Armando Diaz, known to the entertainment world as OUTTHERE, is a music producer from New Jersey. Originally born in Newark, he resided on S 17th Street in Irvington with his Immigrant parents. His father worked the assembly line at Ford, and his mother stayed at home to take care of him and his siblings.

OUTTHERE moved to Montclair where he spent most of his youth and where he developed an appreciation for music and the culture of Hip Hop as it was experienced in the 80's. His main interest initially was DeeJaying and from the time he was in the 8th grade (1986-1994), and with the help of money from shoveling snow and other odd jobs, he began his youthful career as a popular local DeeJay.

Later on in high school, OUTTHERE developed his foundations in production by utilizing his equipment to create tracks for local artists (1988-1994). One of these artists was recording artist Hussein Fatal, whom he would later feature on one of his projects.

Though rap music was his primary listening music, OUTTHERE did much work with house music and dancehall, as that was very popular during his run as a DeeJay. Thanks to the help and advice from pros like Tony Humphreys and Frank Balesteri, OUTTHERE developed his production skills in the house music genre and was able to use his music at events and on the local stations for promos.

In 1993, OUTTHERE would meet his future wife, and it want long before his first son Nagee would be born. This event changed things and forced an unplanned hiatus that lasted 4 years and removed OUTTHERE from the music scene.

After going back to school for PC support, OUTTHERE landed his first job as a tech, and it was in 1997 when he discovered that music could be made on a PC without any outboard equipment. Thanks to the Soundblaster AWE 32, OUTTHERE was once again back into making music.

Slowly, over the course of a year, OUTTHERE tuned his newly acquired skills, and began work on his first official project as an indie artist. It was the collaboration of 16 local rappers and poets called "Da Raw Dirty", which combined rap and spoken word in a variety CD that was unique at that time.

For the next few years, OUTTHERE produced tracks and recorded local artists while he worked on making the improvements he needed to make in order to see his music on TV and in the movies. He also became a rapper himself and recorded 4 solo albums, 4 instrumental albums, and 2 compilations.

Due to his independence and limited funding, OUTTHERE was put in a position where he would have to be his own promoter, his own graphic artist, web designer, video editor, packaging and general support. This was an educational period for him, which he used to not only to improve his products, but as a tool to support himself while he searched for his "big  break"

The ball began rolling in 2005 with his music being featured in the New Line Cinema movie "Havoc", and then shortly after in the BET series "DMX: Soul of a man".  Thanks to a strong connection with Edmonds Entertainment music director, Tara Razavi, OUTTHERE would land a significant amount of music on multiple seasons of "College Hill" and almost the entire series of TV-One's "David E. Talbert's: Stage Black".

Parallel with his music appearing on television, OUTTHERE worked on a project a CD/DVD project entitled "Beat to Death vol. 4", part album, part beat cd, part documentary. The project feature legends in the music industry including Treach, of Naughty By Nature, whom he had worked with previously, Rockness Monsta, of Heltah Skeltah, B-Real, of Cypress Hill, who came to his attention online, Coolwadda, and Hussein Fatal of the Outlawz.

That collaboration opened up his local market for rap hopefuls looking for professional beats, and along with a few wins at the "Meet The Producers" beat battles, this helped secure his status as a prominent music producer in the community.

Years would pass and the need for OUTTHERE to expand his horizons became necessary. He was no longer content with doing what was expected, so he decided to branch out. It was after some serious searching he did for alternative groups to work with that he came in contact with the members of Genre', an acoustic duo, that OUTTHERE realized he had found his next step. The three would come together to do a beautiful combination of Genre's live acoustic vibe with OUTTHERE's Hip Hop inspired backgrounds and foundations. The result is a fusion that feels right and will be part of OUTTHERE's future for some time to come.

To this day OUTTHERE is in search of opportunities in television and film. He still does production for local artists, but his dream is to hear more of his music on the silver screen and on television, two places that OUTTHERE considers key to having longevity in the business.
 

 

Special thanks to: The PBU Productions family, Tara Razavi, SB, Drift, O.D., C. Lyons, Pure, The Jones Family, DJ Matt Matrixx, and my family for all the support.