dj honda Interview Part 2: hV, Benizakura and the Fifth Answer
Translation and timing note: This English edition was translated and edited from the second half of HIPHOPCs’ dj honda interview. It avoids repeating the biography established in Part One. The Japanese interview described hV.2 as forthcoming; TuneCore Japan now lists the album as released on June 22, 2026. Answers about future projects remain attributed to the time of the interview.
Part One followed dj honda from Hokkaido and a Tokyo disco to the Battle for World Supremacy, h, h II, Yasiin Bey—then recording as Mos Def—and De La Soul. Part Two asks what came next: building independently, sharing overseas experience in Japan, working with Benizakura and placing forty years of turntable life into hV.
Working behind the name
Sei: How would you describe your work from the mid-2000s into the 2010s—expansion in Korea and Asia, film and game music, and more collaboration with Japanese artists?
dj honda: Instead of putting my own name at the front as I did in the 1990s, I spent that period moving more behind the scenes. I had left the major system, built my own company and begun working independently.
I wanted to expand opportunities for more artists, not only myself. I signed overseas artists, released records and worked with younger people in Japan and Korea. Film and game music came from the same movement. It was the company’s work and my work as a producer. I prioritized spreading the music over pushing the “honda” name.
Why Japan became the base again
Sei: What led you to base yourself in Japan again from the 2010s?
dj honda: I felt I had reached a position where I could share the knowledge and experience I gained in America. More artists and DJs were emerging in Japan. The timing had arrived to turn what I had learned into something here.
His official TuneCore profile places the return in 2009 and documents later full-album production with Terumasa Hino, B.I.G.JOE, Benizakura, ILL-BOSSTINO, SIMON JAP and TWIGY.
Working with Benizakura
Sei: How did your collaboration with Benizakura begin?
dj honda: A connection brought us together. His style was different, which I found interesting, and I saw possibility in it. That is why we worked together.
Sei: Which Japanese artists interest you now?
dj honda: I want to work with people I find interesting, people whose energy matches mine and people who genuinely want to do the work. In the end, the name matters less than the commitment.
Fan questions: formative records, work and Hokkaido
Fan: Which hip-hop record first shocked you?
dj honda: Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit.” Learning that the turntable could be used as an instrument was huge. It made me feel that scratching could change the world.
Fan: What made you decide to DJ?
dj honda: Seeing the scratching of Grandmaster Flash and Jazzy Jeff made me think, “I have to do this.” Jeff’s performance in particular convinced me.
Fan: When did you begin looking toward Japanese artists?
dj honda: It is not recent. Around 2000, I was already working naturally with Japanese artists, including Hime’s album and work by 565.
Fan: Does returning to Sapporo feel like coming home?
dj honda: It does. The air and food are different, and I reset. It gives me a kind of security unlike anywhere else.
Fan: Will your work expand beyond music?
dj honda: Only music.
Fan: Are you interested in scoring films in the way Ryuichi Sakamoto did?
dj honda: Yes. I am interested in putting sound to film or drama through a hip-hop approach.
Fan: What do you find in music made by younger generations?
dj honda: Their sensibility is interesting. They have equipment and the power of social media that did not exist in my era. But the root—proving yourself through sound—does not change.
Fan questions: craft, independence and legacy
Fan: Do you make music with dance in mind?
dj honda: Sometimes the result is a track people can dance to in a club. The basic question is whether it feels good to me.
Fan: Is there a deceased rapper you wish you could meet again?
dj honda: Many: Dave—David “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur—of De La Soul, Eazy-E, Big Pun, Guru, Poetic, Sean Price and Ecstasy of Whodini. It is painful that people I spoke with or shared stages with are no longer here.
Fan: Is it better for a beginner to teach themselves or attend a DJ school? Is any age too late?
dj honda: Age does not matter. Teaching yourself is fine, and watching skilled performers can accelerate growth. Repeated practice and finding your own style are what matter.
Fan: How involved were you with the fashion products and h-logo caps?
dj honda: Everything.
Fan: Which session with an international artist changed your life?
dj honda: Every track. I only worked with the real thing.
Fan: When you make a track, do you begin with the beat, a sample or a melody?
dj honda: It depends on my mood.
Fan: How has your beatmaking changed since you were young?
dj honda: It has not.
Fan: A message for younger people?
dj honda: Do not only imitate. Follow your own style and what you want to do. Continue, and results will come.
Fan questions: direct answers
- How should I use a DDJ-400? “I have never used one.”
- Can somebody succeed while DJing alongside a regular job? “It depends on you.”
- How did worldwide success with the h cap change you? “I stayed the same.”
- Is there a recent MC you want to give a beat? “Nobody in particular.”
- Where do you feel most comfortable—Hokkaido, Tokyo or New York? What about Los Angeles? “Sapporo, New York and LA are all great.”
- Do you have a rival DJ? “No.”
- What do you think of today’s Japanese hip-hop scene? “It is active. There is more diversity than before, which is good.”
- How much money did you personally make from the caps? “Too much to count.”
hV and the fifth answer
Sei: Why release hV sixteen years after hIV?
dj honda: I am always making tracks at the same pace, so there was no special reason such as “I made this for this moment.” It was finished, so I released it. I work on my own timing, and that was the timing.
Sei: What should listeners hear in hV?
dj honda: Every record in the series has presented the answer of who I was at that time. hV is the same: an updated version of me in 2025. It is less about comparing the albums than engraving each period’s answer.
Sei: The Showa-pop-like opening of “Prologue to the Game”—what was the source?
dj honda: Completely original.
Sei: What did you put into “Life on Turntable”?
dj honda: My life as a DJ. I was shocked by the turntable in the 1980s and became absorbed in it. I turned the path through friends and battles into sound. The turntable is not only equipment. It is language, a weapon and life itself. The song contains the path of continuing to speak and prove myself through sound.
Sei: What does “5th Answer” mean?
dj honda: The answer presented by the fifth album. It is my answer, in sound, to accumulated experience and changing times—one answer from more than forty years with hip-hop.
Sei: Is there another theme listeners should know?
dj honda: The history built since the 1980s and every stage where I fought are in the beats. It records my sound now. hV is proof in beats connecting the past and present.
What came after the interview
Sei: What projects were in progress when we spoke?
dj honda: My base is Japan, but I always think worldwide. Location no longer matters; you can release work from anywhere. At that point I was preparing hV.2, with hV.3 and hV.4 planned after it, while producing albums for other artists.
Update: TuneCore Japan now lists hV.2 as an eleven-track album released on June 22, 2026. The later projects mentioned in the interview remain plans unless separately confirmed by dj honda.
“Freedom and proof”
Sei: What is hip-hop to you?
dj honda: Hip-hop is freedom and proof. In any environment, you can rise through sound and show who you are. I lived that spirit with the turntable as my weapon. It is music and culture, and it is a language for connecting with friends. I learned through the turntable and continued proving myself because hip-hop existed.
Read Part One and official sources
- Part One: Hokkaido, the 1992 battle and New York sessions
- dj honda official English biography
- dj honda on TuneCore Japan
- More HIPHOPCs exclusive interviews in English
- More Japanese rap coverage in English
Interview: Sei / HIPHOPCs
Japanese-edition materials: supplied by dj honda production
English edition artwork: original HIPHOPCs editorial design
