Nujabes

By combining hip-hop rhythms with jazz instrumentation, Nujabes helped popularize the atmospheric sub-genres of chillhop and lo-fil hip-hop. He was born as Jun Seba on February 7, 1974, in the Minato ward of Tokyo, Japan. By the 1990s, he was the owner of two record stores in Shibuya, as well as the founder of the independent hip-hop label Hydeout Productions. His first mixtape, Sweet Sticky Thing, was released in 1998, followed in 1999 by the debut single "Ain't No Mystery." Both were released under his alias, Nujabes. A collaborative artist, he partnered with the American rapper Substantial for 2001's To This Union a Sun Was Born and teamed up with Pase Rock for 2003's Bullshit as Usual. His first full-length record as a solo artist, Metaphorical Music, was also released in 2003, introducing his combination of jazz, rap, and breakbeat genres. Artists like Shing02 contributed to the record, and two worked together again on "Battlecry," the first track on Nujabes' 2004 soundtrack release, Samurai Champloo Music Record: Departure. He released Samurai Champloo Music Record: Impression, a second soundtrack for the same anime series, later that year. His second full-length solo record, Modal Soul, was released in 2005 and marked the final record to appear during his lifetime. Five years after its release, Nujabes passed away in a traffic accident on February 26, 2010. His final solo record, Spiritual State, was released posthumously in 2011, followed by one last collaboration with Shing02, Luv(Sic) Hexalogy, in 2015.