5 Questions With - Outasight
If you read my blog fairly often, then by now you know who Outasight is. For those who don’t and are just tuning in now, he’s a fantastic new pop/hip-hop artist. Hip-pop I guess. You may best know him from his single “Tonight Is The Night”, and maybe you’re in-tune with music enough these days to know his new single “Now Or Never”. Either way, you should know him, and if you do, then you already love him.
JUST IN CASE, here are his singles, and <a href="http://popbangboom.blogspot.com/2011/11/listen-up-outasight.html">here’s a link</a> to some other tunes (oh, and then <a href="http://popbangboom.blogspot.com/2012/07/new-music-outasight.html">this too</a>).
JUST IN CASE, here are his singles, and <a href="http://popbangboom.blogspot.com/2011/11/listen-up-outasight.html">here’s a link</a> to some other tunes (oh, and then <a href="http://popbangboom.blogspot.com/2012/07/new-music-outasight.html">this too</a>).
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Well, Outasight performed a show the other night (ok, maybe a little while ago) in Boston (where I live), and afterwards he was nice enough to sit down and chat with me for a few minutes.
This is a bit longer than my usual 5 question format, but it’s worth it. Promise. |
H = Me!!! My name is Hugh (duh)
OU = Outasight, but that was probably fairly easy to guess.
H: So, I’ve written about you a couple of times. I wrote about you last November when I first heard “Tonight Is The Night”
OU: Thank you, I appreciate it.
H: I was telling Dre [his tour manager] this is my third time seeing you this year, cuz this is your third time in Boston.
OU: Yeah, were you at the Dev show?
H: I saw you and Dev, and I interviewed Dev. And then I saw you and Karmin and Wallpaper. and I’ve interviewed all them, so now I’m…
OU: Oh, was that at Comcast? [the Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA]
H: Yeah, that was at the radio show [Kiss 108 FM’s Kiss Concert]
OU: Yeah yeah yeah, cool cool.
H: So, here we are. Third time’s a charm. So, that was good, that was really good.
OU: Thank you. You know, it was very wide open. Fun.
H: Yeah, it was fun. I had no idea what to expect. I’ve never been to the Boston Urban Music Festival…
OU: “Urban” Music Festival. I’m very urban.
H: You’re so urban.
OU: Yeah (laughs).
H: Ok, so first of all, do I say “Hi, Outasight!”…?
OU: Yeah, music friends call me OU, family and friends from around the way call me Rich, and then other people call me Outasight. So, it’s just whatever.
H: Cuz, I’m always like…do I just walk up and…it feels kind of weird walking up and being like “Hi, Outasight!”
OU: That’s totally fine, it happens often.
H: Tell me what’s happening with “Now Or Never”.
OU: “Now Or Never” is moving, slowly but surely up the charts. Going on radio stations across the country.
H: Has it been sent out?
OU: Yeah, yeah. It’s currently in the top 30 on the pop chart.
H: Yeah?
OU: Yeah, building.
H: Not the Hot 100, the Pop chart.
OU: Yeah. So, we’re really excited about it. The competition has been really fierce this summer. Just so many new records coming out from big artists. No Doubt, Kelly Clarkson, Pink, the competition is serious, but amazingly enough, all the records that came out around “Now Or Never”, they’re not around as much, and “Now Or Never” has been just the little engine that could. And what’s great is that people are really loving the song, which helps build the momentum.
I’m from New York, and actually Z100, the big station where I’m from, has been supporting the record. We heard it two times on the way here today. Really starting to feel like it’s going to do something.
H: Great. What about, I mean, is there an album?
OU: Yeah, definitely. Maybe this fall or early winter next year. I have the material, its just a matter of continuing to build momentum. I don’t want to rush now just to say I did it, and then it doesn’t do what people expect it to do. For me, I still look at me as a new artist, still building a fanbase. I understand that I had a popular song, but I also understand I have a lot of going to do, so before you rush out a project, you just want to continue to build it, so that’s why we’re out on the road.
H: He [Dre, his tour manager] was telling me you’re doing Lollapalooza tomorrow.
