NuTube

Being a fan of hip hop and all things Japanese, when a few years ago I heard that there was a ‘hip hop anime’, I was of course interested. But hip hop is a very loose term these days and most that describes itself as such often isn’t, and so I was a little sceptical as to what I might end up viewing.


On purchasing the first Samurai Champloo DVD, I was instantly surprised to hear something that I recognised from an old Prime Cuts mix from one of his first Friday of the month sets on the Tim Westwood show playing over the DVD menu screen. It turned out to be ‘Loading Zone by Force of Nature, one of the soundtrack contributors, but on pressing ‘Play’ the real star of the show became apparent.


With the music – in the most part, hip hop as I want it – I researched the soundtrack further, as well as the names Nujabes, Fat Jon, Force of Nature and Tsutchie, relative unknowns anywhere. With this the case, it proved difficult to find the soundtrack available anywhere in the UK, or indeed the US. And as such, I had to look to YouTube and strapping my headphones down at work in order to listen to the tracks from Samurai Champloo.


From this, I would click on further tracks by Nujabes, quickly realising it made up the majority of what I listened to, online anyway. On my trip to the Land of the Rising Sun, I, therefore, made my way to a record shop to purchase both the 4 Samurai Champloo soundtracks and all available works by the late Shibuya record shop owner.


Luckily relatively easy to locate, they formed the soundtrack of my trip across Honshu, and indeed my life for the next 2 years. Though none of it was really new to me, having spent many a work hour with it on YouTube, I couldn’t stop listening to the music of Nujabes. Not the best music I’d ever heard, but at a consistently high level, at a time when everyone else seems confused as to what music they want to make. Seba Jun-san was something different at a stagnant time for music.


So learning of his death in February of this year clearly saddened me. Not just for the loss of his music, but the lack of knowledge as to the man and his work. I only learnt of his passing from an updated title on a YouTube video stating ‘RIP’ a month later.


However, this had led to numerous comments left on YouTube videos, and indeed what seems a large increase in the number of views videos featuring his music receive. In fact, his videos get more views than major label Japanese hip hop DJs DJ Krush and DJ Honda, whose international fame can’t buy them more YouTube following than the enigmatic, self-releasing artist with virtually no self-promotion. He’s almost made Funky DL seem popular, with their 2 collaborations into 6 figures – way more than Funky DL himself could ever hope for.


Yet his is still an unknown name to many beyond anime fans posting AMVs. Not conventional hip hop by a long shot, but still hip hop, and so has gained a small but loyal following on YouTube, with all his tracks up there and all receiving a modestly large number of views.


And so, despite his lack of fame and mainstream success, the name Nujabes has had an influence on the world; be it Westerners posting AMVs, Japanese blokes with digital cameras or people trying to play ‘Aruarian Dance’ on acoustic guitar. Here’s mine...