Dear Outasight (re: Never Say Never)

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I may not always act like it, but I do get tired of rap at times. Not in the sense that I can't listen to hooks, punchlines and verses, but more in the sense that the musical sensibilities of hip-hop tire me sometimes, especially when people are putting out similar music. That's where artists like yourself, Richard Andrews (better known as Outasight) come into play. A Yonkers native is a singer/songwriter/rapper/musician, your musical talents are like a melting pot of jazz, soul, folk and hip-hop. What ends up happening is that you sounds unlike any artist I've heard over the past few years. Notice, I'm slow to put you in a genre, because you straddle so many lines without taking away the integral essence of each. That said, your newest mixtape, 'Never Say Never' (in collaboration with LRG) is just a piece of the smörgåsbord that you offer. The tape starts out with an upbeat chant called 'Complicated,' regaling in the complications of your early life, rife with your trademark singing voice and verses to break it up:

A prep school graduate with a C-average, but I never seen average / I would talk all night bout being Outasight , but I never kareem’d magic / Till I put the words to bed, and woke up the action, and canned the laughter / I ain’t trying to make a stand, I’m trying to fill up the rafters...

You then move on to the title track, 'Never Say Never,' an inspiring, mid-tempo, sing-songy riff about believing in yourself (who does that anymore?). In all honesty, it sounds like you made this mixtape for people to start their days to, evidenced by some the rosy acoustics and snare-heavy beats behind them. The tracks go on, with an ode to inebriated nights in 'Dizzy', a jump-worthy Freddie Gibbs (I'm slowly becoming a fan) feature in 'Near the End', and a bass-laced love track called 'Dear Heartache'.

Dude, you really have a penchant for making mixtapes that sound like albums. When I listen, I almost never am tempted to hit skip, for fear that I might miss a bright musical note sprinkled gingerly about one of your tracks. You really sat down and thought about how you wanted to construct this tape. It goes on to have a feature with XV that is impossible to not nod to in 'Lush Life' and a gospel-sounding anthem in 'Believe'. Yet the highlight for the mixtape in my opinion was your track 'Twenty-Something'. You described the pitfalls of being 1/4 done with life in this era as a pressure-filled one, rife with uncertainty and unfair expectations. It hit me right in the heart and I had to repeat another 3 times, before finishing the mixtape.

Outasight, you've successfully melded three genres with little correlation, while writing songs that capture the mindset of a wandering, yet intuitive generation. No, I'm not saying you're the equivalent of the Beatles (word to 'My Generation), but if I were to pick a recent artist that's made music that could stand the test of time, you would be one of the top candidates. In today's industry, music shelf life is about two weeks, with most songs' popularity outliving that of the artists. You, however, are making music that will always have a place in my playlist. Outasight, your music always seems like it comes from the most genuine and earnest places. Maybe that's a function of the beats. Maybe its your ability to sing, harmonize and rap on the same track that gives you flexibility to express yourself. Maybe its the glasses. I don't know. What I do know is that works like 'Never Say Never' don't come around often. You can charge that to a number of things, but doing so would only take away from just sitting back and enjoying the music. Kudos on a dope mixtape and I'll keep my eyes peeled for an album. Oh yeah... And huge #shoutouts to the Notherground fam. You and those fellows are doing great work on the interwebs...