Meet Outasight, a (Pepsi) commercial success

Commercial success: Historically, PepsiCo has an account of musical icons such as Britney Spears and Michael Jackson will appear in advertising and selling its soda. For the artist, Outasight, opposite tactic works: After his songs in commercials for Pepsi helped him to sell music. After 28-year-old singer and rapper is now one night appeared in commercials that aired on The X Factor, the song became a hit.
Sensation: "Before Tonight Is the Night, I take a bottom-up approach to music and winning one fan at the time," says Outasight, who released the single in September. But when the commercial aired, "my Facebook went through six digits in the" Likes "," he says. "It was a completely different medium of exposure." Now, Outasight, was born Richard Andrew, plans to spend two Tonight Is The Night Remixes Tuesday and put out a full album later this year.
"I have a lot of music to share," he says. "It's eclectic, but it is strong."
What's that sound? Outasight dad played guitar, and his mother was a record collector, so the self-proclaimed "music nerd" was exposed to everything from a kiss to the Beatles to Stevie Wonder growing up in Yonkers, NY As a result, not sticky Outasight sound to one genre. Its five mixtapes and two EPs released between 2007 fuse R & B, hip-hop, soul and rock. On Tonight Is the Night, Outasight's head-bobbing synth, drums and vocals so smooth that it almost sound Auto-Tuned (but does not say).
Although sometimes compared to BoB, says that both are not really similar. "They both sing and rap, but the similarities end. I'm just me."
On the grind: Outasight says he was "Grindin, Grindin, Grindin 'for years. Starting, he performed in New York as a freelance singer, rock band leader and rapper of open microphones, using the pseudonym "Outsight" (later adding, "and" because it sounded as if he was mispronouncing "outside"). I once drove eight hours just to play 15-minute concert in Pittsburgh.
"Every time there was any possibility, I'll jump on it," he says. "I did a lot of couch-surfing".
Small victories: Before the campaign, Pepsi, Outasight had several turning points in his career. Two were in 2008, when then-unsigned artist was on the MySpace homepage and won mtvU Freshmen competition with its music video for Good Evening, song of New York's Radio mixtape. Despite this, Outasight has remained mostly out of sight.
"At that time there were not many rappers sing," he says. Bigger breakthrough came in 2009 when Outasight has signed an agreement with Warner Bros., which was the "right fit," he says.
Large co: The Warner, Outasight tried to work with Talib Kweli, but it took a while to get the rapper attention. Outasight finally sent him a rap song. "If you want to send something Talib, who want to send the drugs thing," says Outasight. This song, not waiting for liquidation in 2010, it Kweli album, Gutter Rainbows.
He love to work with Kweli again, but has more collaboration in mind: Beck, James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem), Jay-Z and Kanye West. "I like to set goals," he says.
Hitting the road after opening for Gym Class Heroes and Dirty Heads of last autumn, Outasight is ready for their trips. "It was a great learning experience," says that he found the route without challenge mainstream hit. This month, armed with Tonight Is the Night, Outasight performed club dates around the country.
"I'm touring extensively throughout the year," says Outasight, who rarely breaks. "And the pride of being a performer to me."
Connected: "My laptop is my best friend," says Outasight, which is constantly reading and connecting with fans and friends through social media. "I like to be able to see the children really have an impact on music."