28 April, 2021Print
Daichi Yamamoto & Mick Jenkins Debut New Track “Kill Me”
LISTEN VIA PAPER MAGAZINE
Newest release from Music Label & Production Studio Frank Renaissance w/ Jazzy Sport
“Kill Me” NFT Release & Virtual Launch Event, May 6th & 8th
April 28, 2021 (New York, NY) Today, Jamaican-Japanese rapper Daichi Yamamoto and Chicago rapper Mick Jenkins release their debut collaboration, “Kill Me.”
LISTEN AND READ MORE VIA PAPER
The effortlessly stirring bilingual (English/Japanese) track marks the newest release from Frank Renaissance, a one-of-a-kind platform that combines the capabilities of a music label with the creativity of a production studio, aimed at bringing Japanese music and culture to a global stage. “Kill Me” is a special collaboration with the eminent Japanese record label, Jazzy Sport. The track is being released as a single ahead of Daichi Yamamoto’s upcoming album, “WHITECUBE” and is the first of many tracks planned to be released by Daichi Yamamoto in collaboration with US artists in 2021.
“Since I’m a big fan of Mick Jenkins, this was a dream collaboration. I feel very honored to be a part of this project” says Daichi Yamamoto. “I always believed that if I could make quality music, it could resonate with global audiences.”
Yamamoto + Jenkins’ “Kill Me” is accompanied by a small batch NFT release of a special digital jacket created by 3D Fashion Designer Mar Guixa, and inspired by a physical garment created by Japanese designer Sho Konishi (drop May 6th on OpenSea). Purchasers of the digital jacket will receive the original physical jacket designed by Sho Konishi, worn by the artists in the “Kill Me” NFT music videos.
On May 8, Frank Renaissance will host a virtual launch event – ”Kill Me in The Metaverse” in collaboration with audio NFT record label, DAO Records, at the WHITECUBE parcel in the Tokyo neighborhood of Cryptovoxels—a virtual world powered by the Ethereum blockchain where attendees will be able to mingle, text chat and interact with the artists, fellow guests, and unique “Kill Me” assets. At the event, the label will be hosting a Q&A session with the artists and premier short form “Kill Me” music videos featuring Yamamoto and Jenkins, which will also be dropped as NFTs. The full event schedule and link to the event location to be released in the coming days.
Last month, Frank Renaissance partnered with the Japan Society of New York for a panel conversation: “Looking for the Next Global Rap Star in Japan”, moderated by journalist Patrick St. Michel. In collaboration with the organization’s 333 Contemporaries series, Frank Renaissance co-founders Frankie Caracciolo and Ren Stern, creative producer Aya Apton, and A&R consultant Kayvan Daragheh discussed the state of the global music industry, and the future of Japanese hip-hop. Watch HERE
In December 2020, Frank Renaissance released its debut track, “A-Team’s Fables'', featuring a supergroup of six exciting Japanese artists: rapper Rikuto AF, hip-hop producer KM, singer-songwriter Lil' Leise But Gold, rap duo Osteoleuco, and two-time Japanese Beatboxing Champion Ettoman. With the release, the label launched its first exclusive merch collaboration with American visual artist and designer Lorien Stern, distributed in partnership with Japanese streetwear brand and café Coast2Coast. Stern’s past collaborations include Lil Wayne, Dr. Martens, Urban Outfitters, Peanuts, and Edie Parker. Listen to “A-Team’s Fables” HERE.
ABOUT DAICHI YAMAMOTO:
Daichi Yamamoto is a Japanese-Jamaican hip-hop artist born and raised in Kyoto. After attending the University of the Arts London, he returned to Japan in 2017 to pursue a career in hip-hop, signing with Japanese record label, Jazzy Sport.
In 2018, Daichi was featured on tracks with popular Japanese artists STUTS and Ai Kuwabara and also released an EP “Window” in collaboration with Aaron Choulai, featuring appearances from Senninsho from Monju and Gapper from PSG on the EP’s lead track, “All Day” Remix. In March 2019, Daichi’s hit digital single “Shanghai Band” gained popularity inside and outside of Japan, being featured on Apple Music’s “New Artist of the Week” and on social media by American rapper, Lupe Fiasco. In December 2019, Daichi released his first album “Andless,” which he performed live with a full live band at WWW in Shibuya, Tokyo and Metro in Kyoto to critical acclaim.
