The artist's breakthrough track "Ooo La La" was embraced by the gaming community.
Atlantic Records has signed 21-year-old Pennsylvania singer, rapper and producer Rozei, who premieres the futuristic music video for his breakout track “Ooo La La” exclusively below.
The artist born Carter Perkins first started making music in a DIY studio he fashioned out of his basement in the suburbs of Erie, inspired by the likes of Lil Wayne, Juice WRLD, Black Eyed Peas, Nirvana and Led Zeppelin. Last year, he adopted the moniker Rozei based on his childhood nickname, “Rosy.”
After having the bubbly melody for “Ooo La La” in his head for a week, he penned some lyrics about a former summer crush, and released the track on SoundCloud in late 2019. “I knew I wanted to make something catchy and upbeat, but also make it true to myself and who I am as an artist,” Rozei tells Billboard. “Everything just came together naturally.”
From there, Atlantic A&Rs Adam Schulz and Austin Rice say they discovered Rozei through the Warner Music Group-owned music data insights tool, Sodatone. “A few notable Fortnite players featured his single ‘Ooo La La’ in their YouTube videos, which helped the song become popular,” they told Billboard in a joint statement. “The song immediately caught our ears, and after listening to more of his music, we knew that Rozei was poised to disrupt the melodic rap space.”
Rozei says that he took meetings with “multiple major labels,” but Atlantic stood out. “Atlantic was different than the others,” he says. “It felt like a family in the office, it felt extremely welcoming and I felt as if I had a team excited to be working with me.”
“Ooo La La” has by now garnered more than 15 million global streams across platforms, according to Atlantic. Meanwhile, Rozei continues to gain support from the gaming community. The song’s brand-new music video, premiering below, was produced and directed by prominent gaming organization FaZe Clan.
The visual stars FaZe Clan gamer FaZe Nikan alongside Rozei, and was directed by Youssef Ali, who helms the digital team at FaZe Clan and has produced and directed videos with Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, RiceGum and more.