Product 1_ Designed by TEITO
ABOUT
Born in 1993, he moved to Brazil at the age of 15, where he spent his high school years. After that, he entered Bunka Fashion College and started graphic design. Currently, he designs and directs his own brand "BoTT" and also provides designs for other brands.
Instagram:@teitohasemi33
Friend of TEITO --- kZm (rapper)
PROFILE
Born in 1994 in Shibuya. In 2018, "Dream Chaser feat. BIM" from his 1st Album was a smash hit. Riding on the momentum of the smash hit "Dream Chaser feat. BIM" from his first album released in 2018, his second album "Distortion" released in 2020, reached No. 1 on the Apple Music chart, showing his success beyond the HipHop scene. A member of Tokyo's leading collective "YENTOWN," he has also garnered attention for his virtual live performances and collaborations with VERDY, the creator of "Girls Don't Cry.
Instagram:@kzm9393
The others are interviewing your friend alone, but this time we will be interviewing TEITO at his home, so he will be joining us. How long have you two been working together?
TEITO: That was about 8 years ago, so I was about 19 years old. I went to a block party in Harajuku with a friend from a crew called YouthQuake, with whom I was making T-shirts and having fun, and kZm was there. I was into cameras at the time, so I asked him to be a model, and we started having fun together.
kZm: At that time, I was a kid in town, not yet formed as a musician.
Did you often hang out in Harajuku?
kZm: If there was anything going on, I was in Harajuku, or even if there was nothing going on, I was there. The people I work and hang out with now, I already knew from back then. Luckily, all my old friends have become top-notch, and now we are able to work together.
Please tell us about the design of this shirt, Mr. TEITO.
TEITO: Recently, I have been doing a lot of client work, and all I have done is to conform to the client's wishes, but this time, since I was participating as an artist, I wanted to do something that I liked. I liked old punk flyers, so I used that image. Incidentally, there is also a basketball graphic as another design.
I asked kZm to wear the item, and I thought he was going to wear it loose like a hip-hop person.
kZm: These days, I don't wear oversized clothes very often. I'm a good age, so I don't wear anything with a very unconventional silhouette (laughs). On the subject of punk, I don't really listen to punk music, but I do like its attitude.
kZm, not only in the way you dress, but also in your musical style, which is not limited to hip-hop.
kZm: The axis is hip-hop, but rappers today can mix rave culture, house culture, and everything else. I think my role is to broaden the base of hip-hop, and that is why I feel that I am free to do so.
What do you do on a regular basis to write lyrics?
kZm: If there is a good line in a drama or movie, I write it down and use it as the basis for a lyric, or I go somewhere with friends and base it on their memories. I often write like a diary of the fun I had at a playground. Last summer, I went to Nagano for field recording. We built a booth outside to record, and some flows that don't usually come out came out.
That's interesting. What do you want to do when Corona converges?
kZm: I would like to do a one-man show, which I have not been able to do yet. I would also like to do something together with some cool people. It doesn't matter if they are not rappers or in a band or anything as long as they are cool. I think that is the modern form.
Is it in your nature to cross over into other fields?
kZm: I think it is also my character of not dividing myself. Also, hip-hop is the most popular pop culture in the world right now. So I think it is time to expand in this way at least once. I want to incorporate and enjoy the music without dividing it into different genres. Music is made up of not only songs but also flyers, costumes, videos, and many other things. I am blessed to have many friends around me who are involved in such design and video work, and TEITO is one of them. TEITO is one of them. So I hope we can work together in the future.
