[English Translation]
OMSB -“Think Good”
Interview & text by Koji Dejima
A what-tha-**** climax from the very beginning! With beats hammering down from levels above and new flows with new rhymes, here comes a timeless best-of album ever!!
Giving it some decent thinking
"Rather than the word games or the witty elements, I am more conscious about getting to know what the listeners think of what I say. That was how I was when I was on the listeners' side. And in the past 2 and a half years, I have gotten to give some decent amount of thinking (laughs)".
It was those 2 and a half years ago that rapper/producer OMSB released his first solo album, "Mr. "All Bad" Jordan". Well, that may give one the impression that there has been a pretty long blank until this latest, but taking into consideration that it’s only about a year from the album "Page 2: Mind Over Matter" by SIMI LAB, the hip-hop unit in which OMSB plays the main MC, or only 6 months from the beat album "OMBS" from the hip-hop label BLACK SMOKER RECORDS, it should be fair to say that OMSB is actually accelerating his creative drive.
"I did have in the back of my mind, what and how I wanted to release the next, just about from when the first album was close to completion. So, we can say that there was a period last year when I was working on the (latest) album in parallel with the album "OMBS". For "OMBS", I was working on it hoping to make it a piece that works nicely as an instrumental, even though there was space for rap. To make it into something that was like doing a
And that is how this new album “Think Good” was put together. Although the production schedule hardly had any time to spare, the tight timelines seem to have proven effective, bringing a natural sense of unity to the album overall.
"Once I had a decent lineup of tracks, I fixed the track sequence, and then decided on how to rap on which track, - that was the kind of order of getting things done on this album. There were lyrics I already had from the past while there are tracks like "Kuro-obi (Black Belt Remix)" which is the product of rapping to my own beat on a track called "Black Belt" that was originally a track of DJ SEIJI in which I appeared as guest rapper. There are also a few tracks written in a fairly small amount of time, so some of the tracks can be said to have been written under similar mental states".
Added to OMSB's own tracks that mainly dominates the album, there are also works featuring old allies such as DJ/beatmaker Hi'Spec, beatmaker MUJObeatz or AB$ Da Butcha. Meanwhile, though WAH NAH MICHEAL (OMSB's other name as the beatmaker) does not appear in this album, the name Kurt Vandan is listed as the co-producer for (almost) all the tracks of home-made beats.
"WAH NAH and I seem to have different tastes lately (laughs). Kurt is the one that prods me to
And perhaps those nudges happened to work. So very rightfully, the spectacularly outrageous scroll painting of beats simply fails to betray the enormous expectation towards this man. There is nothing but excitement seeing [a Porsche-like luxury car], as Naruyoshi Kikuchi (jazz musician/composer/rapper/writer/) puts it, blasting away polyrhythmic sounds, but this time, the mic that OMSB himself holds comes closing in accompanying an increased advancement.
Admitting one's own weakness
The album kicks off in top gear. Tearing up the narration by FUMI, the progressive-taste introduction with the bursting 'OMSbeats' is already astounding. This exciting torrent that starts off with the track "Yo-soro (meaning "Steady (as she goes))" may remind one of "You're Dead!" by the Flying Lotus. jjj, from the rap unit Fla$hBackS, delivers the opening statement that drastically changes its loop and smoothly transforms into the mellow voice of the main line in the track, "ActNBaby". Lyrics from "ActNBaby" serve as the intermediary to the bluesy track "Storm" that follows, intensifying like the pouring rain. The track features Tokyo-based MC, B.D. and ELNAND MORELETTA whom OMSB knowns from when appearing in the album of the hip-hop unit FIND MARKET (which ELNAND belongs to). Including the track "Goin' Crazy" that welcomes the Hokkaido-based MC, B.I.G. JOE whom he has contributed tracks to in the past, and Nozaki Rikon, the conspicuous artist arising from
"jjj came to me saying 'please give me a track' which I said yes to immediately, but when I heard the version he added the rap to, it made me go 'gosh, I want to rap together with this guy', then ended up with my asking 'actually, do you mind my including this track in the album?' (laughs). I was planning to demonstrate more of my abilities by having fewer guests than the previous album, but then realized that it could still be done with the presence of guest artists. Nozaki-kun has this air of a 'mental gangsta' (laughs), and I was completely blown away when I heard his track "Neo Site Kagura" and immediately reached out to him via Twitter. It was written when I was distressed and almost going insane too, so "Goin' Crazy" fitted perfectly in the picture".
