ELIAS × DJ MOTORA Interview: CRAZY BABY, KAYO and Making Music Beyond Tokyo

An English translation of HIPHOPCs’ original Japanese interview, first published September 26, 2026. Original Japanese article: Rei Kamiya. English translation: HIPHOPCs editorial team. All 26 questions and the full responses from ELIAS, DJ MOTORA and KAYO are included. The Japanese edition states that questions were edited for clarity without altering their meaning, while the artists’ responses were reproduced as supplied. This English edition translates those responses from the published Japanese text. The answers below reflect the artists’ views at the time of that interview; references to next year mean 2027. Photographs were supplied by the artists’ side.

“If we’re going to kill each other, let it be with music.” When ELIAS explains that line, the conversation moves from rejecting violence to the pleasure of being floored by a friend’s music. “Getting killed by someone’s sound feels good. (laughs)”

Released on August 15, 2026, the 81st anniversary of the end of the war as commemorated in Japan, “CRAZY BABY feat. KAYO” brings together ELIAS and DJ MOTORA. ELIAS comes from Asahikawa, Hokkaido, worked in Sapporo and is now based in Itoshima, Fukuoka. DJ MOTORA runs TEAM KEN RECORDS in Nagasaki. KAYO, a singer from Sapporo who is also based in Itoshima, performs the hook.

How do you turn a subject that large into music? ELIAS remembers the beat coming first and the theme following. DJ MOTORA describes studying his collaborator’s voice and flow before they worked together. Following their discussion brings us to the choice of a beat, KAYO’s voice sounding in ELIAS’s head and everyday life in the places where all three live.

War and peace, contradictions within music, 66 records and creativity in the age of AI: through 26 questions, the original interview follows ELIAS and DJ MOTORA’s words. KAYO also answers the question about place.

Listen to “CRAZY BABY feat. KAYO” / Watch the official video / Read the original Japanese interview

The beat first, the theme afterward: how “CRAZY BABY” began

—What first set “CRAZY BABY” in motion? Did the beat come first, or did ELIAS’s theme or lyrics come first?

ELIAS: I had this dramatic encounter with MOTORA in 2025, and from there we quickly grew closer and started working out ideas for a collaborative project. Around that time, I was listening a lot to the collection of beats MOTORA had built up. In the middle of all that, this track came together in a flash. (laughs) The beat came first, then the theme.

—At what stage did releasing it on August 15, 81 years after the end of the war, become meaningful to you?

ELIAS: Around the time I decided to shoot the video in MOTORA’s hood, Nagasaki Prefecture. I think that was June this year [2026].

For the locations, too, I just let myself be guided by this strange feeling that we should shoot at Glover House, a church and the Peace Park.

—The song deals with large subjects: war, religion, race, desire and exploitation. Was there a particular event that made you feel you had to write about these themes now?

ELIAS: Gaza was a big part of it, I think. It gave me an opportunity to study this subject more deeply than before. It’s a land and a people with deep ties to Japanese people, too.

“Let it be with music”: between music and violence

—One particularly powerful line is “If we’re going to kill each other, let it be with music.” What did you put into that line?

ELIAS: In the world of hip-hop, you settle things in a cool way through music instead of violence. If you’re a rapper, put down the weapon and pick up a mic. It’s not about a contest or a race. What matters is how it resonates with listeners and what kind of influence you can have on the people around you. So even among friends, we’re killing each other every day. Getting killed by someone’s sound feels good. (laughs)

—Hip-hop has also been a culture that turns conflict and anger into forms of expression such as rap, DJing and dance. Do you think it has the power to transform human conflict or violence into something else?

ELIAS: Of course.

History tells you that.

They took that positive synergy of a nation—so positive it was like, “That unity is going to connect all the way to the universe!”—and brought this futuristic loop music this far. In a sense, for them it’s “revolutionary music,” made by overcoming tremendous adversity! Sorry, I got a little carried away. That’s how I feel.

—At the same time, hip-hop has a history inseparable from beef, violence and gang culture. How do you understand that contradiction alongside “let it be with music”?

ELIAS: For better or worse, it’s yin and yang.

Sometimes something that hasn’t fully burned itself out turns into another kind of energy. The great masters told us, “Burn all that energy up through hip-hop!” But we’re human. Even when we know that, we make mistakes depending on the time and circumstances. Once you light the fire, you can’t put it out, and it turns into gang activity. I understand that, too.

