Dragon Ash (ドラゴンアッシュ) is a Japanese Rock band led by rap mogul Kenji Furuya. They are an icon in Japan and were one of the first groups to popularize hip hop in Japan. They brought an American flavor to Japanese music and helped to turn rap music mainstream, with a mixture of rapping, rap-rock, punk, reggae, samba, drum’n’bass and R&B influences. Some of their best known songs include Grateful Days, Life Goes On, Shizukana Hibi Kaidan Wo, Fantasista and I Love Hip-Hop. The group uses various samples, most notably from the famous American alternative group, The Smashing Pumpkins: these songs include Cherub Rock in which they sample the bass line from The Smashing Pumpkins song by the same name, and Grateful Days in which they sample the opening of Today by The Smashing Pumpkins; they also named one of their songs “Siva”, after the Pumpkins song.
Dragon Ash has gained some popularity in the United States by releasing the song “Shizuka na Hibi no Kaidan Wo”. This song was used as the ending theme for a popular Japanese movie, Battle Royale; for many Americans, Dragon Ash was first discovered through watching this movie.
Kenji Furuya has also worked on several side projects in recent years, including being the frontman of Steady&Co., a Japanese Hip-Hop group consisting of himself, BOTS, ILMARI of RIP SLYME, and SHIGEO of SBK (Skebo King). In addition to Steady&Co., Furuya has also collaborated with several other Japanese hip hop artists on the Mob Squad album. The group also goes by the same name.
Kenji has stated in several interviews that the reason Dragon Ash started out as a pseudo-punk band was because, at the time, punk was popular in Japan, and his handlers felt that the hip hop image wouldn’t sell. He has also noted that hiphop has always been first in his book, but he did what was necessary to become successful in the industry. |
