Nihongo Rap Breakdown – Ep 131 Debriefing

Okay, recuperation so this is late, like everything else is on this site. Sorry.

But anyway, here we go with a breakdown for the last episode in the Nihongo Rap (=”Japanese Rap”) series – ep 131, “Hansei Shitemaasu“, which roughly translates to “I’m soooorrryyy”. The cuts are, in general, about regret, the past, and/or looking forward to the future.

You can play it below, or go check the original post here.

Note that this is only the tracklist – I will be breaking down the actual skit in a future article. You will want to read this.

In the meantime, though, let’s get with these tracks:

MINT – Isoganakya (Gotta Hurry). Somebody feel free to call me out on this, but I forget who actually did this cut first (seriously, someone remind me). Point is, though – it doesn’t matter, because this song is better than that song. @minchanbaby

Cherry Brown – Hayai (Pyuun!) (Fast (Zoom)). I’m not really sure why I didn’t put Cherry Brown in the first episode, but, well, here he is. I think he showed up in The Source Japan (yes, we had one, for like four months), but I lent that issue to my friend and can’t find it now. Cherry makes a lot of weird music – like, a lot – and also produces under the name of Lil’ Yukichi. He also happens to be one of the people who are spearheading this new wave of mixtapes in the Nihongo Rap scene. @twitter.com/cherrycherry_b

A-Thug – Ori no Naka (In the Pen). So this cut is, thematically, pretty easy to understand – references to Scarface, and dude talking about how he spent time in jail, and about his life selling crack. My favorite line:

ヘイズとエクスタシー
Heizu to ekusutashii
Haze and ecstasy

ブラッズとつるみ
Burazzu to tsurumi
Hanging with Bloods*

クラックを造り
Kurakku wo tsukuri
Cooking crack

ブロックを仕切り
Burokku wo shikiri
Running the block

グロックを握り、あ
Gurokku wo nigiri, ah
Gripping Glocks, uh

*I really hope that I’m hearing this incorrectly. Please, let this be wrong.

This sort of talk, of course, is completely unbelievable, and I will personally mail you a dollar if you are able to find five Japanese people that know what the word “Glock” even means. It still sounds cool, though, which is what matters. m/athugscars

AKLO – Chance. From the Aklo 2.0 mixtape, which I recommend – if only for dude’s version of “Forever”. Incidentally, Aklo is also partially the inspiration behind me even doing this series – we had more than a few conversations about the state of Nihongo Rap, and own stance on the importance of mixtapes. Very, very bright dude. This isn’t the best song on the tape, by far – it just fit the theme. m/aklosound

GAGLE – Yuki no Kakumei (Snow Revolution). I swear I’ve heard this sample somewhere – does anyone have any leads? Anyway, Gagle is a pretty respected part of the scene, despite their being from Sendai. I should probably talk more about this at some point, but for a very long time, the general understanding was that if it wasn’t from Tokyo, it wasn’t hip-hop, and it wasn’t worth listening to (though you could argue that Hokkaido natives Tha Blue Herb straightened that out three years before this jawn dropped). This cut is easily my favorite off their 3 Men On Wax record. gagle.jp

PRIMAL , DJ Kohaku, CHIYORI, 02 – Butaiura (Greenroom). Off of DJ Muta’s Character Pack mixtape – which, if you can find, is pretty good. The beat is People Under The Stairs’ Acid Raindrops – and I keep saying this, but seriously, this cut is much better than the original. DJ MUTA’s blog

MINT – “YEAH”de gomakashiteiru (playing it off by saying “yeah”). Okay, that’s a terrible translation, sorry. Anyway, seriously kids, MINT just really goes hard. I was actually done mixing down this episode and chanced upon this cut on dude’s twitter, and absolutely had to fit it in. The hook is really simple, and lyrically actually sort of cheesy, but it’s still just bananas:

おれはずっとこのまま、きっと多分ここなんだ
Ore wa zutto kono mama/kitto tabun koko nanda
Definitely, probably I’ll always be here

YEAHでごまかしてる/自分の居場所探してる
YEAH de gomakashiteru Jibun no ibasho sagashiteru
Playing it off, saying “yeah” searching for my place

Have I mentioned that I’m a terrible translator? I’m a terrible translator. Just trust me, this is a good song.

So that’s what it is for this one – if you have any questions, want to hear on any specific artist, I’m thinking of doing posts on individual artists. Or, you know, if you have comments on the series in general, definitely let me know, either here or via twitter (@dexdigi).

Also, stay on the lookout for the aforementioned article breaking down the skit, and the “Hansei Shitemaaasu” line. It’s shaping up to be pretty interesting.

