Halca + Yucali = HalCali– simple. The female duo exploded onto the Japanese scene in 2003, with the single “Tandem” which entered the Oricon Charts (think Japanese Billboard) at #19. In 2008, 5 years later, HalCali made their U.S. concert debut… about a week and a half ago. While neither Halca nor Yucali is old enough to drink a beer in the States, the two decided to sit down (read: email via a translator) with Flight 808 and talk about their music, fashion endeavors, and future.

Tommy: You just had your first concerts a few days back. How does performing in the U.S. differ from performing in Japan? Did you enjoy it? Were you at all uneasy?

Halca: At first, I felt uneasy with how many people would come to the venue, and if they would respond to us in a good way. However, the result is that audience liked the music and came to the venue with joy. It’s a universal situation regardless of countries. One thing I was delighted about is that American people responded to us and expressed their feelings very clearly.

Yucali: I’ve performed in France before. Overall, audiences overseas are very quick in response. So, I really enjoy performing overseas. Rather than feeling uneasy, I feel excited.

Tommy: Have you been here before? If not, what about our culture has caught you off guard so far?

Halca: Nothing.

Yucali: I’ve been to Hawaii for pleasure.

Tommy: You both got started in the music industry very early on, in your early teenage years. As you’ve gone through such a formative time, how has your sound and style changed? How is Halcali in 2008 different from Halcali in 2003?

Halca: It has 6 years since we debuted, so some changes must have happened. However, it’s not easy to express with words. It should be natural that we changed our musical tastes during those years. However, our policy is to create enjoyable music, so we feel the same as ever.

Yucali: When we debuted, we’re 15 years old and knew nothing. So, I felt our adult staff created and produced us like a toy. Currently, we enjoy being HALCALI. Music style is same as ever and doing music activity freely based on HIP HOP. Our motto is ‘HALCALI and producers create happy music”.

Tommy: Your music videos are absolutely incredible, especially to a viewer like me who is most familiar with American music videos. They look supremely fun to make. What is the most enjoyable or memorable experience you’ve had in shooting a video?

Halca: Shooting video clip is one of the most favorite sessions, so I’m very happy to hear that you liked them. I feel most impressive with the video shooting for “Strawberry Chips”. It was hard to forget because I was wrapped with raw whip cream. Also I felt interesting with Christmas-like costume.

Yucali: We’re doing choreography by ourselves, so video clip means a lot to us in showing our songs. Choreography is created based on meaning of lyrics, so we’re happy if you notice them. It’s very difficult to choose the most favorite clip, but ‘Tandem’ and ‘Marching March’ are my favorites.

Tommy: In your lyrics, you’ve referenced Eminem, Slick Rick, and Public Enemy, to name a few. Who are your favorite American hip-hop artists?

Halca: Missy Elliott, Beastie Boys, etc.

Yucali: Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Missy Elliott, etc.

Tommy: Who are your biggest musical influences in Japan?

Halca: RIP SLYME

Yucali: RIP SLYME, Schadara Parr

Tommy: Recently, you have been featured in fashion magazines. Do you have plans to continue with fashion or pursue any other ventures apart from your music?

Yucali: It’s very much enjoyable to wear different type of clothes and be shot on fashion/culture magazines, so we would like to continue it.

Halca: We really enjoy it, so if we have opportunities in the future, we would like to do it.

Tommy: What’s next for HalCali? Another album? A tour?

Yucali: Hopefully we’ll perform in France, release new album by the end of this year or ealry next year at the latest. So, we’re currently working on recording. Please look forward to it!

Halca: Please check our homepages: HalCali.Com & HalCali MySpace

Currently, we’re working on new songs, though release date is yet to be fixed. Hope we’ll perform again soon in the U.S.

An underground hero in Japan, Shin-Ski has made beats for some of your favorite U.S. MCs. Patrick, our resident Japanese head and translator, sat down with the man himself to discuss the Japanese Hip-Hop scene, the technicalities of working with foreign MCs, and of course his own influences and upcoming projects. Don’t forget to enjoy the videos, mp3, and weekend!

