Singing Much Lower in The First RecordingーーSecret Story Behind Character Song Recording
ーーPlease tell us about your impression when recording Jyuto’s『Bayside • Smoking Blues』and Riou’s『What’s My Name?』
Komada Because『Bayside • Smoking Blues』has slow tempo and calm piano tunes in it, I was surprised when listening to it and found out that it has such an adult taste.
Kamio We thought that Yokohama songs will be all scrappy.
Komada Because Jyuto did something like leaping when he rap, in this calm calm sounds, I thought about how will I keep Juto’s personality alive, so I mentally prepared to handle unexpected things to be able to tackle any kind of taste expected in recording. It’s unusual for Yokohama’s tune, but I could sang the melody properly. And for some reason why did my song have no Samatoki and Riou interjecting! That’s why I have “I’m a lonely only RABBIT” lyrics in there. Certainly when I think about it, I really am only lonely rabbit (lol).
Kamio it was for the sake of bringing out cuteness.
Komada I think it was new to bring out mellow taste in my first solo. It’s interesting that I felt like I didn’t put his image together.
Kamio Juto song also felt like his shadow, right? At first, I thought that it was a song before he met Samatoki and Riou.
Komada I also think like that. But I heard that the three of Yokohama personel was the strongest that met by chance. Even without including the scene in all lyrics, I think it’s a good content to arouse fans’ imagination.
Kamio Yeah you don’t have to answer all of the stories. Let’s just take it slowly.
Komada How about『What’s My Name？』party tune then?
Kamio I thought that Samatoki and Jyuto’s songs has introduction in it, so at the moment when I listened to mine I was like, eh, is this introduction? (Lol). It’s not overdoing it, right? There are this “Samatoki, Jyuto, Riou de cooking” lyrics in the last part, but I thought that “I guess I just want to say it” (lol). Also, I can do call and response with the guests if I sang it in live, but when sang it at karaoke it just felt lonely…….
Komada (laughs)
Kamio Actually I sang much lower when I was recording for the first time. Compared to Riou’s recent voice,『What’s My Name？』has higher key because I interpreted it as the Riou before he met Samatoki and Jyuto, thus I made my voice slightly higher.
ーーDid you decide about how to sing and other things on the spot then?
Kamio Yes. After we talked on the spot, I decided to sing a bit higher with that image. The first “Salute! (Keirei!)” and “survival cooking” part was unexpected, it got corrected a lot on recording.
Komada Isn’t it cute!
Kamio you can also take various meaning from『What’s My Name？』remarks. As it has “Say my name” meaning, it can also means “the last thing you heard is my name” or “I will kill you”. I think it’s a good song as you can interpret it variously.
ーーWhich part do you think is Yokohama’s characteristic in rap?
Kamio In the recent song Samatoki-sama inserted an ad-lib in English, Komada-kun personally can speak English, and Riou is a half-blood. I think Yokohama’s strong typical sense will be “ability to deal with languages“. Also the lyics reeks of blood (lol).
Komada It’s sharp and dirty, isnt’t it? Ikebukuro’s rap is passionate, while ours seems to crush you before it gets hot. The word choice is rough.
Kamio Yeah, it has radical feelings on it.
Komada That’s cool, because it has this crackling feelings that you can’t use such vocabs for another contents. Like, it’s not simple and plain “I will beat you!” but instead it seems like “I will destroy you shitass!”……scary (lol). I think Yokohama is the only Division that will make you think they’re simply scary.
Kamio Looks like “Strong Yokohama (physical)”.
Komada Right, right! (Laughs). They are physically strong.
Kamio And “Strong Shinjuku (mental)” yeah? Ikebukuro and Yokohama is physical, Shinjuku and Shibuya is mental type when fighting, isn’t it?
Komada Ikebukuro is fellow brothers that protect each other, their dis has retort feeling on it, but Yokohama has this fearful feeling of solely threatening their opponent’s life. I think we are that kind of team. But even though they are such a dangerous team, when the three of them are together, they are rather fluffy.
Kamio Mom (Jyuto) is so hectic.
Komada Samatoki don’t do that! Riou, don’t catch the mouse! Like that.
Kamio I think it’s a division with troubled mom (lol)
Komada They’re naturally difficult to deal with! Soon I will be making the meal. Moreover, I can’t escape from the most physically strong one (lol). Jyuto’s height, although it’s 181cm, he is the smallest in there.
Kamio Our team’s height is weird, but Jakurai-sensei from Shinjuku is beyond that.
Komada Jakurai-sensei is so big! (lol).
Rap Gets Better The More You Do It
ーーDo both of you originally listen to rap often?
Kamio I didn’t listen to Japanese HipHop much, but as a kid I listened to American West Coast-style rap in the car.
Komada I also listen to rap. Because HipHop culture is more popular in foreign countries than in Japan. Even in downtown and music shops, rap songs was common to be heard. When I was in Germany, Eminem was in his golden age so it’s usual to listen to him, then with friends trying to imitate the songs. It was quite familiar. I certainly didn’t imagine to be involved in rap like this.
Kamio It’s very hard to rap through a character.
Komada It is!
Kamio Isn’t rap originally to hit your opponent with your own thought? That’s why when you rap as a character, if you sang without understanding the character, your words won’t reach the other party. Therefore now, more than in the begining, we were able to gave off Riou and Jyuto’s words in freestyle (Note 2).
Komada Rapping is easier to do than before. In recordings we had lyrics, so we can overlook personal thoughts or setting beforehand, but in freestyle or NicoNama Lyrics Match Battle there were no script provided.
