Date Signed: July 2023
Publisher: Position Music
Type of Music: Hip-hop
Publicity: DRPR
Web: genius.com/artists/austin-powerz
A&R: Delmar Powell
Austin Powerz (AP) has become a well-known name in the hip hop community, producing tracks for Lil Wayne, Drake, Meek Mill, and many others. Notably, he played a pivotal role in shaping tracks on Drake's recent album, Certified Lover Boy, leaving an enduring imprint on tracks like "In The Bible" featuring Giveon and Lil Durk, as well as the cutting-edge hip-hop track "Lemon Pepper Freestyle" featuring Rick Ross. AP recently signed with Position Music, who will help him handle the immense amount of creative output.
With a diverse catalog of sounds and songs, it can be hard to immediately pin down Powerz’s style; one through-line is his knack for using immaculate sound design to paint a 3-D backdrop for the vocalists. “I want to stay versatile and not get boxed in,” he says.
On Drake’s “Lemon Pepper Freestyle” featuring Rick Ross, AP reaches for a delicate harp and recurring vocal sample of a woman’s voice, both processed to mimic an underwater siren’s call. Combined with an abstract drum machine beat, the soundscape fills out the space behind the two legendary emcees and makes the whole track feel larger than life. The breath of his work is made that much more clear when you juxtapose this track with Trippie Redd’s “How You Feel,” solely comprised of electric guitar chords and E-bow sounds.
As a multi-instrumentalist, Powerz is able to make most of his tracks from scratch rather than relying on extensive sound libraries. Using FL Studio to manipulate recordings, he says “I try to find new sounds every time.” He experiments with Analog Lab and Prophet synthesizers when starting a new idea. Typically focusing on the instrumental beat side of things, AP is also not afraid to lend lyrical suggestions, “If I’m in the room with an artist, I’ll make my ideas known”.
With such a bright future ahead, Powerz still has a few artists he’d like to collaborate with, notably Kendrik Lamar, Travis Scott, Future, and Billie Eilish. In the meantime, he’ll release a few tracks with Flava, starting with “Pearly Whites,” which came out earlier this year.