OU: Yeah.
H: Which, you heard that they shut it down today [August 4th].
OU: Yeah, yeah.
H: So, do you know who you’re playing after or before? Do you know what stage you’re doing?
OU: Nothing.
H: You’re just going to get there and…
OU: Just gonna get there, perform, do a hundred interviews, and then drive to Wisconsin and do a show that night. So that’s my day tomorrow.
H: So what’s the rest of the year? I mean, is it like that? Just day after day after day…
OU: It can be. There are spurts. So, a lot of touring, and then when I’m home in New York for a couple days here a couple days there I am recording. Cuz I’ve been feeling really creative. Kinda getting back in that mode, so any time I can I get back in the studio.
H: Are you working with anyone we know?
OU: I have a really great chemistry with Cook Classics now. Not a lot of people know him, but that is actually the kid who did the beat for “Tonight Is The Night”. Him and I work really well together. So, I work a lot with him. I’ve done a few tracks with The Futuristics. Talking about working with The Cataracs. And really just have some dope collaborations in the works. But until they are like, solid concrete…
H: Don’t jinx it…
OU: Well, I’ve been talking about it with the artist, and we’re all down, so we’ll just hope it happens.
H: You and The Cataracs. That would actually be really great.
OU: Yeah, I think so.
H: I don’t know what song it was, but you did one that had sort of like a build up before the chorus that was super electronic?
OU: “Running Late” I think you’re talking about.
H: Yeah, yeah yeah. That was [and here is where I made a hand gesture that basically means “swell”).
OU: Thanks. That’s a new one. That will probably be on the album. Thanks. It’s fun, it’s a lot of fun.
H: So, my blog is only pop. But, it’s kind of like…I mean, you are hip-hop pop, this person is rock pop, whatever. So, how do you play an urban music festival and you’re on the Billboard Pop Chart. And, The Cataracs are like, dance and electronica. How do you do all that?
OU: You know, I just…I consider myself a pop artist. I come from the New York City hip-hop scene for sure, but even from my earliest mixtapes I was singing my hooks, trying to bring a pop sensibility to everything I do. I consider myself a pop artist who is directly inspired by hip-hop.
H: Do you ever get any flak from the hip-hop community?
OU: I wouldn’t consider it “flak”, but you know, I came up in that world a little bit. Hip-hop blogs and hip-hop shows in New York and that whole scene. I think there are certain fans who enjoyed that hip-hop side of me more, so occasionally I’ll get people being like “Oh, you gotta go back to doing that” or “I liked it when you were doing that” and for me, my answers are simply like “Go back three or four years – you weren’t the same person. You weren’t doing the same things. We all change and we all grow as people, and that’s really what it comes down to, and you can’t do the same stuff over and over again”.
H: So we should expect more of the same (he laughs) well, I mean more of the “Tonight Is The Night” “Now Or Never” style.
OU: Actually, there’s a little bit of that, and then there’s a lot of stuff that I’m working on now that is very anthem-y, stadium, Coldplay, U2-type shit.
H: Really?!
OU: I did the arena tours and I was performing at all these huge arenas during radio shows and I just wanna make music that 20,000 people can sing along to. It’s a real mixture. It’s big sounding.
H: “Stadium pop”
OU: That’s what I’m trying to go for.
H: “Arena pop”
OU: Arena pop! That’s what I’m doing.
H: You should throw that out there. “I’m the first ‘arena pop’ artist”.
OU: That’s nice. Well, let me get there, and then I can say it.
H: Think big!
OU: Always.
H: I always ask this to people. Who are you listening to or do you know that my readers or I don’t know and should listen to?
OU: I really like the Dirty Projectors new record. And, I’m really into the new Nas album. That’s on the hop-hop side.
H: Yeah?
OU: Yeah, it’s really dope. It’s all about his divorce. The best art comes from an honest place.
H: Did you see the cover of it?
OU: It’s amazing.
[we turn to my friend Bruce and explain that on the cover of his new album he is holding Kelis’ wedding dress in his lap]
H: Alright. Well, anything you want to say?
