On February 26th 2010 the much loved and well respected hip hop producer Sebajun passed away at the young age of 36, he was the victim of an unfortunate automobile accident on one of Tokyo’s main busy intersections. For those that are not familiar with his name you may recognize him by his alias ‘Nujabes’ which is basically his real name spelt backwards. Nujabes is the owner of the infamous independent Japanese hip hop label ‘Hyde Out productions’ through which he released several of his own albums, as well as bringing new young hopeful Asian hip hop artists into the public eye. Some of his albums include Hydeout Productions 1st Collection, Metaphorical Music and Modal Soul; his hip hop style is a mix of easy going laid back beats, jazzy instrumental sounds and bouncy soulful vocals, a breath of fresh air amongst a sea of over commercialized and un intelligent music floating about these days.
Nujabes dedicated his life to his love of music and in particular hip hop; besides running a record label and making music he was also the owner of two music stores located in downtown Tokyo; Guinness records and T-Records. If you’re still unfamiliar with his name and music, it’s not surprising, as he was known to be quite and private person that preferred to remain out of the lime light and in his studios creating new music. Japanese anime fans will have unknowingly been introduced to Nujabes music through the popular ‘Samurai Champaloo’ cartoons, which he produced all of the background music for.
If you are not already fans then I recommend that you go and visit his personal web page at https://www.myspace.com/nujabes and listen to his music for yourself, if you’re into hip hop artists like, the roots, de la soul or a tribe called quest then you’ll love nujabes.