Patrick: Shin-ski, what’s up? This is Patrick from www.flight808.com. I want to start off this interview by saying Happy New Year. So, do you have any projects in the coming year?

Shin-Ski: Happy New Year! 2008 will be a great year hopefully. I am currently working on two new projects. One is a compilation of remixes that I did in the last 4years. This compilation will have some new remixes of CL Smooth, Zimbabwe Legit, and some exclusive joints as well! It will be released in March 2008. The other one is the new ShinSight trio album. I already have all the beats ready, and Sight is writing rhymes right now! We only have one song done at the moment. We are very amped about how it came out already! We all think that this album is going to be a classic album! We are looking at the release of Sep. or Nov. 2008. Oh, and also we are working on the official release of the first ShinSight album in the US and Europe, too.

Patrick: 2007 gave us some phenomenal releases. What were some of your personal faves?

Shin-Ski: I have to say I wasnt really listening to Hiphop music last year. But Common’s LP was really great; so was Kanye West’s. I really think Kayne is building a brilliant bridge between Major and Underground. Other than Hiphop I was listening to a lot of House music. All the singles from Freerange were really impressive and I spun them a lot in clubs.

Patrick: Do you have any predictions for next year? (New artists to look out for, artists who may fall off, artists that are going to make a comeback, etc)

Shin-Ski: Well its not really a prediction, its rather my hope. I really want Masta Ace and Krs-One to make a big come back! I hear stories about them here and there, and seems like they are making great albums (not sure if its true or not) so that will be my best wish for 2008!

Patrick: In July of 2006, you released Shallow Nights Blurry Moon alongside Insight and DJ Ryow. How did you three hook up? What was the recording process like?

Shin-Ski: Well I met Sight while I was in Boston 2002. I did the whole interludes for Electric LP, and since then we been working together through many projects. I met Ryow in 2003 when I came back from States, and we have done many projects together. Shinsight started as two men group (me and Sight), but I really wanted to have top notch DJ in the group, so I asked Ryow if he was interested in doing all the cuts on the LP. And he was down. I guess it’s pretty simple how we got together. We respect what we do on our own, and thought we could make a miracle. Thats how the group started.
The whole recording process was done over internet and thousands of phone calls. Basically I sent him whatever beats that I had, and Sight picked the ones that he liked, and rhymed over them, and sent them back to me. I take those beats to Ryow’s house, and he did the cuts. After cuts are done I took them home and did the final arrangement, then Boom! LP was done!

mp3: “Shinsight Trio–”Early Dayz Amazement”

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Patrick: What challenges did you guys face while making the album? Were there cultural differences or language barriers that made it difficult?

Shin-Ski: Well we didn’t find any difficulties cuz we’d been working together for so long that we each know that how the others want the music to sound. It wasn’t that hard.

Patrick: You’re other album, Shattered Soul on a Pastel Sky, dropped last July. First off, tell me where you got the inspiration for the name?

Shin-Ski: Well the shattered soul came from the state of mind that I felt living in Tokyo. When I just came back from the States, I had very strong rules about music that I made, such as this-has-to-be-this and that-has-to-be-that kinda thing. But while living in Tokyo, those rules became blurry in good ways and bad ways. I felt like my soul was shattered in pieces; and Pastel sky came from Tokyo’s sky. The sky is always in pastel colors because of clouds and the reflection of neon lights, so the title is kinda referring to my life in Tokyo.

Patrick: The guest list on the album is impressive. You have Louis Logic, Dagha, Apani B Fly MC, Time Machine, The Procussions, and others. How did you hook up with all these artists and what was it like working with them? Was there any reason you went with primarily Western MCs rather than using local talent?

Shin-Ski: Basically, I wanted to have artists that I had worked with before. Most of the MCs that are on the LP are MCs that I did remixes for, produced for, or met in person. Most importantly, they are friends. It was pretty easy to hook up with them. I just sent them an e-mail and they all were down to do songs. The reason I only went with western MCs is because I felt much more comfortable working with them, rather than working with local talent. Not that there aren’t any good MCs in Japan. There are tons whose talent I admire, but I started my career working with western MCs, so it was pretty natural that I went with them.

