More Akira / Rap stuff

okay, approved well there’s not all that much rap in here, but this is something worth checking out.

I did a post on Sabotage Party’s Holding the Crown video with the Akira visuals a while ago, and we all remember Kanye’s attempt. But now Mark from Eyetape, who you might remember from this site the last time I posted on them, has just dropped a very unofficial, very bootleg but actually pretty cool Akira “trailer”.


Akira: The Kaneda Short Film from Eye Tape on Vimeo.

So aside from the fact that this thing is extremely well done, especially considering the budget – there is some actual rappidy rap in here. Seeda, who you might remember from my quick breakdown of Dear Japan I did forever ago – appears (without his explicit permisson) with the first part of “Lost Heaven”. If you’ve never heard the track you might miss this, but the editing is actually pretty smart at the beginning – those sound effects from the CD changer weren’t added in postproduction – that’s part of the actual song.

This is sort of an interesting project – an absolutely unauthorized – both in terms of soundtrack and film (I’m assuming that “90% guerilla” means “90% of this stuff wasn’t cleared with city authorities”) trailer of a Japanese film made by a kid raised in the States. Using a soundtrack spotlighting a Japanese artist using a quote un quote “American” artform.

For those of us born in the mid 80s and later, on both sides of the river, these “boundaries” are really starting to take on new meanings. I’m not saying they’re going away, but stuff’s starting to get interesting. I mean, look at the Golden Cartridge series (vol 1, vol 2) or the original Nintendo mixtape, man. We’ve got a generation of American kids influenced by Japanese machines, and a generation of Japanese kids influenced by recordings of American kids yelling into a box. Of course, there’s the negative side, which we’ve discussed here before in part, but still.

But forget that, watch the video. The set work in this video is also pretty dope – the bar actually looks like the original place from the film. I think I’m going to have to go rent this movie again.

In the meantime, holler at Eyetape.