relationships; I try to always be very charismatic with my moves. I try to make sure I’m good to people, so they are good to me. My relationships allowed me the opportunity to open up at Clark. I was also given the opportunity
to open up at Hot 107.9 Birthday Bash because I knew a guy named Jarvis who had a plug named Hurricane who’s involved with the Birthday Bash. He got me a meeting, we all talked and got the politics out the way and then I was able to open up for the bash.

Question: You’ve had so many opportunities where you’ve opened up for people. Is that the norm for you or any artist down there?

J. Bles: Nah, it’s work. You have to know that you want. You’ll do a lot of open mics before you do open acts. People have to see you and believe in you. I started in Apache Café and at the time I was doing a
production battle. Then after that I came to do performances and those led to other shows. I’m an entrepreneur/self-employed now, but before then when I was attending Clark, while working a warehouse job then they let me go because I wasn’t available to work full time. I remember picking up unemployment checks and staying with my mom and not having any bills, while doing opening acts. I was doing 3 shows a week on my unemployment check.and creating different relationships and opportunities during that down time.

Question: With you having all the connections and opportunities in Atlanta, would you ever consider moving to a larger market like LA or NY, orr are you content with where you are?

J. Bles: I like Atlanta’s base. I would like to own property in LA and NY but that’s about it. My fam is from Compton and New Orleans, so I have a soft spot for California anyway and Louisiana. I like places like that to visit and politic but as far as base where I call home, it’ll always be Atlanta.

Question:  Switching gears a bit, what is the meaning behind your EP No Boxes; what’s the story behind it?

J. Bles: That was my first EP last year. I recently dropped my second one Rich Nigga Problems. No Boxes was situation where I went through a deep depression in 2018, going into 2019. All the music on there was me still in depression and coming out of it. What I was saying is that I couldn’t be contained, regardless of what box people were trying to lock me in. I couldn’t be trapped, and I was going to bust out either way it goes. Then at the end of 2019, I dropped Rich Nigga Problems and that was about watching my journey to entrepreneurship. It really has three meanings, one of them being: coming into an abundance of money, you have problems on who you could trust, love or who’s riding the coat tail and if you’re making the right
investments and putting your money in the right investments. The second meaning is when you do come into that abundance of money, niggas will become niggas such as buying a chain, whip or bottles in the club to make it look like you somebody. Jay-Z said it best,

“what’s better than throwing money in a strip club? Credit.”

We aren’t thinking about all that; we’re thinking about what the next man got and what you are looking like to the next man. So, you become a rich nigga, problem. The third is how the outside view us. I have white friends but when you move into the good area, “they” looking at you like “oh we have another rich nigga moving in, here we go. It’s about to be a problem.” So, you become a rich nigga problem to they society and environment. So, I had three different meanings for it, and I wanted to put it out and attack those topics and how I felt and my own experiences.

Question: I like that transition they have between the two. Speaking of your music, you have influences such as Outkast; being from Atlanta, who else are your music influences?

J. Bles: T.I was definitely an influence. I remember waking up and listening to “I Can’t Quit” off Trap Music. Andre 3000 is also one of the best rappers to come out of Atlanta. Also, Childish Gambino. He’s been
phenomenal. Even 21 Savage and Future, especially his work ethic. People don’t see how much he puts into his music and what he wants. I’m an up-tempo guy so when I’m creating music and performing, I think about how the crowd is going to respond to what I’m saying. Artist like Drake an Hov are big influences on
Atlanta. Jay-Z music is very conversational, Wale is very poetic. I’ve also followed J. Cole and Kendrick for a long time, and I dissect their music as well as the others. Before I found my own sound, it was important to know that you can’t be anyone else. I was working with a DJ and at the time I was sounding like Tip and the DJ stopped me and told me “there is already a TI, a Lil Wayne and a Jay-Z but we don’t have a J. Bles and you don’t know yourself yet.” That was a harsh reality for myself because I had to find myself. I had gone to
therapy before and that helped me find myself even through my arts too and what kind of music I like. It made me more self-awareness of what I rap about so it’s no cap in it.

Question: With you being an entrepreneur, an artist, running an agency and owning property; how do you balance all that?

J. Bles: Every second counts. You don’t get breaks as entrepreneur until you’re where you want to be. My goal this year is to make my first million. I can’t sleep until that happens. I work myself until I have to
go to sleep. I could start at 4:30 in the morning and not stop until 12. You make use of every second and minute of your time.

Question: With your entertainment marketing agency, what all services do you provide? What made you want to create that?

J. Bles: Well first, I wanted to sign myself to myself since I’m an artist and I wanted to own all my stuff. Then I thought “I want to help other people,” I like bridging the gap. So, I started brokering deals for entertainment services. When people need music videos and photographer, they call us, I figure out their budget, then I reach out to a photographer and visual effects specialist and I broker the deal and then I get paid on the back
end. When it comes to marketing, it’s just about helping bring awareness. I just wanted to help people get to a position. I listen to a lot of motivational speakers and one of them said “the more you help people get what they want, the more you’ll get what you want.” I was always under that perspective to help people be the best version of themselves. Ultimately, I’ll be the best version of myself.

Question: With that, how do you balance seeking opportunities for yourself and giving those opportunities to people who seek your help within your agency?

J. Bles: You just don’t hold back secrets. I read one book a month and recently one I read was 7 Spiritual Laws of Success it tells you,

“everything is like blood flow. If you try to hold on to everything, you’ll get
a clot which will clog your arteries, thus killing the blood flow, thus killing you.”

The same thing goes for anything in life. If you try to hold on anything, you’re creating a clot in your life, and with you creating that clot, it makes everything hard to get through. So, if you try to hold on to knowledge, you won’t get any new knowledge. If you try to hold on to money, you won’t get no new money because you’re stopping it. You have to be very giving to people, not overextending. I write music, so let’s say I write a song for somebody and it’s a hit, but someone tries to convince me not to give it to another person because it’s a hit. But it doesn’t matter if it’s a hit because I can easily make another one. The person who’s scared to give a hit away won’t make another one.

Question: One of my last questions is, with you having all these resources, a positive mindset and a game plan. What’s next for you in 2020 or just in general? What are you working on now?

J. Bles: Next, blowing up as much as an artist as possible; talking positively speaking to another level, I want to get into motivational speaking on different platforms and being a vessel to inspire people to be the best versions of themselves. I always wanted to be the rapper that does a two-month concert tour then take a break and come back and do another two-month tour of motivational speaking and inducing positivity into people. For me that’s the focus because I want to reach that first million this year and every aspect is doing that. That’s really my focus; getting my music on a major level and getting the speaking on a major level then I can go into other things like opening up a school and opening up shelters for the homeless, so that’s the goal I’m pushing for in 2020.

Follow J. Bles on Instagram @J.Bles and his music is available on all streaming platforms.