Immediately after graduating High School in Denver,Colorado; Chase went on to travel to Hongkong to live with his girlfriend at the time. Proclaiming to ‘combat being broke’ he worked as a DJ and underground rapper going by the name of Youngstunner touring with notable acts such as Higher Brothers (a Chinese hip hop group signed with 88rising, a label growing to viral status; signing famous artists such as Rich Chigga and Joji). At the young age of 19 he came to Tokyo where he has been living for about six months, DJing and performing around the city at popular clubs; Nishiazabu a-life, 1-OAK, and Trump room, to name a few. What could inspire someone to leave their roots and travel halfway across the world pursuing these goals?; that was what I first asked Youngstunner in the taxi cab,

I met up to interview him across from Hachiko, the famous patient dog next to Shibuya scramble in Tokyo, “Can we actually go to my friends house to chill and there you can ask me your questions?” without any real plan of where to conduct my interview, after taking a few shots with my film camera down the back alleys of shibuya, we headed in a cab toward Sangenjaya station.

 

Responding to my question regarding what influenced his decision to be here in Tokyo; “My girlfriend from first until fifth grade was Japanese, and her father was a famous sushi chef so since a young age I have been learning about asian and Japanese culture, I was also really into anime” some of his favourites being shounen type action anime like Naruto and DragonBallZ . This essentially sparked his initial interest in the country of Japan, but what brought him here ultimately was the terms of his 10 year Chinese Visa he had when he moved to be with his girlfriend, he had to leave the country every 90 days; when he went to Japan they broke up and he has been here ever since. Honestly,avoiding leaving as much as possible.

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“There is a war going on in America right now, Donald Trump being president, so many friends being shot in the streets... in Tokyo I feel safe and more free to pursue creativity with a good energy with friends and opportunities.” he explained.

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The very first time I was introduced to Youngstunner was during an afternoon DJ event just off of Omotesando Street, he was actually about to go to Korea due to the fact that since he was in Tokyo on a tourism visa, requiring him to leave every three months in order to maintain that status. “I literally only stay a day or two I just wanna get back to Tokyo.” Starting in 2018 Youngstunner will be living on a student visa as a result of his enrollment into a Japanese language school, to support his long term goals of remaining in Japan.

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Youngstunner’s charismatic personality and talent contributes to the success he has received all while surviving on a tourist visa, I asked Youngstunner if his lifestyle is entirely supported from his music and DJing, he responded that since high school he had been buying and selling bitcoin in order to make money. The influence of bitcoin on economics has been pushed to public spotlight only within recent years, so the fact that Youngstunner was savvy enough to already be ahead of the cryptocurrency game explains a lot about how he makes his own path through life and recently; the underground hip hop music in scene in Asia. I explained how only within the past few months have I understood the significance of cryptocurrency.

 

“See that’s how everyone is,” Youngstunner smiled.

 However, financial situation aside, what kind of musical icons have influenced music for Youngstunner?

“Ooh this is a good question.” Including so many others some key influences to Youngstunner’s music style come from Jimmi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Biggie Smalls, and Migos to name a few. He derives a lot of his content from influences in trap music and rock and roll. When listening to Youngstunner’s music you can hear the heavy influence from the trap music which is true to portraying trap lifestyle, and rock n roll;  “live fast die young,” type lyrics, as well as musical trends of high hats; there is also signs of low-fii hip hop stemming perhaps from Japanese influences like Nujabes. Hip Hop music can be about bold confidence in your status and ability, a platform for flexing and showing the lifestyle which Youngstunner utilizes based of his personal experience,“Of course the main goal is to incorporate these aspects into the songs, I have to tell people straight up how i feel based off personal experiences.”

 

“So can I ask what Youngstunner means??” I have been referring to him in this way all this time without knowing any context;

“I’m kinda like a black Stone Cold Steve Austin” he smiled, explaining the signature finisher move “stunner” by the WWE wrestler Stone cold Steve Austin.  During our conversation in the cab I took a lot of notes about Youngstunner's’ well observed perspective on the world and current events, while pointing to an Anarchy symbol tattoo on his hand, he explains the importance of the meaning; “Nobody should control the people.” I asked if this type of thought ever leaks into his lyrics, he explained mostly the lyrics and music focuses just on the everyday experiences he has.

