僕はMC, 彼はDJ

You know what I love about some of my Japanese friends? When they embrace my gaijin nihongo talk. I say things like 上は何ですか = what up? And フッキングスゴイ。I have this one phrase "Keep it 元気" and recently when I was making plans with Madoka she responded to it by saying "yes good keep the genki!" lol I love it.

２０１１年０３月１８日

So she left and I was on my own. I'll admit I was gonna miss her but I knew that if she couldn't decide on her own whether or not she wanted to be with me then its just best she goes. Besides it was time for me to get on my grind. I didn't push this mixtape to DJs at all in Fukuoka and my first week was almost up with nothing to show for it. Time to grind.

The day turned out to be warmer than expected and the sun was shining like a summer day. My first challenge was to find yesterday's record store (King Kong). I was zigzagging all over Amerika-mura until I ran into Manhattan Records. I know this Japanese record label cause I follow them on twitter but I thought they were only in Tokyo. What a surprise（＾Ｏ＾☆♪  I had no idea that there was a Manhattan record store in Osaka. I wander in checking the atmosphere of the place. They have the set up where you can listen to a new release on the headphones gathered near the records. I havnt seen that in ten years. I walked to all three floors looking for someone approachable. As I looked around, I noticed the place was full of posters that were album covers of 90's Hiphop: Ready to Die, All Eyes On Me, Ironman, and It was Written. Yup this is my element. When I hit the top floor I decided to look around the Japanese DJ mixtape albums. From my past experience I noticed how passionate Japanese DJs are and I figured I should get some music I can't find in the states as well as get more of a feel to Japan's Hiphop sound. I took a chance with DJ 松永 (Matsunaka) album: Still Japanese. When I went to purchase it I knew that the dude behind the counter had to be a DJ and so I sparked a conversation with him about the music and club scene. I asked him if he recommended the album I was buying? Yup. Do you like Hiphop? Duh! Would you like a few copies of a mixtape that a few Boston artist and I put together? Your dam right! He was excited to talk music, unfortunately my Japanese only got me so far and he couldn't speak English. I tossed him a few copies of the "Otaku Talk" mixtape and he actually had a mixtape of his own and passed it my way. Equivalent Exchange the Full Metal Alchemist way (=´∀｀)人(´∀｀=) my spider senses that he was a DJ were correct. His name was Monk α. The dope part about Manhattan Records shop was that this dude had turntables set up right behind the counter (which I later learn almost all the shops do) and was mixing the music that was playing in the store. Since I had trouble finding King Kong records I figured I ask him for directions. He busted out the record shop map that showed me the locations of every record store in Amerika-Mura. Gave me a copy and drew out the directions to get to King Kong Records. Apparently there were like 20 record stores in the area. Dam iTunes is not replacing record shops in Japan anytime soon. He also pointed out other record stores that specialized in Hiphop for me to visit. I said my farewells and decided to make King Kong my last spot to hit and visit the Hiphop shops he recommended.

I head toward a record store called newtone. It was only a few blocks away but for some reason I was circling this one block for a half hour looking for it. Just when I was about to give up and move on to the next record store, the directions on the map clicked ☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆ I recalled Monk α trying to explain something about how the map works. Apparently he must have said the block with the shop name on the map isn't the store location, rather the line that follows it and leads to a small grey box is the location of the shop! Now I get it, I was on the wrong street (>_<) ok I finally get there and this shop is much smaller than Manhattan Records. It is the size of a room yet it's full of crates that are full of vinyl. As much as I like to test my Japanese, I figured it best to first see if they knew English and then discuss things from there. It so happens that on almost every record shop I ended going to at least one of the DJs spoke English and had at one point been to Boston（＾Ｏ＾☆♪  I hit the DJs at newtone off with the Otaku Talk mixtape and one of them tells me there's another record store above us. How convenient (⌒▽⌒) up I go.

The place was called Rootdown records and I instantly felt a soulful vibe in the place. Again it was another one room record shop. (Most places that I end up going to are very small vinyl shops outside of Manhattan Records and King Kong Records.) There are two Japanese DJs and unfortunately they don't speak English. There names are Tiger and Mamba Oh My...I try my hardest to explain passing off the mixtape to them and other DJs and promoters. I end up lucking out and another Japanese DJ by the name of Yamagami enters the room. He speaks fluent English and is from Groovenut Records. Like many DJs in the area, he buys, sells, and trades vinyl. He told me he has been to Boston 6 times and was looking for places that sell and trade vinyl in Boston. Unfortunately all the places I knew closed down and the only place I knew that was still open he was already aware of. Sorry bro. We start discussing the purpose of my visit and I toss them the mixtape and let em know I am a rap artist who made this mixtape with a group of other artist. They are happy to pass it around and actually start to play it in the shop. Nice. I ask him about which Hiphop clubs he recommends. Apparently he stopped listening to Hiphop after the nineties. Can you blame him? He passes me a map that shows all the clubs in Amerika-Mura. How convenient, they got a map for every subject in this district (^○^) He knows the names of the most popular ones and first thing he says is these are the ones playing commercial rap and got a lot of hot chicks showing up. Well he read the second part of my mind (^_-) the bad news however (there's always bad news) is that the clubs close at 1 am. WTF! That's worse than Boston. I felt like the thought of a night life in Osaka just crashed down on me. They used to be all night but apparently a new law has the clubs closing early. だめ！oh well I gotta make the most of it some how. Now that I think about it I actually should have stayed and kicked it more with them but I got Yamagami's business card as well as Rootdown records and that will be my connect when I return. As our music played I started to feel as though I should really have my own personal project to push. Unfortunately I had put all my energy into DJ Dewey's project and he wasn't even here to promote it himself. It's all good, I have to work with what I have. I say my farewells and proceed to hit up Boon Coon Records and VOX Records. I toss my mixtape to them and meet more DJs who did events in Boston but no longer listen to Hiphop (>_<) by the time I'm ready to hit King Kong records I realize I am almost out of mixtapes. Dam the thought of going to other cities and passing the mixtape around has just hit a brick wall. I go to King Kong and talk to the same dude I met yesterday and I think he was expecting me to give him like 20 copies but I only had like 6 left and gave it all to him. Well you live and learn and know to be more prepared next time. That sounds like a fortune cookie...

P.S. I probably should have taken a shit load of photos of this dynamic area but I left the camera charger in Fukuoka (>_<)

P.S.S. Heres an uncut version of DJ Dewey & Crew music video "It's My Time To Shine"

Keep it 元気