My second "Otakool" column is in today's Japan Times. This one is about legendary from MySpace-to-Japan rapper KOKUJIN TENSAI ("Black Genius"). The interview is here.
Also, the hard copy is pretty hilarious. Pics of Quentin Tarantino, Kokujin Tensai, and me all on the same page...basically the three best arguments against ever becoming interested in Japan!
I like how direct and up-front he is about how his entire goal and motivation in all of this through every step of the way is to "live the dream."
Living the dream has been in style since Woody Allen and Donald Rumsfeld, but the recent emergence of a new breed of dreamseekers embodied by Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Bob Sapp, Afro Samurai, Kokujin Tensai, and (eventually) Mike Dent have put a new twist in things. I almost wrote "put a new slant in things," but that would be a crass faux-pas since it's the other way around.
Posted by: Daryl Surat | August 16, 2007 at 07:06 AM
man, after reading about Kokujin Tensai, you'd think this guy is a bit smarter than to go back to old stereotypes and calling his album "clubz thugz sex drugz."
btw, the link on the bottom of your article to kokujin tensai's myspace page is bad.
Posted by: donelly duck eclair | August 16, 2007 at 12:32 PM
I've heard this argument before...
Sorry, but isn't "clubz thugz sex drugz" what hip hop is largely about these days?
Posted by: patrick macias | August 16, 2007 at 12:45 PM
"clubz thugz sex drugz" is what it has been about for years, to the point of being old fashioned.
I'm waiting for a black rap satirist to come along and poke fun at the whole scene through rap. Heck they may be out there, I wouldn't know unless Patrick reports on it.
Gilles - proud to live in Oakland - Poitras
Posted by: Gilles Poitras | August 16, 2007 at 03:28 PM
Yes, perhaps he should have called it "Bookz, Learning, Respect, and Social Progrezz"
Kokujin! Transform! Rap!
Posted by: Some Guy | August 16, 2007 at 10:37 PM
READ A BOOK, READ A BOOK, READ A @#$@%%! BOOK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWqa7cbdOC8
Posted by: Daryl Surat | August 17, 2007 at 06:29 AM
Speaking of books, I see Patrick is now doing book reviews for the Japan Times, too:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fb20070819a2.html
Posted by: Brian Ruh | August 18, 2007 at 06:07 PM
I wonder if this was the dude from TN who Emailed me asking about rap and being Black and being in Japan?
Ya know, this cat may have been the first to actually make this happen with some monetary success (I have seen a couple of horrid MCs from the states based in Japan), but there's a certain BBS populated by guys with a similar dream with the same inspiration.
Gilles, mainstream rap has been in a state of self-parody for around a decade. K West (not the AV director) seems to be the only popular artist to have grasped this, yet he does little with it. A rapper satirizing rap would be treated like Shane Black was for writing THE LAST ACTION HERO.
Posted by: Gandalf Mantooth | October 06, 2007 at 12:35 AM