How is Your daily life in Tokyo? “Amazing. Wake up, try to be productive, making music and chilling everyday.” In a one room apartment located within a compact apart residential area about 10 minutes walk from Sangenjaya station in Setagaya, Tokyo is where I met some of Youngstunner’s closest friends in Tokyo for the first time. Renzo, from Brazil, and later Victor, from Peru. The two 19 year old boys grew up their entire lives until recently in Ibaraki before they moved to Tokyo about a year and a half ago. Fluent in Japanese, the two had only studied English for a short while during high school but are able to collaborate and communicate with Youngstunner easily. The apartment belonged to Renzo, and was full of organized high end clothing, a couch, and a computer which is used often to play and create music. Knowing each other since they were just two years old, and now only living about a two minute walk away; they have formed their own rap duo going by the name of “Showy”. Around the apartment, I noted Showy had been written in stickers in different locations. 

 

At one point some of their friends had asked them to sing for a performance, which kickstarted a trend of the duo making music together; they started off by beat jacking while rapping and singing over it, covering popular musicians like Chris Brown. Along with singing, producing and making music, they also run an online clothing shop hence the clothes around the apartment.

“It’s fun in Tokyo, a lot of new, fun and wonderful things.” says Renzo, the two came together to Tokyo in order to study about music production at a university near Sangenjaya. Their experience in Japan has greatly influenced them and their lyrics are made up of a combination of Japanese and English. There is Japanse trap and American trap, within Showy’s unique brand you can see in their tracks, the absorption of American trap culture reflowing itself through Japanese culture. It’s as if the boys took both worlds and mixed it together.

 

Their everyday life consists of “Thinking about Nothing and eating food.” They stated without hesitation. Curious, I asked what they enjoyed to eat, and apparently along with Japanese food, Renzo also really enjoys snickers; conveniently pulling a Snickers bar from his pocket.

I questioned about the meaning of their name “Showy”, naturally not anticipating any deep meaning, Renzo responded; “It’s like fire, crazy… Hade no imi” Hade（ 派手）in Japanese translates to “Flashy” in English. Which is true to their nature of embracing hip hop culture of wearing flashy and high end brands, they say a lot in their songs or through any means “Showy is Lit”

“Forreal I don’t think about nothing except the music, I always forget how I make it every single time.”

 

A lot of their music which they have published online on websites like Soundcloud, an online sharing platform which allows underground performers to publish and share their music for free, features heavily a lot of freestyle. While we discussed the process which they were explaining really didn’t amount to much, in the background Youngstunner played their soundcloud. “Can I hop on this one?” He asked the rap duo, “Yeah man” Victor responded. I didn’t realize that just sitting around chilling with the scent of incense in the air talking about music at 10 pm was genuinely an example of their everyday interactions and within the next 30 or so minutes Youngstunner had already written his own verse for the song by Showy on his iPhone notes.

 

This really showed their talent which differs from mainstream rappers who use ghostwriters and spend time coming up with catchy and clever song gimmicks, in the instant that musicians like Youngstunner and Showy decide to write a song they do just that, managing to reflect real experience from their life without dwelling too much on the lyrics; staying true to the freestyle nature and in the moment quality which makes rap music and hip hop authentic.

 

“You’re coming with us.” Youngstunner told me when it was decided amongst the three that it was time to record.

We walked just a couple minutes over to Victor’s apartment where there was someone else already asleep on his couch (who told me his name was Onigiri- which I think was a joke but I will go with it), In the corner of the room was a microphone and a couple laptops among magazines and typical things found in a one room apartment in Tokyo; bed, genkan, some wrappers, etc.. “You should eat those chips outside they're showing up on the recording.” Youngstunner told Onigiri while he recorded his verse over the mike with Victor manning the computer.

 

Essentially I took some pictures with my film camera and watched the process of Showy and Youngstunner working together in their Tokyo apartment recording and creating music entirely with their own hands, Already past 11pm at night I figured it was about time for me to make my exit. Honestly, the boys had shown the power of millennials which often get a bad rep in the media; but are entirely savvy with technology and creating art, as well as understanding concepts which adults find difficult. Just “Thinking about nothing” they were creating and inspiring each other; for underground musicians in Tokyo the daily effort they put in contributes to the so far unnoticed but high potential melting pot of culture and music which is growing within this city of Tokyo.