MIXTAPE 131 – HANSEI SHITEMAAASU


MIXTAPE 131 -反省してまーす

ご無沙汰しております!でじです。今回は(ちなみに前回も悪くないからチェックしてね)、「反省」をテーマにしてミックステープを作ってみた。イントロはちょっと長めなんで文章は極力短くします。では早速トラックリストへ!

doctor Arial, recuperation sans-serif; margin:0; padding: 3px 4px 3px 4px; color:#999;”>Mixtape 131 – Hansei Shitemaaasu by Mixtape Show / Dex Digital on Mixcloud

イントロ:Buddha Brand – 黒船

MINT – 急がなきゃ. またまたオリジナルを遥かに超えてみせるみんちゃん。@minchanbaby

Cherry Brown – 早い[ピューン]. 俺、なんで一回目のやつにCherryさんの曲を入れなかったんだろ・・・まあいいや、ここで入れときます!いまシーンでは、フリーミックステープがちょっとしたブームになってるけど、彼はその火付け役の一人でもあり、あと「Lil’諭吉」名義でトラックも作ってる。生産量がハンパない反面、当たり外れも激しい気もするけど、当たった時は本当にやばい。@twitter.com/cherrycherry_b

A-Thug – 塀の中. この曲に出てる話はかなり信じがたい(クラックって流行ってなくね?そして「グロック」というのがなんことなのか、実際知ってるやつはそれほど多くないと思われる…)けど、今回のテーマに合ってるし、カッコいいから入れてみた。反省はしてるけど、後悔はしてない。m/athugscars

AKLO – Chance. AKLOの「2.0」ミックステープから。本人と何回か会ったんだけど、彼のヒップホップに対する観察力はマジで深いし、このシリーズを始めようと思ったのは、彼の影響もある。間違いなくこれからも注目すべき存在です。m/aklosound

GAGLE – 雪ノ革命. AKLOからの前向きな流れで、仙台からの古典!これ知らない人は多分いなくて、「いまさら」感なくはないと思うけど、まあカッコいいから見逃してください。このネタ、確かどこかで聴いた記憶があるような…知ってる方がいらしたら教えて欲しい。ずっと気になってたから。gagle.jp

PRIMAL , DJ 琥珀, CHIYORI, 02 – 舞台裏. DJ MUTAのキャラクターパーク収録。ビートはPUTSのACID RAINDROPS。毎回こんなこといってわるいけど、内容といい、PRIMALと02とビートの相性といい、こっちの方がオリジナルより好き。これを聴いてからPUTS版を聴いてみたら、後者の方がむしろいい加減なビートジャックにきこえちゃうくらい。ちなみに、キャラクターパーク自体はハンパないからそれもオススメです。DJ MUTAのブログ

MINT – YEAHでごまかしてる. 最初は舞台裏で終わろうと思ってたけど、この曲をツイッターで知って、入れない手は無いと思ってアウトロとして付けた。これ説明に困ります。シンプルなような、でも深い曲。これ聴いてから数日間は、フックを思わず口ずさんじゃう。でなければ、病院に行った方がいい。

今回はこんな感じで!楽しく聴いていただければ幸いですが、みんなの声も聞きたいので、愚痴や、ディス・コメントとかあったら、是非メールかコメント欄でどーぞ!!

ツイッターもやってるからフォローよろしく→@dexdigi

MIXTAPE 130 – INTERIOR CROCODILE


MIXTAPE 130 – INTERIOR CROCODILE

車内鰐・アリゲーター、私はシボレー製の映画館に乗る
INTERIOR CROCODILE ALLIGATOR
I DRIVE A CHEVROLET MOVIE THEATER
INTERIOR CROCODILE ALLIGATOR
I DRIVE A CHEVROLET MOVIE THEATER
INTERIOR CROCODILE ALLIGATOR
I DRIVE A CHEVROLET MOVIE THEATER
INTERIOR CROCODILE ALLIGATOR
I DRIVE A CHEVROLET MOVIE THEATER
INTERIOR CROCODILE ALLIGATOR
I DRIVE A CHEVROLET MOVIE THEATER

medicine Arial, medical sans-serif; margin:0; padding: 3px 4px 3px 4px; color:#999;”>Mixtape 130 – Interior Crocodile by Mixtape Show / Dex Digital on Mixcloud


INTERIOR ALLIGATOR

Chip Da Ripper – Interior Alligator Freestyle.
Bun B – Get Throwed (instrumental).
London Elektricity – Different Drum.
Physics N’ Tricks – Meridian (Remarc Remix).
High Contrast – Brief Encounter.
The Prodigy – Voodoo People (Pendulum Remix).

INTERIOR CROCODILE ALLIGATOR
I DRIVE A CHEVROLET MOVIE THEATER
INTERIOR CROCODILE ALLIGATOR
I DRIVE A CHEVROLET MOVIE THEATER
INTERIOR CROCODILE ALLIGATOR
I DRIVE A CHEVROLET MOVIE THEATER

if you’re still having trouble with this one, check the release date of this episode.

(まだ今回のテーマを把握してないという方は、今日の日付(4月1日)のを考慮にいれてくれればお分かりになるのでは、と思います)

Nihongo Rap Breakdown – Ep 129 Debriefing

yo. So I’m a little late with this, buy information pills but I figured it’d be nice to throw up a little breakdown for the last episode. So, refractionist for those who don’t speak moontalk, find this is for you.

In the intro, I said absolutely nothing of importance. Same goes for the outro. Not that that is surprising at all.

On to the artists:

Super Smoky Soul – you’ve actually heard them here before.

