-Are there any songs that you like or have special feelings for?

I have feelings for all of them, but I like "Remember", "You Made Me" and "Crown". I also like "F with U", "Watch Out" and "Della Waya".

-Do you have any memories of when you made the song?

Each song brings back different memories. For “Della Waya”, we had to change the beat the day before the recording, and after the recording the data went crashed. For another song, I had to go through some with the artist but in the end we were able to make a good song. Also, recorded "Smoke" with Phonk Gee with the beat I got from PMX was a good memory too. "Shut Up" I featured MaRI was pretty smooth to make. "You Made Me" was made with sampling of Mr. OZ's song "O FIVE TWO". I actually went to meet him in person and asked the story behind. It's different to make a song knowing all the story or not knowing about it and people in Nagoya care about those things so I made it right.

-Things like that are reflected in the sound, and the listeners feel it too.

Well, I think those things are definitely reflected in the song. I didn't want to do the same thing as everyone else, so instead of just making songs, I thought about what I could do to make it my own to make this album.

-By the way, it seems you finally got the 18-inch wheels for your Pontiac. Is the customizing is done?

There are many things I want to tweak still, so it's not done yet. But I’ve come to love it more and feel like it’s mine now.

-I heard that you got the idea of "Ride 4 Life" when you got the car from K-DOG. How did it happen anyway?

When he showed me the Pontiac after we became friends, I told him I would look better with the car. At first he was so upset about it, but later on he really gave it to me, so I thought I'd do something interesting with it.

-Your big show is coming up soon, how are you feeling now?

I’m very busy, with that big show-mode. I don't know what will happen, but I'm looking forward to it. I just want to do it all.

-You have many big name guests.

That's right. If I had done it when "Jungle" was released, it might not have gotten this deep, but I couldn't make it happen because of the pandemic. I have a story to tell so I think it will be fun to show that.

-What kind of night do you think it will be?

I can't imagine, I just focus on everything I can until the last minute. I think the more things I care about, the better it will be. I hope I can put on a great show.

-So what kind of place is Tokoname where your show is being held? Is hip hop culture rooted in the city?

Not so much, unless it’s the birthplace of TOKONA-X, and also many shows and fests were held there. Like, NAMI festival and the first show I did after I was released from prison was there, also rappers like Ice Cube and WC did theirs shows there. So in that sense, there’s history. Even if it is such a place for the people of Nagoya, it’s not well known to people all over the country.

-Why did you choose to do your show there?

It's easy to do in Tokyo. If it were in Tokyo, I think I can gather many people, but after all, being born in Takayama and have been based in Nagoya, it makes sense to do my first big show here. It might be for myself satisfaction, I thought it would be nice to get everyone involved.

-Does it mean you wanna show respect for the hood?

Rather than respect, I just want to do it here. I've been listening to the music of people from Nagoya like AK, RYOW, Mr. OZ, DOPEMAN, and other people here, so wouldn’t it be wrong to do it in Tokyo? If someone asks who the rapper representing Nagoya is now, I think it would be me, so I think I should gather people from all over the country and do it here.

-Then, if you were to pick a song or event that would be a turning point through your career so far, what would it be?

In terms of songs, it would be “Young Tokai Teio”, “We Runnin”, “Bakuto 2020”, “Bussin’”, and “Yessir”.

-What does each of your songs mean to you?

"Young Tokai Teio" is a song that I wrote when I participated in a rap competition, and I became known and begun to get attention as a rapper from Nagoya/Tokai. After I won the championship I made the song "We Runnin" with RYOW for the first time, and also was featured in the song "Bakuto 2020". The members were in the song were SOCKS, AK, Hannya, Mago GONG, R-designated, E”qual, me as the youngest of all so that made me so happy. After that, I was able to do "Bussin'" with AK whom I've been looking out since I was younger, and the song turned out to be really good that everyone knew about. From there, I released my own album and became a hit, especially “Yessir” was really good.