Patrick: Are there any other artists―inside or outside of Japan―you’d like to collab with?

Shin-Ski: Yeah, tons! Outside, I really wanna collab with legends like Lord Finesse, The Beatnuts, Masta Ace, and many more. Also, I wanna do some collaborations with fantastic singers such as Raul Midon, Heather Headley, and many more. Inside of Japan, I really wanna produce a full length R&B album with a new talent that no one knows yet. I am looking for one right now.

Patrick: I understand you went to UMass and spent some significant time in the US. How do you think the US hip hop scene differs from the one in Japan?

Shin-Ski: Well, the mind is very similar, but the big difference is that a lot of people in Japan don’t understand the lyrics so they tend to listen to beats more than rhymes. So sometimes, I hear a wack rhyme over a beautiful beat. That is a very sad moment for me. I really believe that beautiful music has equal power in rhymes and beats.

Patrick: What are the advantages or disadvantages of being a Japanese producer making beats for artists outside of Japan?

Shin-Ski: Hmm… I guess it takes a lot of time to get to known by audiences outside of Japan, but that’s the only disadvantage that I feel at the moment. Other than that, I don’t have anything to complain about. It’s a good country to make good music, even though the social system is fucked up. Oh well, I guess it’s same everywhere (LOL).

Patrick: You’ve cited some great producers as an influence―DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Showbiz, Madlib, Erick Sermon, and Diamond D among others. What do you do to differentiate yourself from other producers? How do you come up with a sound that is uniquely your own?

Shin-Ski: That’s a tough question… Well, I think my influences are from not only producers such as above, but also from other genres of dance music, and even rock or classic. Also, I see music in colors and I try to paint my music bluish. If you think my music differs from others, then I guess I have succeeded in making my own sound. But to be honest, I really don’t know (LOL). The only thing that I can say is that I don’t make compromises for my music. That’s it.

Patrick: If you could remix any album, hip hop or not, which album would you choose?

Shin-Ski: Well, I really wanna do a Nuyorican Soul album!!! That’s my biggest influence in dance music. And also if I could, I really wanna do one of Prince’s albums, especially one with the New Power Generation!

In the interest of bringing quality material, and somewhat constrained by the fact that I don’t know a word of Japanese, for this update we won’t dig as deep, and instead we’ll bring you some tracks and videos from one of Japan’s classic hip-hop groups, Buddha Brand. Hopefully, this is all new to you anyways and you’ll enjoy an overview of Japanese hip-hop. If not, enjoy anyways because this is high quality stuff.

Formed in the late 80’s in Brooklyn, Buddha Brand is NIPPS, DJ Master Key, CQ and Dev Large. When they returned to Japan, they started playing out shows and laying down records – almost entirely in EP and single formats. From ’96 to ’00, they established themselves as one of the top groups in Japanese hip-hop (perhaps second only to the Nitro Microphone Underground), bringing a style that often stayed in the rubric of jazzy turntablism which was popular, and integrating gangsta lyricism and flow. Just to get the “Japanese Wu-Tang” comparison out of the way now, the “Illmatic Buddha MC’s” (like the Clan) collaborate with each other and continue to do their thing today even as the band itself doesn’t release records anymore. Equally influential in their home country, one can only hope they’ll make their own 8 Diagrams.

NIPPS, who had his recent solo release “God Bird” on Universal, paired up with DL and another J-rap veteran Muro on this video. Though it’s not characteristic of the band’s material (or NIPPS’ for that matter), it’s just so funky I can’t not share it with you guys. Fros? Check. Fine video chicks? Check. Straightforward but conceptual psychedelic visuals? Check.

Meanwhile, Dev Large is currently working solo on Sony Japan. Near the end of 2006 he released Admonitions: featured on the album was this track he cut with bandmate NIPPS returning the guest-vocals favor:

And since you got the real meat and potatoes of the genre, time for dessert. Buddha Brand collaborated with hip-hop/pop/boyband m-flo to record this track, which is probably the hardest m-flo will ever get. Also, it continues the running theme of Space Pimps, a decision I can’t complain about.

mp3: “Dispatch Copy”

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And this video is a seven-minute disco funkfest they performed with the group Shakkazombie – though SZ’s Osumi almost drops the second verse from a lack of breath, “Ookega” has bounce, flow, and is thoroughly old school for any head to enjoy.

