One issue that I’d like to avoid in my work analysing Tokona’s work is ‘sample snitching’. DJ Premier has previously called out people who put out mixtapes of the original works and pictures of hip-hop artists who ‘sampled’ the original and also given his opinion on bloggers who reveal samples in his music. Continue reading
Perhaps one of the problems with talking about T-X and proclaiming him as one of the best Japanese rappers, is his relatively small body of (solo) work. When ranking the greatest rappers, you must think about not only their ability, but also the amount of times and how consistently they show that ability. Continue reading
Is it Akemi Kakihara (柿原朱美) that takes the starring role in Tokona’s video ‘Let Me Know Ya’ along with Klassy Nikoff? I watched the video after a long time of only listening to the track. The song itself seemed to be Tokona talking to a girl, trying to ‘chat her up’ and the video turned out to be the visual representation of this. What I didn’t count on discovering is the identity of the girl in the video. Continue reading
When I went to live in Japan, I could only understood basic things in Japanese. After my four years living there, I still can only understand basic things. When I left England, I stopped listening to the music I’d enjoyed in England; the most I’d done was try to rap along at Karaoke, but I soon stopped that!
On my return to England, I listened back to the Japanese tracks I had loved, but with a new perspective. Naturally, I started to think about the lyrics of Tokona-X’s album Tokai X Teio. I wondered about the deeper meanings I was missing and how long it would take me to uncover them. Continue reading
The coming year will be the 10th since Tokona-X left the world without showing us everything he could do. I expect there will be some special events in Nagoya to mark the occasion. I’ll be on the look out for anything scheduled and be sure to write about it here. Continue reading
Tokona-X was born on 20/10/78. He died on 22/11/04. For me, those two dates are very important. Not as important as they are to his friends and family. The love and joy felt by his parents when he was born. The pain and anguish felt by everyone close to him when he died. Continue reading