I wanted a reaction to my music.
What exactly did you learn at the university?
DAICHI:At first, I learned the basics of how to think. We learned not only about design and art, but also about the concept of expression, and from there, we explored what we wanted to do. Because of this freedom of learning, some students became not only artists, but also photographers, video directors, architects, and fashion designers. Some people even went on to become photographers, film directors, architects, or fashion designers, or even to combine photography and architecture. However, for me, for the first two years or so, it was difficult to decide what I wanted to do! I was not able to decide what I wanted to do for the first two years. However, I felt that there was no need to rush, so I decided to try creating my own music, which I had loved since I was a student, as a change of pace. I was uploading tracks and raps to SoundCloud that were not yet complete works of art, or rather, tracks and raps that I had made just to see how they sounded. Then, in the winter of my sophomore year of college, I started creating interactive installations using sound.
So, you started your career as a player little by little. Incidentally, the SoundCloud sound files that DAICHI released around that time crossed the ocean and reached discerning listeners and music industry people here in Japan as well, and became a secret topic of conversation. I also thought that the reason why you chose SoundCloud was because you are a digital native of your generation.
DAICHI:Yes, SoundCloud was the mainstream service for unknown artists to release their music in the UK at the time, but there were very few people around who liked hip-hop, so I wanted to get reactions to my music. I wanted a reaction to my music, and it was important to me that it was not from friends, but from a third party who would not give me compliments.
Were you making beats and rapping at the same time?
DAICHI:Yes, that's right. My main focus was on rapping, but I taught myself how to make beats, just to try out what I was interested in. As I was doing these activities, I began to work on connecting music and art at school, and somehow I began to see what I wanted to do.
Do you have a vision of what you want to do after graduation?
DAICHI:I was vaguely thinking about joining a music production company, a sound engineering company, or even a performing arts company. . I also wanted to work as an artist, but at the time I didn't know where to start. I had once considered finding a job in order to find a clue, but that didn't work out so well either. So, in parallel with job hunting, I contacted artists I liked at the time, such as jjj and Olive Oil, directly and asked them to listen to my music.
What was the reaction?
DAICHI:They were interested in my sound source, which was completely unknown and in a foreign country, and both of them introduced me to various people. If you want to release your music, I can connect you with someone at a label, or introduce you to an artist with similar sensibilities," they said. When I felt the wheels of things starting to move in this way, I thought for the first time that I might be able to make music my profession.
You had already decided to join Jazzy Sport at that time.
DAICHI:I am not sure how he found out about me, but when I was in the midst of my job search, Masato, who is in charge of A&R at Jazzy Sport, contacted me out of the blue and said, "Would you like to meet with me once? He said, "Would you like to meet with me? He said, "Would you like to meet with me? I met Masato-san in Kyoto on the day I returned from London, and we talked about a lot of things, and on the way home he said, "Let's release an album together someday. Maybe he had heard about it from jjj or Olive Oil or KOJOE, who were working on it at the same time, but I was happy at that time.
It is amazing that JAZZY SPORT made you an offer when you had almost no experience in Japan, isn't it? Did you start your career as an artist officially after that?
DAICHI:. yes, I did. We started by making the lead single for the album and producing songs with Aaron Choulai and The Nostalgia Factory, who were close friends of ours. . There was a big change in the environment for production, as up to that point I had been doing everything by myself and could only communicate with them remotely. And above all, it was a valuable experience for me to closely observe the attitude toward music of 5lack and KOJOE, who were in charge of Masato's project. They are all stoic and sincere about music.
