I randomly checked Twitter two weeks ago to find that Nujabes was a trending topic worldwide.
Upon checking it out, it was an explosion of posts in Japanese - not surprising, considering the hip-hop producer born Jun Seba is big in Japan. But the odd short post in English - 'RIP Nujabes' - hit me harder than the wall of Japanese condolences. Nujabes, to the American audience, is best known as the mastermind of the super-popular Samurai Champloo soundtrack. I found him that way too. But I quickly branched into his releases from his label and found some of his best stuff. That was 2006. I'm still listening to Nujabes' tunes and those of his collaborators, ranging from jazz musicians like Uyama Hiroto to Western MCs including Substantial, Fat Jon, and Funky DL. Nujabes' tracks kept my blood pressure down through a hellacious senior year of college. They comforted me as I went to and from Japan and adjusted to cultures twice. And even today they're my best background music when I'm working away. Seba died in a high-speed car crash as the clock struck his 36th birthday. He had a long and prolific career ahead of him, as evidenced by mountains and mountains of messages left by his collaborators around the world. His fans, likewise, have left a pile of comments 250-deep as I write this.I think that as we grow, our tastes in music change. I've grown up, and as such I'm no longer listening to The Offspring and Blink-182. But Nujabes and his family were something closer to constant in my life. I feel like my growth will always be, in some little way, stunted with a stunted body of work from someone who tapped into my musical soul so well. If any friends in Japan are reading and are as disappointed as I am, please search out his record store Tribe in Shibuya and let me know what comes of it.Photo: Koji Ohta