And there’s always been a culture of trash talk, right? In combat sports and things like that. Starting beef deliberately to get attention—I understand that, too. (laughs)

“You and I are the same, remember”: what the listener takes away

—There’s a line, “You and I are the same, remember.” In a world where people are divided by race, nationality or religion, why did you arrive at the word “same”?

ELIAS: People sometimes do terrible things when their positions are reversed, right? That applies to both sides. If either of us could end up on either side, there was a point when I started to feel I understood what we should do in the first place.

And even while saying that, I live with the contradiction that I can’t change the part of me that eats animal meat. It looked to me as if human beings on Earth had kept making similar mistakes, even if the forms were different. So even in a capitalist society divided by inequality, no matter how poor someone is or how powerful the person they face is, I want to think, humbly and hopefully, “We’re the same,” right?

—“World peace” can sometimes sound like an empty ideal. What did you pay attention to in expressing that theme through hip-hop?

ELIAS: Over this unimaginably long period of time, humanity has been guided by an intricately designed system to where we are now, right? Everyone thinks there’s no way to change it, but it’s all too vague.

So this might be a song that doesn’t fit Japan right now. (cries) That’s why I’m doing it. Hip-hop is music that makes the impossible possible, right? (laughs) I think about how to face it, starting with the mental side and going all the way to rhyming and flow, and what kind of vibes to convey it with. I know a lot of my listeners have discerning ears for those things and a high hip-hop IQ, but am I doing it well?

That kind of work carries a universal power, so it’s something I want to stay conscious of.

—Rather than giving a clear answer, the song also seems to leave questions with the listener. What would you like people to think about afterward?

ELIAS: Whatever they think, I’m grateful for all of it. If it makes someone feel, “I’m going to do it, too!” or “I can make something even crazier than that!”—that would be the best.

DJ MOTORA’s NEO BOOMBAP: knowing a voice and choosing a beat

—DJ MOTORA, why did you choose a NEO BOOMBAP sound rooted in 1990s hip-hop for this theme?

DJ MOTORA: I’d heard a rough idea of the theme from ELIAS, and I picked something from my stock with that feeling of, “This is it.”

The person I was working with is a pro among pros, a black-belt rapper. So rather than feeling that I produced him, I felt more like ELIAS was pulling me along.

—With such heavy subjects as war and human society, were you conscious of keeping the sound from becoming too dark or too dramatic?

DJ MOTORA: For the samples, I try to choose obscure tracks that seem unlikely to have been used before.

Across the music I make, I try to create sounds that feel as though they could have existed in 1990s hip-hop, but didn’t.

I’m also concerned about copyright, so I always chop the samples and change the pitches when shaping the sound.

Editor’s note, translated from the Japanese edition: Cutting up a recording or changing its pitch does not by itself remove the need for permission under copyright or related rights. See JASRAC’s introduction to music copyright, in Japanese.

—How did you feel when you first heard ELIAS’s voice and words over the beat?

DJ MOTORA: Before we worked together, I’d studied his vocal tone and flow through his recordings, so it was 120 percent what I’d imagined. I did have that feeling of, “When this comes out, it’s going to be amazing.”

—ELIAS, were there words or flows that came out specifically because it was DJ MOTORA’s beat?

ELIAS: With “CRAZY BABY,” the particular historical background of Nagasaki, where MOTORA lives, definitely started to overlap with what I was writing partway through.

MOTORA’s beats have—how can I put it?—a soul to them. So I start seeing all kinds of landscapes and emotions. I’m not consciously doing it, but as we’ve made other songs, too, I feel that every version of ELIAS on MOTORA’s beats is tailored to MOTORA.

KAYO’s voice becomes the center: “gently angry”

—Why did you bring KAYO in for the hook? Was a female vocal part of the plan from the beginning?

