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Nujabes

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Nujabes was the artist name of Jun Seba, who was born Jun Yamada in Tokyo in 1974. His name is his own surname spelled backwards. His father was an amateur jazz pianist and introduced him to music at an early age. Seba studied design and in 1995 opened a record shop in Shibuya, selling mainly underground hip hop. There he began making beats and pressing them on vinyl. In 1998 he founded the independent label Hydeout Productions.

Music and breakthrough

During his lifetime he released two studio albums: Metaphorical Music in 2003 and Modal Soul in 2005. The third, Spiritual State, appeared in 2011, after his death. In addition, in 2004 he contributed to the music for Shinichirō Watanabe's anime series Samurai Champloo, on the records Departure and Impression. Aruarian Dance, the track School of Rock mentions, also comes from that series. His music is mostly instrumental and atmospheric. He used samples from hip hop, soul and jazz and added elements of trip hop, breakbeat, downtempo and ambient.

Influence

Seba was very private and wanted the attention to go to the music, not to himself. He gave hardly any interviews, and there were so few photos of him that many fans did not know what he looked like. In 2010 he died in a traffic accident, at the age of thirty-six. During his lifetime he remained fairly unknown, but afterwards his reputation grew strongly. He is now called the godfather of lo-fi hip hop, the calm beat music that many people study or work to.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Aruarian Dance. Notice the calm beat and the soft instruments, and how little needs to happen to set a mood.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

Mentioned in other articles

Categories: ArtistsLo-fi hip hop