In 2020, Daichi continued to put out music and rapidly grow in popularity. He was selected as one of the top ten emerging artists from Japan as part of Spotify Japan’s “Early Noise 2020” and received an “Apple Music Vinegar Award 2020,” an award given to top young artists in Japan by Masafumi Gotoh of popular music group, Asian Kung-Fu Generation. Daichi’s track “Splash” from his 2020 EP “Elephant in My Room” produced during the COVID-19 lockdown period was featured in a commercial with Japanese NBA player Rui Hachimura, and Daichi was also featured in a campaign for Netflix Series, “Japan Sinks” in July 2020. His last track of 2020 - one of the most iconic of Daichi’s career to date - “Paradise feat. mabanua” was released in November in collaboration with popular Japanese producer, mabanua.
In 2021, Daichi was featured in campaigns for Apple in Japan and his track “One Way” from his 2019 album “Andless” was featured in a promotion for Riot Games title “Valorant” to introduce new agent, Yoru. Presently, Daichi is continuing to create music for Japanese and global audiences from Kyoto, Japan.
ABOUT MICK JENKINS:
Mick Jenkins’ writing is rich with hard-won perspective and dotted with impressively specific, naturalistic details. But on a thematic level, it digs deeper than the here and now; the bus stop in front of him, the string of tour dates looming ahead. His music explores things that humans feel on an intuitive level but struggle to fully understand. From the nature of familiar and romantic love to the elements that sustain life itself, he burrows deep into our collective unconscious in an attempt to give order to the world.
Born in Huntsville, Alabama at the end of the George Bush years, Mick moved to Chicago with the women in his life––his mother and sister––when he was ten years old. This set up two important factors that would shape his world view, and ultimately his music. On one hand, he became embedded in the fabric of the city, adopting some of its sensibilities and slang, and benefiting from its growing array of opportunities for young creatives. On the other, his early childhood in a radically different environment gave him the outsider’s perspective that allows him, to this day, to turn a critical eye to his surroundings.
After a brief stint at an Alabama college––he planned to study law––Mick was back in Chicago for good, pursuing music with all his energy. It wasn’t long before he scored a major breakthrough, with his stunning mixtape The Water[s]. Released in August of 2014, that record announced Mick as a major creative force, an artist who synthesized early-20th century poets with hip-hop’s most powerful voices. The Water[s] earned rapturous praise from critics and magazines, but also from rap’s most respected underground pioneers: Busdriver, in a rare piece of written criticism, called Mick’s talent “gloriously uncommon.”
In the few years since The Water[s], Mick has used his new platform to grow, evolve, and continue to challenge audiences. He broke new technical ground with the bright and adventurous Waves and delivered an immensely thoughtful debut album with 2016’s The Healing Component; in recent months he dropped a pair of critically-acclaimed EPs, Or More; The Anxious and Or More; The Frustration.
While Mick remains committed to clarity, he accepts that, in striving to make great art, he’s going to challenge people’s preconceptions and perhaps push them out of their comfort zones. “I think it’s natural for art to be misunderstood, especially art that is intended to serve a message,” he says. For the most part, though, he finds that his audience gravitates to his central message above all else: spread love, drink more water. “Those are themes that shine through, even if you can’t understand or break down or some of the deeper aspects,” he says, pausing to consider the relationship forward thinking has always had with the culture at large. “But show me some art that’s not misunderstood.”
ABOUT FRANK RENAISSANCE:
Launched in 2020 and led by Ren Stern and Frankie Caracciolo, Frank Renaissance’s goal is to share Japan’s most exciting creations in music and art with the world. Stern, who grew up splitting his time between Japan and New York and has a background in venture capital, shared his love for Japanese hip-hop and art with Caracciolo, his close friend from college, who has written for Pitchfork, Complex, and Vice, and works with Coltrane Curtis at Team Epiphany. With Stern based in Japan, Caracciolo visited Tokyo in 2019 to explore what they could build together around their shared passions. This trip was the spark that lit the Frank Renaissance fire. Enlisting the help of Tokyo-based creative producer Aya Apton, New York-based A&R consultant Kayvan Daragheh (known for his work at Genius), and KM, a leading Japanese record producer and Frank Renaissance’s Resident Beatmaker and Music Director, the company strives to bridge the gap between Japan and the West.
ABOUT JAZZY SPORT:
Jazzy Sport is a record label with a passion for music and sports. Jazzy Sport also operates record shops in Gohongi and Shimokitazawa, Tokyo, Kyoto, Japan, and a combination record shop x rock climbing gym “The Stone Session/Jazzy Sport Morioka” in Morioka, Iwate, Japan. From DJ Mitsu the Beats, GAGLE, grooveman Spot, to Budamunk, the label releases projects from global perspectives, receiving worldwide acclaim.
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