ELIAS: As I listened to the beat, the intro went by and the hook was the first thing I heard: “Accepting everything…” I heard it in KAYO’s voice. Then I heard, “I don’t understand, crazy.” I was traveling at the time, but images came vividly to me—from Iran to Palestine, and then Japan at the time of its defeat. I remembered Nagasaki, and of course Hiroshima and Tokyo, and something like PTSD from everything I’d seen came flooding out. Before I knew it, the hook was finished. (laughs)

How do I explain it? About two years earlier, I’d watched Fujii Kaze’s Tiny Desk or something like that and noticed a gospel quality in the backing vocals and vocal runs. Afterward, there was a period when I went back and checked out Kirk and more gospel music. It must have been automatically fed into ELIAS’s AI. (laughs) When I got home, I explained to KAYO that I wanted it to lean more toward R&B, like Keith Sweat’s backing vocals, something like Kut Klose, but simpler. She recorded a preproduction version right away, and it came out just as I’d imagined. I’m giving away the secrets! (laughs) But we didn’t copy it, so I can say that proudly! (laughs)

I also kept my own layering as simple as possible, with as little embellishment as I could. I tried vocal runs and all sorts of things, but they sounded awkward, so I dropped them. (laughs) I couldn’t become Keith. (laughs)

—KAYO’s singing has a gospel-like resonance that can sound like prayer. How did adding singing, rather than only rap, change the track?

ELIAS: I think we were able to express an exceptionally gentle sadness. MOTORA said it too: it’s like being “gently angry.” I felt that her voice recreated this strong yet gentle image—something weak and fleeting, enduring adversity while trying to think positively.

Once that became the center of the song, it gave every verse more meaning. We really owe it to KAYO.

Asahikawa, Sapporo, Itoshima and Nagasaki: where they live and what they represent

—ELIAS, you moved from Asahikawa to Sapporo and then Itoshima. DJ MOTORA is in Nagasaki, and KAYO also moved from Sapporo to Itoshima. All of you are based outside Tokyo. What does making hip-hop from somewhere other than Tokyo mean in Japan today?

DJ MOTORA: I’ve never really thought about it. (laughs) I just happen to live in Nagasaki, Kyushu. It’s not that I don’t admire Tokyo—I think it’s an amazing place. I have friends there, so it’s familiar to me, too. The rent’s high, though. That looks tough.

KAYO: Ten years ago, I felt Itoshima was the place I needed at that point in my life, so I moved here.

Meeting MOTORA brought us together, and I also think this music was possible because ELIAS and I are both in Itoshima. I feel the importance of both Sapporo and Itoshima, Fukuoka.

There are many things I’ve noticed precisely because I’m in Itoshima. Regardless of the place, I think there is great meaning in continuing to put out the music you want to communicate, wherever you are.

ELIAS: It’s always been that way for me. Tokyo is a place I go when I’m invited, a place I go to do my work and make an impact.

—After ten years in Itoshima, you’ve said your thinking has shifted toward loving and representing all your hometowns. What is different about representing a place now compared with before?

ELIAS: Then and now, I think it means being prepared to keep waving that place’s flag. I made my way through each place with everything I had, and after ten years in Itoshima, I realized: I love all of them, from the heart.

—In hip-hop, the place someone represents has often been part of how their identity is discussed. Do you think representing several places you’ve lived, rather than a single city, will become more common?

ELIAS: I wonder. Whether someone thinks that’s important is up to them. On the other hand, it’s not unusual for someone to go to Tokyo and become a Tokyo person. I think the people around you matter, too.

“Even after leaving the north, ELIAS is a SAPPORAW rapper!” Or, “ELIAS, you’re an Asahikawa rapper to begin with!” Or, “No, no, ELIAS is already a rapper from Fukuoka, Shima, Itoshima!”

When people say those things to me, I start believing it, because I’m an idiot. (laughs) But when I’m back home writing lyrics, I remember what they said. It’s difficult, but I feel I have to meet each of those expectations, and I have to commit myself to that. I think that’s what leads me to try to live in a way where I keep each promise, one at a time.

For more on the regional scenes, see HIPHOPCs’ Hokkaido and Sapporo guide and Fukuoka and Kyushu guide.

66 seven-inch records: keeping music as a physical object

—In 2026, when digital music dominates, why make a seven-inch limited to just 66 copies?

ELIAS: Playing with numbers. (laughs) High energy… I’ll stop there. (laughs)

The real reason is to get as many records as possible into the hands of DJs and brothers who love hip-hop.

—Streaming can reach the world instantly, but you’re also preserving this work as a limited run of 66 records. What value do you see in leaving music as a physical object?

ELIAS: Even if a small pressing doesn’t sell out, people can watch and really feel that growth, that underlying strength of the underground. Those records gain value across time. Isn’t that hip-hop, too?

If we keep putting out different titles and reach a point where we can increase the pressing quantities, maybe my future higher self will give me some credit.