OU: Ummm…no? Haha.
Bruce: Shamelessly promote? Come on.
OU: Twitter, Facebook…
H: I tweeted you as you were…
OU: Rockin?
H: Doin’ your show.
OU: Ah. Well, I haven’t checked my phone. I think my phone is dead. It’s all good.
H: Great, well thanks.
OU: Thanks man, I appreciate it.
Thank you so much to Outasight for doing this, and to everyone who helped me set this up. So glad to finally get him in a chat on the site.
“Tonight Is The Night” and “Now Or Never” are both available now. I’ll let you know about an album when we hear more!
Outasight Facebook
Outasight Twitter
OU = Outasight, but that was probably fairly easy to guess.
H: So, I’ve written about you a couple of times. I wrote about you last November when I first heard “Tonight Is The Night”
OU: Thank you, I appreciate it.
H: I was telling Dre [his tour manager] this is my third time seeing you this year, cuz this is your third time in Boston.
OU: Yeah, were you at the Dev show?
H: I saw you and Dev, and I interviewed Dev. And then I saw you and Karmin and Wallpaper. and I’ve interviewed all them, so now I’m…
OU: Oh, was that at Comcast? [the Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA]
H: Yeah, that was at the radio show [Kiss 108 FM’s Kiss Concert]
OU: Yeah yeah yeah, cool cool.
H: So, here we are. Third time’s a charm. So, that was good, that was really good.
OU: Thank you. You know, it was very wide open. Fun.
H: Yeah, it was fun. I had no idea what to expect. I’ve never been to the Boston Urban Music Festival…
OU: “Urban” Music Festival. I’m very urban.
H: You’re so urban.
OU: Yeah (laughs).
H: Ok, so first of all, do I say “Hi, Outasight!”…?
OU: Yeah, music friends call me OU, family and friends from around the way call me Rich, and then other people call me Outasight. So, it’s just whatever.
H: Cuz, I’m always like…do I just walk up and…it feels kind of weird walking up and being like “Hi, Outasight!”
OU: That’s totally fine, it happens often.
H: Tell me what’s happening with “Now Or Never”.
OU: “Now Or Never” is moving, slowly but surely up the charts. Going on radio stations across the country.
H: Has it been sent out?
OU: Yeah, yeah. It’s currently in the top 30 on the pop chart.
H: Yeah?
OU: Yeah, building.
H: Not the Hot 100, the Pop chart.
OU: Yeah. So, we’re really excited about it. The competition has been really fierce this summer. Just so many new records coming out from big artists. No Doubt, Kelly Clarkson, Pink, the competition is serious, but amazingly enough, all the records that came out around “Now Or Never”, they’re not around as much, and “Now Or Never” has been just the little engine that could. And what’s great is that people are really loving the song, which helps build the momentum.
I’m from New York, and actually Z100, the big station where I’m from, has been supporting the record. We heard it two times on the way here today. Really starting to feel like it’s going to do something.
H: Great. What about, I mean, is there an album?
OU: Yeah, definitely. Maybe this fall or early winter next year. I have the material, its just a matter of continuing to build momentum. I don’t want to rush now just to say I did it, and then it doesn’t do what people expect it to do. For me, I still look at me as a new artist, still building a fanbase. I understand that I had a popular song, but I also understand I have a lot of going to do, so before you rush out a project, you just want to continue to build it, so that’s why we’re out on the road.
H: He [Dre, his tour manager] was telling me you’re doing Lollapalooza tomorrow.
OU: Yeah.
H: Which, you heard that they shut it down today [August 4th].
OU: Yeah, yeah.
H: So, do you know who you’re playing after or before? Do you know what stage you’re doing?
OU: Nothing.
H: You’re just going to get there and…
OU: Just gonna get there, perform, do a hundred interviews, and then drive to Wisconsin and do a show that night. So that’s my day tomorrow.
H: So what’s the rest of the year? I mean, is it like that? Just day after day after day…
OU: It can be. There are spurts. So, a lot of touring, and then when I’m home in New York for a couple days here a couple days there I am recording. Cuz I’ve been feeling really creative. Kinda getting back in that mode, so any time I can I get back in the studio.
