Musician You Should Know: Tbliss
Tbliss is a rapper that’s been working on his craft since he was in elementary school. He views himself as an underdog and he continues to work to create quality music and turn his passion into a dream. To this point, he has succeeded in growing his following and his career.
As we sit here writing this, he has over 7,000 average monthly listeners on Spotify and his new single ‘Fired Up’ has over 4,000 streams and counting. The video for this track just dropped this past month and is a major reason why we reached out to the emcee to have a conversation.
Check out the track here.
In our conversation, we discussed the new music video and his background as an artist. We left our conversation excited about the future for Tbliss and we know you’ll feel the same at the end of this too.
We’ll get to ‘Fired Up’ in a minute, but let’s get to know Tbliss a bit better first.
We mentioned earlier that Tbliss got his start in music in elementary school. He elaborated on this for us.
“I started in music because when I was in the 5th grade, I made a parody rap to the song ‘Boats & Hoes’ featured in the movie ‘Step Brothers’ starring Will Ferrel & John C. Riley. A friend & I performed it in front of the whole 5th grade class. Our group name was “Cookies & Cream”. That was my first performance ever & they loved it. After that I privately wrote for myself until in high school someone discovered I wrote rap songs. After challenging me and saying I couldn’t rap, I released my first track publicly on SoundCloud titled, ‘Notifcations’ (No longer uploaded). Although it wasn’t well received, I continued making mixtapes all four years of high school. Once graduated, I decided it was time to take it seriously.”
Proving people wrong can be a powerful motivator, just look at artists like Lady Gaga and Soulja Boi. Tbliss has channeled that motivation into his music and he’s continued to develop as an artist. Now understanding what got him started, we turned our attention to what his major influences are.
“Major influences are the DMV (D.C. Maryland & Virginia) as well as being inspired to use synthetic “dreamy” sounds. Something that can’t be captured with natural ordinary instruments. Specific artists & songs that inspired the music were C2D’s — Polo (dreamlike sound), Tyler the Creator (uniqueness, flamboyance), & Underground Rapper Bill Carl Boomer (DMV rapper).”
Tbliss is influenced by his region, sounds, and artists that he looks up to. This array of influences has helped him craft a sound that is all his own. Having the details locked down, we turned our attention to ‘Fired Up’.
We asked him about the concept of the video.
“The concept is to represent a dreamlike fantasy of what it would be like to be confident with a touch of arrogance, rebellious, and an artist creating his own path; bragging about past and potential future success. The outfit is flamboyant, including an Ushanka (trapper hat), and the custom made jeans have a cut out of the Pokémon, Charizard, in a warm salmon color. The jacket has a cherry bomb flower design on the back, representing the “blowing up”/possible success of an artist. Throughout the music video, Tbliss is seen becoming more excitable and confident.”
The confidence and uniqueness jump off of the screen when you watch the video, so Tbliss absolutely delivers on his vision.
The song is as lively as its message, and Tbliss’ energy in the video is right in line with that. The visuals are cool and really add to the overall appeal of ‘Fired Up’. We asked him about shooting this video.
“The music video was filmed in Ocean City Maryland; Renting out a small condominium which was one block away from the Ocean. It was filmed on November 5th — 7th during the off-season & very few people were around, making it easy to privately film in the locations picked. Before the songs music video & audio was released, it was first tested at local shows in Frederick Maryland to see audiences reactions. Since the hook was easy to resight and memorize, crowds instantly fell in love with it, making it the primary candidate for a debut music video.
Understanding the value of a good hook is a good lesson that will continue to serve Tbliss and his career. We asked him why people should check the track out and here is what he told us.
“People should check out this single if they’re looking for a feel good song. A song that will bring you up, increase your energy, & boost your confidence. This song helps you believe in yourself. Sometimes all you need is a song like this to start your day off on the right foot.”
We love the message and couldn’t agree more. Check out the video here:
Before we let Tbliss get back to focusing on creating more songs for his fans to hear, we asked him why music fans should check him out in general.
“People should check me out as an artist because I’m an underdog story. Nobody would’ve thought that I would have kept rapping for this long. From rapping in the 5th grade, releasing mixtapes in high school, performing my first time during the summer of 2021, to now creating music videos, I’ve made a lot of progress. There still a lot more to be made, and my fans and I are hungry for more.”
We love the story, the energy, and the music. Tbliss is set for a big year in 2022. Check him out and follow along with the links below.