Of course, there are no situations in which the increasingly diverse OMSB's narrative is put aside. In "Gami Holla Bullshit", MUJObeatz whom OMSB enjoyed perfect chemistry with in SIMI LAB's track "Avengers", once again shows off his brilliant beats, and the flow swaggering about with a bosskid-like unruly air is one of a kind. The way in which it switches to a fast-rap mode in the latter half of the track conformity with the variants of beats is downright thrilling.
"A flow from someone angry, but yet lackadaisical, -sounds like a spoiled brat, doesn't it (laughs)? I tried out different styles of rapping being inspired by various inputs, for example, intentionally putting off the rhythm in the attempt to simply do something unusual; -it was like I was trying everything I thought doable. And I think I am expressing myself that 'I’m a rapper' in a much more regal manner".
At the halfway point is the dramatic track "Touch The Sky", bound to be a gig-booster, and beyond there is the deep rumbling of grains of sound that creates the monologue of the latest hours of night. "Ride Or Die" leaves a strong impact with the dignified quote from "Tom's Diner", while the friendly but crazy loop by Hi'Spec that "gets more and more bubbly when actually it's supposed to get more sophisticated the more you play" is soothing in the track "Scream". Together with the unconcernedly dropping "Memento Mori" accompanied by the scratching by DJ YAZI from the hip-hop unit THINK TANK, the tracks resonates like one set suite, exposing the vulnerability of the main character going up and down the inner spiral.
“If I was a truly tough guy, I would try and convince, saying that 'I'm really tough', but I just thought that I should recognize that I'm not really that tough, and that perhaps I should show what strength a person who accepts that can show. So even though I only wrote about myself in the lyrics, I think there are parts of the lyrics that any other person can agree to when they hear them”.
How to start and how to finish
If this album is what exemplifies the process of such self-affirmation, the sentiments that has overcome such indecisions that usually inclines to the negative can be found summarized in the unquestionably best track of the album, "Think Good". Though it is not situated at the end of the album, the reason it is overflowing with a lively sensation of freedom just like a fairly-tale ending is probably not only due to the effects of the looping horns in the background. The refreshed mental state embraced with no thoughts to the past or present nor any pretense, is clearly obvious in the rhythms inserted midway into the album.
"True, "Think Good" does have this air of an ending, and in fact, it was the track I wrote last in the album. So I guess there is this sense of accomplishment that 'I made it this far' that shows in the track (laughs). I did have the concept in the back of my mind midstream writing the track, and I guess I just wanted to simply convey the refreshed state of mind, rather than leaning to a 100% negative or positive approach".
The closing of the album is neatly structured with a blissful lineup of the meditative prose-poetry-like chillbient track "Zone 8", peacefully moving on to "Orange Way", a track dedicating loving-kindness to those taking the same direction home (of which the outro almost brought tears to my eyes!). In "Lose Myself" where the atmospheric vocals of singer/DJ, G. RINA surges through on dreamy beats, the guitar by singer-songwriter Yohei Fujii fruitfully brings brightness to the piece.
"I had been a fan and listening to RINA-san for a long time already and got to know each other when she kindly contacted me after we both appeared on the digitally-released compilation album, "160OR80". As for Fujii-san, he was there to see the one-man show of SIMI LAB, and the very first thing he said after our first meet-and-greet was 'let's do something together', and of course my reaction was 'oh yeah, let's'! I asked to work with him with thoughts of placing a guitar solo at the end of the track. For the album overall, I was fairly conscious of how to start and how to finish each single track".
The track "World Tour" takes the honor of closing the album
Film "THE COCKPIT"
A documentary introducing the music co-production process between OMSB and Bim（THE OTOGIBANASHI'S）at a home studio in an apartment room.
Director: Sho Miyake
Cast: OMSB, Bim, Hi'Spec, VaVa, Heiyuu
