Mystline by Nujabes





Battle Cry by Nujabes feat. Shing02





Though I loved what I had heard from the soundtrack of Samurai Champloo I was unaware of what I was really getting myself into. Little did I know that the journey I had just set out on would eventually reshape not just my musical tastes but also my attitude towards life. I voraciously consumed every little shred of music I could find with the name Nujabes attached to it, I don't think I listened to much of anything besides Nujabes for a rather long period of time. Like a car salesman who hasn't tasted success in years I pushed my friends to listen to this music, I wanted to share what I had found, I had to share what I had found. Like some kind of newly converted zealot I felt that it was my duty to spread the word about this absolutely amazing musician I had discovered.





Not long after my obsession became a full blown addiction I heard a snippet of a rumor online that Seba Jun had died. It took a few days for the news to reach the internet due to the extremely private personal life that Nujabes lived but finally a friend and collaborator of Nujabes, Shing02, confirmed that he had indeed been fatally injured in a car crash. Crushed is not a powerful enough word to explain how I felt, in fact I don't think there are words in the English language which could explain the pure anguish that tormented me. As a man I am afraid to admit that I can cry (stupid culture!) but I will admit without shame that I have cried thinking about Nujabes more than once in my life. I often looked down on people who worship artists, I find it hard to imagine being so attached to someone who you have never met much less got to know personally. I never understood that bond until Nujabes died, from that day on I understood all too well.





For those of you who may look on my despair in the same way that I once would have let me offer some small explanation of how I became so attached to a man living thousands of miles away. The music that Nujabes wrote speaks to me in a way that I find hard to explain (especially since most of his work is instrumental!), each song has a unique sound but they all invoke the same feelings for me. Actually they accentuate what I am feeling, if I am happy I can listen to "Counting Stars" and a mere happiness is projected into full blown euphoria, when I am sad I can listen to the same song and its as if there is someone sitting next to me with their hand on my shoulder to comfort me. I will never forget driving home from Provo the night after my Grandmother died, I thought I had cried every tear in the tear budget that day but as soon as I found myself alone they started pouring again. I turned on "Spiritual State" from Nujabes posthumously released album of the same name and though the tears didn't stop and my loved one did not come back, I felt alright, I cannot even explain why.





Spiritual State by Nujabes feat Uyama Hiroto





Now three years after his death I still find myself listening to his music almost on a daily basis and when I do not listen to him I listen to an artist I learned of through his music or through the community that feels as I do about Nujabes. Seba Jun is ingrained into the very fabric of my life, as cliche as it sounds his music has become my soundtrack. Every time I listen to him I hear perfection, I hear absolute attention to detail, much like Bach or Beethoven, but I also feel in such a deep and profound way that I find it hard to formulate an explanation for it. I doubt I shall ever find another artist who can cause such a reaction for me and that makes me feel very sad but at the same time I feel grateful and lucky to have experienced his music, I cannot imagine a life without Nujabes. Rest in Beats Seba Jun.





Counting Stars by Nujabes

I like to think of myself as a music lover, nothing relaxes or excites me like a really good song from my favorite artists. Almost all genres of music are represented in my music collection, from Luciano Pavarotti to the Wu Tang Clan, Led Zeppelin to Air, Billy Joel to Pantera. Metal, rap, electronic music, classical, if its well written and performed with talent I am likely to enjoy listening to it. But there is one artist who, to me, stands head and shoulders above the rest, a man who I believe has never written a less than perfect song. That man is a little known Japanese producer name Seba Jun, also known by his stage name, Nujabes. Three years ago today, on a what I imagine was a cold rainy night, Nujabes was killed in a car crash. Ever since then I have spent countless hours obsessing over every note he ever wrote and wishing that I could just have one more song, one more line, one more note from a man who I consider a genius.I first discovered Nujabes through an anime series that I have become rather fond of, Samurai Champloo. Samurai Champloo is set in the Edo period of Japanese history (for those who do not know this era is comparable to the end of the wild west, samurais were forced to wander as they were becoming obsolete due to modern technology and politics) while it is traditional in some aspects the music is primarily hip-hop and that music lends a theme to the series which I found fascinating. The range is astounding, some of it classic hip-hop involving a DJ and MC but other tracks are tragically moving piano pieces. I was hooked from day one, I had to find out who wrote this music, I had to have more.