Heaven [ROSE-235]

Synopsis

Keiichi Sogabe's all-rap hip-hop album, "Heaven," is born! Keiichi Sogabe's first solo album in two and a half years is an all-rap album. A lo-fi and psychedelic world unfolds, with a calm, almost whispering flow soaring over rough, scratchy beats. His passion for sounds from all times and places as a music digger, combined with his poetic side as someone who tries to capture all phenomena with his pen, results in a work that can truly be described as "literature from the cracks of the world" (from track 2, "Literature").

The close-up shot of Senjinsho on the cover of Ollie magazine (June 2018 issue, special feature "POWER of HIP HOP") seemed to say, "You should try it too," and that's what made me want to try rapping myself. Wanting to get closer to hip-hop, I've collaborated with my favorite rappers to create several songs. I made some good songs, but they weren't hip-hop tracks; they were a fusion of rap and rock. While I was somewhat satisfied, there was still a part of me that felt like what I really wanted to do was make hip-hop music. When I was a guest at PUNPEE's live show at Coast (May 26, 2018, Shinkiba STUDIO COAST - PUNPEE Presents “Season Greetings '18”), I was outside after rehearsal when I overheard ISSUGI, who was also a guest, and Masuda from SUMMIT talking. ISSUGI said that monitoring was difficult during rehearsal, and Masuda said that if you can't hear your own voice well, you can ask the PA to turn up the monitor volume, even during the actual performance. "That's hip-hop too," he said. Those words I overheard were a revelation to me, and they pierced my heart like an arrow. I had always believed that hip-hop was the music of tribes. That hip-hop was a means to rescue and strengthen certain communities from within, and that it just so happened to be music. It was a place I longed to enter, but I couldn't bring myself to step into. As a singer, I'm not at all sure if making a rap album "is also hip hop," and I'm not confident about that, but I actually feel quite refreshed. Enough talk, I'd be happy if you'd listen to the music. Finally, here are three hip hop albums I listened to a lot while making this one: Senjinsho's *BOY MEETS WORLD*, Nas's *Nasir*, and Black Thought's *Streams of Thought vol. 1*.

Keiichi Sogabe

Tracklist 1. Small Town Summer Wind 2. Literature 3. Francis Bacon and Eggs 4. The Light ~ About the Brightness Before Dawn 5. Wildness 6. Mixed Night 7. Gravity Garden 8. Summer Solstice 9. Big Yellow 10. The Century of Flowers

Media Reviews and Others

Keiichi Sogabe: A hip hop album with all rap tracks is born! A lo-fi and psychedelic world where a calm, murmuring flow dances over rough, scratchy beats. The fusion of his passion for sounds from all times and places as a music digger and his poetic side, which seeks to capture all phenomena with his pen, has resulted in a work that can truly be called "literature from the cracks of the world" (from M2 "Literature"). (C)RS