S.L.A.C.K. – I actually met this dude, maybe slightly before people started really freaking out about him. His rap style is sorta weird – he slurs his Rs, his intonation is bizarre, and he doesn’t pretend to talk about anything of any great importance. This, believe it or not, is sort of important.

example (warning: awkward translation):
なんて適当にさ 話してる夕方が透き通ってさ   Like just whatever, we talk all night
なんて適当にさ 話してるやつが大好きでさ I like people that just talk like whatever
なんて適当にさ 適当って言葉が大好きでさ Like just whatever, I like the word “whatever”

Here’s a video off the same record, “My Space”:



S.L.A.C.K – Good More.

Don’t miss the bonus snippet at the end for Deep Kiss, probably one of the best midnight skateboard tracks in recent memory.
Norikiyo – a central member of SD Junksta, one of a handful of acts that has essentially been carrying the scene on their backs since the mid 2000s. Norikiyo is very, very recommended. Topically this is a lot of ‘streets is live’ stuff. This version is a remix done by Punpee, who is actually the above mentioned S.L.A.C.K’s brother. Punpee, while being on a totally different pole from, say, Bach Logic, is easily one of the most important producers right now.

M.T.Z – This is actually a friend of mine – I’d say a classmate, but I spend very little time on campus, so yeah. This is actually over an old Planet Asia beat, and one of only two tracks dude has ever recorded (he’s more known in the organization/freestyle circuit). Lyrically, as you can probably tell, this is way more complex and on some ‘sucker MCs’ kind of angle. He’s also a political science grad student at one of the most prestigious universities in the country, so maybe that makes sense.

Actually, lemme tell a story about this dude. One time we were on the 8th floor of our (newly constructed) school building, and I’d brought my skateboard to class. He comes up, laughing at me for riding my skateboard to class, and asks if he can try it (he’s never ridden one before) and I’m like yo, are you sure it’s okay? I mean, we’re indoors.

He gives me this dead serious look, the same look he gets on his face when he’s reading Marx, and says “Yes. This is our space. It belongs to the people”. And proceeds to skate on the brand new carpet.

AKLO – Player. My first encounter with this dude, he was trying to do a kickflip indoors at a bar I had played a show at, slipped off the board, and almost broke my shins. After his recent mixtape AKLO 2.0, I’d have to say that this dude is easily one of the most important forces in recent Nihongo Rap history. He’s only got one record out, but his mixtape game is seriously putting pressure on the rest of the scene, which to this point has been pretty lazy as far as release pace is concerned. Then we’ve got the producer, Ham-R, who also appeared on Seeda’s most recent record (raps and production). Aside from the coked out synths, I recommend paying attention to what he’s doing with his snares – even Bach Logic isn’t really touching this.

MINT – 変形合体 (“henkei gattai”). I’m not really sure how you translate this – the first part is like “transform” (as in “transformers” – get the reference to the original track now?) and the second is like “union”. So basically if you think about Robotron or maybe Power Rangers when they made that big robot or whatever (I hated that show, so I don’t really remember), that’s the idea.

Anyway, Mint is a pretty weird dude. I think a lot of Nihongo Rap fans might know him best from 韻踏合組合 (loosely, and lamely translated, “rhyme association”), but apparently he ditched that group in like 04. A lot of his rhymes are pretty juvenile, complete with crude sex references (think really hard about where you could go with the image of robots transforming/combining into one) and entire songs dedicated to his favorite anime shows, but really this guy is one of my favorite rappers, period right now. And, as I said in the original article, his version of the Chris Brown joint is far, far superior to the original, and I will gladly internet fight anyone who disagrees with me.

Be on the lookout for more Mint in an upcoming jawn. (thanks for reminding me, Timm)

Hannya – Blog #50. Instead of a blog, Hannya releases a new freestyle every week. Each of them are sort of upsettingly good. In this one, he’s (among other things) dissing the Japanese edition of Source Magazine, which I agree with, because while it was nice to have a hip-hop magazine in Japan, it was very irresponsibly written, and probably never should have been released. After 3 issues it died out, though, so whatever. I very highly recommend checking out Hannya’s most recent record, HANNYA – it was probably my favorite record of 2009.

Essencial – Bomb Rush Freestyle. Off of the Backyard Vol 1 mixtape. I think most people remember Smith CN (the first rapper) more than his counterpart, which I guess is unavoidable. Dude’s voice is just that bugged out. Smith CN himself has a new record out – I’ve only heard one cut, but it is very recommended.

a.z – untitled (off a beat CD I got from Mori). I have played at a few events with her, and still don’t quite get it. She’s the producer for a few acts around Tokyo, but the word is that she never listens to hip-hop, at all. She just makes the beats, gives them out, and gets back to work. Really weird, but recently she’s been putting out some nice material. This is probably a good name to keep an eye on.

and that’s it. Now, go back, listen to the Nihongo Rap episode again. And stay tuned for the next installment.

Hell, are people interested in this sort of thing? If you are, I’ll keep doing these and breaking them down – if not…I’ll probably do it anyway, but it’s nice to know what people are interested in.