See y’all again soon, when we tell you something you don’t know.

About a year and a half ago, a friend of mine sent the tracklisting for some Japanese group called the Teriyaki Boyz. It looked a little something like this:

Track 1: produced by Adrock (of the Beastie Boys)
Track 2: produced by Mark Ronson
Track 3: produced by Daft Punk
Track 4: produced by Dan the Automator
Track 5: produced by Cut Chemist
Track 6: produced by The Neptunes
Track 7: produced by Adrock
Track 8: produced by Cornelius
Track 9: produced by Just Blaze
Track 10: produced by Adrock
Track 11: produced by DJ Premier
Track 12: Produced by DJ Shadow

Um… WHAT!?!? Who the hell are these “Boyz” of such a sweet and saucy marinade? Who funded this project? Why haven’t I heard about it before? About a month ago, I picked up the album (it’s a Def Jam import in the U.S.), and all of my questions were duly answered.

mp3: “HeartBreaker” (prod. Daft Punk)

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The Amazon.com product description of the 2006 LP Beef or Chicken? refers to the project as “a tongue-in-cheek tribute to ‘80s rap.” I don’t think it’s quite that simple. Composed of four Japanese rap stars—Ilamri, Ryo-Z, Verbal, and Wise—the celebrity group was essentially throw together for the promise of a Best-Of-Japan rap album that would take the world by storm. Unfortunately for them, it didn’t.

First of all, I think that most of these beats are throwaways. While throwaway beats by the likes of DJ Premier or The Neptunes are nonetheless fire, there is no sonic cohesion whatsoever on this album. Additionally, such a sound-scape required the Japanese lyricists to dumb down and Americanize their vocals. So while I’d love to hear these guys in their own element, the Teriyaki Boyz record is essentially your standard pop album: ill for the first five listens, slightly wack for all subsequent listens, yet always curiously fun. For the second downloadable track, we’re going to hit you with the DJ Shadow produced and relatively hot “Kamizaze 108.” Probably my favorite cut on the album:

mp3: “Kamikaze 108″

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Ultimately? I can’t hate. A couple of dudes from Japan getting to wyle out and work with producers most upcoming emcees dream of nightly is a beautiful thing. As you may have gleaned from the above image, the Boyz got to work with Kanye West on a single and video in January of this year. It should tide you over until next week. Peace ’til then…

To introduce Japan, we decided against showcasing the artists you are probably familiar with (nothing against DJ Krush, but the dude’s been getting his shine for decades) in favor of Hunger, Mu-R, and Mitsu the Beats – the Jazzy hip-hop trio called Gagle. For the beat-oriented out there, they’ll sound very familiar – the classic-styled drums and near standard samples could almost have come straight out of Brooklyn.

mp3:“RAPWander – DX”

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But the flow and lyrics are without a doubt Japanese. Their tricky rhythms mixed with tag-team hooks reflect the styles picked up when hip-hop first arrived from across the Pacific in the early 80′s. Turntablism found a fresh crowd of technicians willing to spin and scratch, and emcees founded a style that mixed their native Japanese with English shouts and catch phrases.

mp3:“Kuro-fessional MC”

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Gagle, signed to the local label Jazzy Sport, have found success at home, getting their videos major play on MTV Japan and national Zamurai TV. “Get Fresh,” from their debut full length Men On Wax, features a crazy video with stlyized visual effects and bear suits (back when College Dropout was still just a twinkle in ‘Ye’s eye):

2005 Saw them release Big Bang Theory, backed by the single of the same name. Though it’s a change in tone from their other material, you can make your own comparisons:

Their latest effort, 3Peat, dropped earlier this year. Thus begins my quest to track it down at all the vinyl traders in town. See you in a few days.