ELIAS and DJ MOTORA’s next project, and ELIAS’s work with Professor ill beat

—The press release says a new project begins here. Does that mean this won’t end with just “CRAZY BABY”?

ELIAS: Of course.

—Are more tracks, an EP or an album already in the works as ELIAS × DJ MOTORA? What can you share at this point?

ELIAS: We’re preparing an album for next year [2027].

—Which MCs or singers would you like to work with in the future?

ELIAS: There are plenty. I’d love people to invite me. For next year, I’m also currently making a sequel to the first album, PAIN, with Professor ill beat. The project is about 80 percent collaborations, mainly with rappers from Hokkaido and Fukuoka. We’re working with an incredible lineup right now.

Making hip-hop as humans in the age of AI

—In 2026, AI can make beats, write rap lyrics and even generate voices. “CRAZY BABY,” meanwhile, deals with deeply human subjects: war, place and personal experience. What does it mean for humans to make hip-hop in an age when AI can make music?

DJ MOTORA: Just as AI has special abilities entrusted to it by humans, I think humans have special abilities entrusted to us by the universe.

We’ve been entrusted to coexist in those ways, rather than dominate one another. Continually renewing things from different angles so we can live—that’s human nature. Ideally, we’d be the kind of humans AI could respect, too. Like, “I want to become human as well.” (laughs)

There’s no measuring what kind of miracles those “fluctuations” can create even between humans. If we could calculate how to make them, everything would become a classic. Rather than making some boring assortment of tried-and-tested approaches, I intend to keep looking forward, without becoming pessimistic, so I can remain a Japanese rapper who keeps facing work that makes us feel, “Nobody but us could have made this track.”

Who they want to reach, and a word for the next generation

—If you could play “CRAZY BABY” for just one person who doesn’t normally listen to hip-hop at all, who would you want to hear it?

ELIAS: Masao Urino. I respect him.

—As artists leaving this song on the 81st anniversary of the end of the war, what would you like to say to the next generation living today?

ELIAS: It seems that, until the war ended 81 years ago, Japanese people were made to share a mindset of “we’re all prepared to die.” But for whom? For what?

Be thankful to those godlike people who lived through it with a resolve to risk their lives for the future of Japan and its people. Make your own life shine with everything you have.

DJ MOTORA: World peace won’t come unless we put an end to conflict close to us. Instead of deciding which side is right, if we can think that both sides have their own sense of justice, and feel even a little consideration for the other person, that would be wonderful. I’m telling myself that, too. (laughs)

Working toward something only they could make

The following is translated from the original Japanese edition’s closing editorial text.

DJ MOTORA listens closely to ELIAS’s voice; ELIAS finds landscapes and emotions beyond the beat. The hook that first arrived in KAYO’s voice eventually became the center of the whole song. The interview repeatedly returns to a feeling familiar to collaboration: working with someone else changes your own expression.

Their answers about place do not line up neatly, either. DJ MOTORA says he has never particularly thought about being in Nagasaki. KAYO describes music that could happen because she is in Itoshima. ELIAS tries to answer the expectations of several hometowns. They make a song while retaining those differences.

Asked about AI, DJ MOTORA spoke about continuing to make work that prompts the feeling, “Nobody but us could have made this track.” With that commitment to future work in mind, we want to listen to “CRAZY BABY” again.

Release information and official links

Release information comes from the supplied press release and the Apple Music listing. The vinyl information is not a statement of current stock.

ELIAS

A rapper from Asahikawa, Hokkaido. After working in Sapporo, he moved his base to Itoshima, Fukuoka, in 2016.

Official Instagram / ELIAS artist profile

DJ MOTORA

A DJ and producer active mainly in Nagasaki. He runs TEAM KEN RECORDS and began his DJ career in 1997.

Official Instagram / Official X / DJ MOTORA artist profile

KAYO

A singer from Sapporo, based in Itoshima, Fukuoka. She performs the hook on “CRAZY BABY feat. KAYO.” In this interview, she discusses moving to Itoshima and what it means to keep putting out music.

More HIPHOPCs exclusive interviews in English

Profiles and release information: supplied press release, with the digital release date checked against the Apple Music listing. Interview answers and photographs: supplied by the artists’ side. Photographs are reproduced from the original HIPHOPCs interview without alteration.

English edition note: The respondent to the question about AI is DJ MOTORA. HIPHOPCs confirmed this attribution for this edition and uses it consistently in the interview and closing editorial text.