KingsOfKings
𝔻𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕞 𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕥
Beatmaker, producer, DJ, musician, crate digger, record store and label owner — Nujabes did it all. Tokyo born and raised, he soaked up inspiration from the overseas jazz and hip-hop music that he loved, flipped the script, and sent it back west, in turn influencing the countless producers that have come after him. His life was sadly cut short in 2010 at 36 years old, but his records continue to inform and inspire, with lo-fi hip-hop as just one modern manifestation of his output
To understand his music — and the outsized influence his work has had on modern music — first you have to understand Tokyo.
Birth of the modal soul
Up the hill from Shibuya’s famous Scramble intersection, where tourists and locals alike jostle to make it across the road unscathed, lies Udagawa-cho. Packed with tiny record stores aimed at working DJs, you can find anything you want, including hip-hop, house, downtempo and jazz. It was here that Jun Seba, later known as Nujabes, owned not one but two record shops: Guinness Records (we advise taking a tour here) and Tribe. Amidst this mix of genres is where Nujabes’ journey as one of the most important hip-hop producers ever began. And, if you know Shibuya, the youth and music epicentre of Tokyo, it couldn’t have happened any other way.
Born Jun Yamada just a few miles away from Shibuya, he took the pen name Jun Seba when he began writing for Japanese music magazines. Staking his claim in Udagawa-cho with his record stores, he soon added beatmaker to his growing list of talents. Flipping his name like a sample, he quietly announced himself as Nujabes with a bootleg 12-inch remix of Nas dropped surreptitiously into the bins of his own stores.
Rather than toot his own horn, he preferred to sample the horns of others. A consummate sample spotter, his chosen melodic jazz riffs and boom-bap-inspired beats were like nothing else around. His debut album, 2003’s Metaphorical Music, confirmed that a rare talent had arrived, with its release and the precious few that followed before his death creating ripples throughout the music world like pebbles dropped into a placid temple pond.
Nujabes’ production style: deceptively simple
Nujabes’ music has the same core pieces as many other hip-hop records, namely jazzy melodies and sampled breakbeats, and yet there’s no mistaking a Jun Seba production. Relaxed and spiritual but always emotional, his songs have a unique flavour that sets them apart from others.
Frequent collaborator Shing02, who rapped on several Nujabes cuts including the incredible Luv(sic) Hexology, puts it this way to us: “Overall, the Japanese minimalist aesthetic and interpretation of 90s hip-hop shaped the sound of his beats. They were deceptively simple in terms of composition.”
Deceptively simple is the key. Break down any of his tracks and you’ll find precious few elements: a sampled beat left largely in peace, a melodic bar or two snatched from a classic jazz record, and possibly a counter melody, either sampled or played live. And that’s it.
More : Light as a feather: Nujabes’ lasting impact on hip-hop and electronic music
To understand his music — and the outsized influence his work has had on modern music — first you have to understand Tokyo.
Birth of the modal soul
Up the hill from Shibuya’s famous Scramble intersection, where tourists and locals alike jostle to make it across the road unscathed, lies Udagawa-cho. Packed with tiny record stores aimed at working DJs, you can find anything you want, including hip-hop, house, downtempo and jazz. It was here that Jun Seba, later known as Nujabes, owned not one but two record shops: Guinness Records (we advise taking a tour here) and Tribe. Amidst this mix of genres is where Nujabes’ journey as one of the most important hip-hop producers ever began. And, if you know Shibuya, the youth and music epicentre of Tokyo, it couldn’t have happened any other way.
Born Jun Yamada just a few miles away from Shibuya, he took the pen name Jun Seba when he began writing for Japanese music magazines. Staking his claim in Udagawa-cho with his record stores, he soon added beatmaker to his growing list of talents. Flipping his name like a sample, he quietly announced himself as Nujabes with a bootleg 12-inch remix of Nas dropped surreptitiously into the bins of his own stores.
Rather than toot his own horn, he preferred to sample the horns of others. A consummate sample spotter, his chosen melodic jazz riffs and boom-bap-inspired beats were like nothing else around. His debut album, 2003’s Metaphorical Music, confirmed that a rare talent had arrived, with its release and the precious few that followed before his death creating ripples throughout the music world like pebbles dropped into a placid temple pond.
Nujabes’ production style: deceptively simple
Nujabes’ music has the same core pieces as many other hip-hop records, namely jazzy melodies and sampled breakbeats, and yet there’s no mistaking a Jun Seba production. Relaxed and spiritual but always emotional, his songs have a unique flavour that sets them apart from others.
Frequent collaborator Shing02, who rapped on several Nujabes cuts including the incredible Luv(sic) Hexology, puts it this way to us: “Overall, the Japanese minimalist aesthetic and interpretation of 90s hip-hop shaped the sound of his beats. They were deceptively simple in terms of composition.”
Deceptively simple is the key. Break down any of his tracks and you’ll find precious few elements: a sampled beat left largely in peace, a melodic bar or two snatched from a classic jazz record, and possibly a counter melody, either sampled or played live. And that’s it.
More : Light as a feather: Nujabes’ lasting impact on hip-hop and electronic music
Hip-Hop got robbed when he passed RIP!
