R.I.P. Nujabes

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Nujabes

Sad news, dope Japanese Hip Hop producer Nujabes passed away last month, Nujabes born Jun Seba was tragically killed in a car accident,

Nujabes Died in Car Accident, Confirms Label

Nujabes (born Jun Seba), a Japanese hip-hop producer, was killed in a car accident in Tokyo. Nujabes crashed when leaving the Metropolitan Expressway in Tokyo's Minato Ward.

Nujabes was 36 years old when he died. The car crash that killed Nujabes took place on February 26, 2010, the same day a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck off the coast of Japan. Nujabes' death was only publicly confirmed by Hydeout Productions and by his friend and collaborator, Shing02, today; he was buried by his family in a private ceremony.

Nujabes: Producer and Scenemaker

Nujabes was the founder of Hydeout Productions, as well as the owner of two Tokyo record stores, Guinness Records and T Records. Nujabes (who came by his artistic name by spelling his real name backwards) also contributed music to the anime Samurai Champloo, an anachronistic tale mixing samurai lore and modern hip-hop culture.

Nujabes on last.fm

Nujabes was a private person, and so many, even those who worked closely with him, did not know he had died. The common Internet death rumors did not make it to the English-speaking web, and this is a rare case in which an artist's actual death notice preceded the rumors.

I am pretty sure I first heard of Nujabes in late 99 or sometime in 2000 when he dropped "People Don't Stray" with Funky DL, and the production really captured me, I followed what he did from then on, but it was his great Metaphorical Music album released in 2003, that made me really value him as a producer, his style was smooth, laid back and very soulful, the follow up album Modal Soul released in 2005 was very good as well, as was his Samurai Champoo contributions, especially Departure which featured the beautiful "Mystline", consisting of a very moving piano sample and a dope sample also used by DJ Premier (see if you can guess which one)



Nujabes also worked with Cise Star and Akin of Cyne, Pace Rock, CL Smooth, Apani B, Five Deez, L-Universe, Substantial* and Shing02 (to name a few) and produced some great music with them...










*=In fact Substantial, released a recording of his verses over the instrumentals of Samurai Champloo in 2009




Thank you to Shingo2, for sharing the information of Nujabes passing, R.I.P. Nujabes, thank you for the great and timeless music.