-That's one of your big songs.

The beat was made while I was doing IG live with Tee, I played the melody in the beginning of the song to complete it. By the way, that melody has been played in my head since I started hip hop. Then I put a rap on it and featured Eric.B. For the music video, we decided the location and told everyone to come up and about 50 people came. At that time, Eric was in jail so we wrote "Free EBJ" on a big sign and hold them up. I think the song has hip hop elements in many ways.

-You’ve achieved many things, but what is the happiest moment in your career so far?

It’s that I can be where I am now. In the past, I used to do other work and do music in the spare time, but now I can do only music and make money off of it. Other than that, I've been able to do songs with people like AK, and also good opportunities came through that made me happy, but being able to get in this situation makes me most happy.

-Have you ever felt frustrated? How did you get over it?

My hometown is in the countryside, so before I became famous, people around me kept asking like how long I’m gonna be doing music. Even I didn’t care much about them, I was kind of realistic so I thought about it for some time. But I kept doing because I love music. And recently, there were times when I couldn’t write songs. I think it's because I've written a lot so far, and also I've become able to make a living from music, and have gotten into the Japanese hip hop scene and seen lots of things like what other rappers have been doing so that made me think and it took time to write the songs.

-Did you wait for the song to come when you were in that situation?

Yeah, all I could do is just to wait. Even if it took a long time, I could satisfy with the song then is all good. If not, I don't put it out. It might not be a big deal, but now that I have over 300,000 followers, if I say something like "This pen is a shit", it becomes really shit. Words have a lot of influence and that could be deadly weapons, so I think about the words I use to some extent.

-Are there any songs that you went through a lot of thoughts before you were satisfied?

"You Made Me". I think I'm in the middle of the generations in Japanese hip hop scene now. I could be the youngest with OG, but the oldest in the younger generations so I think there were many things that made me think.

-I guess everyone’s going through it at some point.

I guess so. The music the older guys make and the hip hop of younger guys make are completely different. I grew up listening to the OG’s songs, but now I’m involved with the younger guys too, so I have to tell the younger ones that there will be no them without the OGs. So I’ve been making moves showing respect to the OGs and raises the younger ones. In the States, I think they’re not apart, but in Japan there are such weird things. However, I think the problem lies not with the performers but with the listeners.

-What kind of problem?

What and how they’ve been listening. Some young guy came up to talk to me like and said, he really likes hip hop, so I asked him what he’s been listening to and he said, "You and Mr. Jin Dogg!". I was like shut up and go home lol. There are many such things, so I want to raise the level of listeners.

-How do you raise it?

Using the social media or something. If they really like it, I think they'll dig into it, so I hope I can tell the coolness of hip hop at its core. I would tell the fans when I have a chance to meet them.

-What would you tell them to listen first?

I think every artists has different strength and there are so many good ones, for example, 2 Pac in terms of musicality and Fabolous in terms of the style. So depending what they like, I will kindly tell each one what to listen.

-What is your ideal image of a man?

I don't have someone in particular, but if I take the cool parts of each people and take that in myself, I can become a cool man, so I want to be that person.

-Are there any artists or producers do you wanna work with in the future?

I think that I want to do it with people overseas soon. I’ve became known more now so I wanna take advantage of that and offer it to many artists.

-You said you wanted to work with Scott Storch some day before, is that coming soon?

I don't think so, I need to be in the States first. But I'm not in a hurry, and I think it's all about attracting, so let it happen. If that happens when I’m in 40s, that's what it’s supposed to be. I'd like to work with Dr. Dre, but he might be retired soon, so in that sense I have to hurry.

-What about Japanese artists?

I’d love to do with anyone who’re good whether they’re famous or not. I wouldn't say who.

-Are there any up and coming artists who you’ve been checking?

Yes, there are some. I think the level has risen, so everyone is pretty cool now. But it's not just about music, also who they are. It's difficult if the feeling doesn't match with the person.