New music always seems to fill the streets of Tallahassee. Recently, the capital city has been the spot for up and coming musicians like Tj Banks777.
Born Terrell Jones, Tj has lived in Tallahassee for four years and graduated last spring from Tallahassee Community College. Prior to this, he grew up in Jacksonville where his love for music began to thrive.
Growing up, Jones spent time playing a variety of instruments and dabbling with mixing instrumentals and beats. Jones started producing beats his sophomore year of high school and then rapping during his senior year.
Jones put off going to college after high school and focused on mastering his craft. Now, Jones has found comfort in his new home and has no plans on relocating due to his music journey and career opportunities.
Jones believes there is more to his story than his music and wants his followers to see his journey and growth as an artist and individual. Jones said the best way to learn about his personality is through real life interactions and not social media.
“My ultimate goal is to become as big as possible because of my music,” Jones said. “I wish people knew that I’m actually an introvert despite what they might see on social media.”
As a way to contribute to his diverse talents, Jones manages to find new ways to generate wealth through not only his music, but rather through the quirky day job of photography. This balance blessed Jones with a hardworking mentality and the courage to strive for more gratifying achievements.
Lionel Long, a rising rap artist from Miami, said that he has worked with Jones and admired his ability to make any musical flow sound good. Long said Jones’ techniques and skills will get him far despite the challenges that the music industry brings.
“I did a feature with him… he brought a completely different flow to the song and made it sound amazing,” Long said. “The industry is tough… he has skills though so he will blow for sure.”
Alexis Williamson, a third year public relations student, said that she attended one of Jones’ shows and thought his music was unique. She also said the energy of the crowd matched the performance and was surprising.
“After attending his show on Friday… I never heard music like his before,” Williamson said. “It was shocking to see how many people showed up and how much they were vibing to his songs.”
Williamson said that she discovered Jones through a shared post of a mutual friend and wanted to start listening to local artists. She said this was her way of spicing up her music library.
Last weekend, Jones performed at a local venue called The Plant. Jones has gained a following of roughly 1,300 people on Instagram.
Jones has music on all streaming platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify and SoundCloud. Jones hosts shows and live performances at various venues.