SPOTLIGHT-Nujabes
This artist is one that I’ve gotten into just recently. Nujabes (born Jun Seba in the Nishiazabu district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese DJ and Hip-Hop producer. His core sound utilizes jazz sampling as well as instruments like flutes and acoustic guitar. He makes instrumental jazz influenced tracks as well as songs where he collaborates with rappers like Cise Starr, Substantial, Shing02, and much more.
Probably his most well known work is for the soundtrack to Samurai Champloo, an anime from Shinichiro Watanabe, the creator of Cowboy Bebop. He, along with fellow electronic artists Tsutchie and Fat Jon, contributed to this show set in feudal Japan, which also blended in several anachronisms that refer to Hip-Hop culture. It’s this soundtrack where I first heard him and really, it was his music most of all that I gravitated to. While the other artists had some very well done tracks and I did enjoy their contributions, Nujabes stuck out to me the most as something really special.
Along with his work in anime, he has released 4 albums, which includes two full lengths utitlizing his beats with jazz styles (
Metaphorical Music, Modal Soul) and two releases where he more closely works in the hip hop realm (
Hydeout Productions 1st & 2nd Collections).
What I really love about his music is how natural it feels and sounds. Yes, his music is, at its core, beats and samples, but through the way they’re produced you feel as if Mother Nature herself is singing to you through the wind, the rain, and the earth. It all feels so right together and it'd be hard to imagine some of the sounds coming from other songs. At times I have a hard time differing samples of a piece from actual instruments being used and sounds being created. The abstract feel of it, especially in a genre of music where alot is lifted from other songs in a way where it's very recognizable at first listen, is something that you don't come around very often.
It’s also is a prime example of the potential you can reach in the realm of electronic music and hip-hop. In a way, I do believe his music is a grand step for hip-hop and shows that the only limitations are those you set on yourself.
Unfortunately, he left this world in February 2010 when he was involved in a motorcycle accident in Shibuya, Tokyo and passed away in Shibuya Ward a few hours later. In passing he has left a unique and expressive sound as well as his own mark on hip hop today. Even though he’s no longer with us, he will not be forgotten.
So give some of his music a listen, if you will, and free yourself to the soul of nature.