Kamio We are not rappers (lol).
Komada Failure and shameful situations were also there! In the end, people who do HipHop are not only spreading rap by recording, but there are also some people who did monologue rap by themself, and most of them are vigorously doing freestyle. That’s why I treat rap as more than a content, as I want to beat out the rhymes (Note 3) naturally and try doing freestyle. I’m sure Kimura Subaru-kun will say the same.
ーーDid Kimura-san gave you any dirrections?
Kamio Although the rap lyrics that appear in audio drama was written by Cola Bintarou-san (※Kimura Subaru-san’s pen-name), I felt nervous because he watched us from behind when recording.
Komada Kimura-kun is a songwritter and actor, so he really understands. He did not say what should we do from the begining.
Kamio With short of feeling like “is it okay if I do it first?”, I got praised like “amazing. Really into the vibes!” When I did it.
Komada He said “you don’t have to stand” to calm me down (lol). From there it feels like fine tuning, with him dirrecting each point accurately. Because I think that our rap is steadily improved, there is also a thought about re-recording our first song once again.
Kamio It will be good if you can think about it as character growth, but it’s a bit frustating, isn’t it? I think that the more I rap, the better I became.
Komada It’s not singing-by-the-lyrics kind of feeling anymore.
Kamio We can say words as words. It’s also possible to do rap as an ordinary people.
ーーDo you want to try to write lyrics as well?
Komada I’m interested. There are no difference in creating lyrics, whether its for recording or freestyle.
Kamio For me, I write quite much. When a NicoNama got announced was also good to make 8 bars lyrics and send it. Not all rappers sing by improvising, some of them prepare a pattern beforehand, or thinking about cool phrase to use. On Riou’s birthday, 21th June, I also thought about lyrics for that occasion. (※Editor’s Note/Please check Kamio-san’s Twitter for the actual lyrics!)
Komada That’s amazing.
Kamio But when the music plays, you wouldn’t be able to utter it.
Komada I know that feel ~ extremely flustered, right? But depends on whether you prepare or not beforehand, I think the words that propmptly come out will be different.
Toward The 2nd LIVEーーThe Only Thing We Will Bring is Physical Streght!
ーーFor NicoNama “Lyrics Match Battle”, how long did you have to prepare in advance?
Kamio The listeners’ lyrics are continuously brushing up, and I think it was amazing each time. The amount that was sent also amazing. They were as thick as Town Page.
Komada Kamio-san got a lot of entries from the guests, and it has increased further in my turn since then, I guess everyone was doing a lot of writings (lol). They deliberately wrote the character in proper way, I’m deeply moved.
Kamio I read everything beforehand, and since everyone write with a lot of energy, reading them also used a lot of energy. When I went to『HypMic』location, the appointed time was already in for quite a while.
ーーHow was your impression about doing rap for the first time in front of guests at the CD release event on 21st January?
Kamio As expected, it felt nice when you got reactions from the Live guests.
Komada But at that time the guests were still perplexed. We didn’t even know 100% how to enliven the venue. There was no waving penlight, so in that sense, how can we stir up excitement, and how the guests also exploring for solutions of that matter was fascinating. Next time we do it, it will be more enthralling, and I want you to shout “gyaa gyaa”!
Kamio It’s “pow pow powー”. I want everyone to stand and raise their hand, and also wearing goods. Absolutely exciting.
ーーThen lastly, please tell us about the excitement of 2nd LIVE that will be held on 26th August.
Kamio The other day HypMic members went to have champagne tower at KaraTetsu (Note 4). There was a stage at the karaoke so we sung 『WAR WAR WAR』and it’s like a mock battle with Ikebukuro.
Komada Subaru-kun was standing at the middle and the song flows……then we just sang!
Kamio Because Amasaki-kun was not there, Jiro’s VA Ishiya-kun was the one singing. It was fun to go up on stage, going face to face with your opponent, and throw lyrics at each others. The adults around were all excited.
Komada it will definitely be fun if the live has that short of feelings.
Kamio Absolutely won’t regret it.
Komada The members for 2nd LIVE won’t be all, but it will be my first time doing live with 11 person of the big family, I really am looking forward to see what will happen. I think our tension will really went up, so it will be good if the guests excitedly shout “powpow” without hesitation.
Kamio The only thing we will bring is physical streght!
Summary
As shown above, we have delivered an interview with Jyuto Iruma’s cast, Komada Wataru and Busujima Mason Riou’s cast, Kamio Shinichiro. We were able to hear deep talk about the characters and rap, as well as their good relationship with each others regulary in pleasant atmosphere. Also, look forward to the result of win or lose from『Battle Season』that will take place in 2nd LIVE in 26th August!
(Note 2) Improvise rap according to the music that DJ plays.
(Note 3) Rhyme or rhyming in rap lyrics.
(Note 4) One of the collaboration menu with Karaoke no Tetsujin. It’s Izanami Hifumi from Shinjuku • Division song image, Champagne Tower can be ordered.
RB’s Notes:
- The 1st recording Kamiosan mentioned was probably Division Rap Batte – Division All Stars but I’m no expert in voice tone so….
- The Introductions probably refers to Samatoki’s “Samatoki-sama on the microphone” and Jyuto’s “Illmatic Iruma Jyuto”
- Town Page is Japanese phone book and KaraTetsu is a Karaoke parlour. The links is just self note no need to open it.
- But Kamiosan ones are important. Click it !!!
- Ok I will stop rambling there are probably 90% of mistakes in there excuse me…
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