H: Are you working with anyone we know?
OU: I have a really great chemistry with Cook Classics now. Not a lot of people know him, but that is actually the kid who did the beat for “Tonight Is The Night”. Him and I work really well together. So, I work a lot with him. I’ve done a few tracks with The Futuristics. Talking about working with The Cataracs. And really just have some dope collaborations in the works. But until they are like, solid concrete…
H: Don’t jinx it…
OU: Well, I’ve been talking about it with the artist, and we’re all down, so we’ll just hope it happens.
H: You and The Cataracs. That would actually be really great.
OU: Yeah, I think so.
H: I don’t know what song it was, but you did one that had sort of like a build up before the chorus that was super electronic?
OU: “Running Late” I think you’re talking about.
H: Yeah, yeah yeah. That was [and here is where I made a hand gesture that basically means “swell”).
OU: Thanks. That’s a new one. That will probably be on the album. Thanks. It’s fun, it’s a lot of fun.
H: So, my blog is only pop. But, it’s kind of like…I mean, you are hip-hop pop, this person is rock pop, whatever. So, how do you play an urban music festival and you’re on the Billboard Pop Chart. And, The Cataracs are like, dance and electronica. How do you do all that?
OU: You know, I just…I consider myself a pop artist. I come from the New York City hip-hop scene for sure, but even from my earliest mixtapes I was singing my hooks, trying to bring a pop sensibility to everything I do. I consider myself a pop artist who is directly inspired by hip-hop.
H: Do you ever get any flak from the hip-hop community?
OU: I wouldn’t consider it “flak”, but you know, I came up in that world a little bit. Hip-hop blogs and hip-hop shows in New York and that whole scene. I think there are certain fans who enjoyed that hip-hop side of me more, so occasionally I’ll get people being like “Oh, you gotta go back to doing that” or “I liked it when you were doing that” and for me, my answers are simply like “Go back three or four years – you weren’t the same person. You weren’t doing the same things. We all change and we all grow as people, and that’s really what it comes down to, and you can’t do the same stuff over and over again”.
H: So we should expect more of the same (he laughs) well, I mean more of the “Tonight Is The Night” “Now Or Never” style.
OU: Actually, there’s a little bit of that, and then there’s a lot of stuff that I’m working on now that is very anthem-y, stadium, Coldplay, U2-type shit.
H: Really?!
OU: I did the arena tours and I was performing at all these huge arenas during radio shows and I just wanna make music that 20,000 people can sing along to. It’s a real mixture. It’s big sounding.
H: “Stadium pop”
OU: That’s what I’m trying to go for.
H: “Arena pop”
OU: Arena pop! That’s what I’m doing.
H: You should throw that out there. “I’m the first ‘arena pop’ artist”.
OU: That’s nice. Well, let me get there, and then I can say it.
H: Think big!
OU: Always.
H: I always ask this to people. Who are you listening to or do you know that my readers or I don’t know and should listen to?
OU: I really like the Dirty Projectors new record. And, I’m really into the new Nas album. That’s on the hop-hop side.
H: Yeah?
OU: Yeah, it’s really dope. It’s all about his divorce. The best art comes from an honest place.
H: Did you see the cover of it?
OU: It’s amazing.
[we turn to my friend Bruce and explain that on the cover of his new album he is holding Kelis’ wedding dress in his lap]
H: Alright. Well, anything you want to say?
OU: Ummm…no? Haha.
Bruce: Shamelessly promote? Come on.
OU: Twitter, Facebook…
H: I tweeted you as you were…
OU: Rockin?
H: Doin’ your show.
OU: Ah. Well, I haven’t checked my phone. I think my phone is dead. It’s all good.
H: Great, well thanks.
OU: Thanks man, I appreciate it.
Thank you so much to Outasight for doing this, and to everyone who helped me set this up. So glad to finally get him in a chat on the site.
“Tonight Is The Night” and “Now Or Never” are both available now. I’ll let you know about an album when we hear more!
Outasight Facebook
Outasight Twitter