R-Naby Interview: Ending 13 Years in New York, Heading to LA, and Unveiling ‘Hey New York’
Thirteen years is more than enough time for a city to change from somewhere you live into part of who you are.
R-Naby has spent those years based in New York, working as a rapper. He played show after show, built relationships with local artists, and found stability in both work and daily life. What began from zero in a foreign country finally became a solid foundation after 13 years.
And yet he is now preparing to leave all of it behind and head to Los Angeles.
When asked why, his answer was strikingly simple.
“I’m going to make the dream I had as a kid come true.”
Los Angeles gangsta hip-hop was what first inspired R-Naby to rap. He says he does not want to reach 60 or 70 and find himself thinking, “I should have gone to LA back then.”
He has no job, no place to perform, and not even a home lined up yet. Still, he laughs and says, “I have nothing but confidence.”
Before leaving the city where he has spent 13 years, he is also making Hey New York, a concept album filled with gratitude for New York.
He is not leaving because he has fallen out of love with the city.
“It’s because I love it so much that I want to keep that love intact.”
R-Naby now stands at the boundary between the 13 years he built in New York and the challenge he is about to begin from zero in Los Angeles. HIPHOPCs asked him how he feels at this moment—and what comes next.
SEI: It’s been a while. Has it been about six months? Last time, you were in LA for a show.
R-Naby: It has. Yeah.
SEI: Quite a bit of time has passed since then. Back then, you mentioned that you were thinking about moving to Los Angeles, and now you have released a new track, so I thought this would be a good time to interview you again.
To get right to it, why leave New York after living there for 13 years and move to Los Angeles now? I’m also curious why Los Angeles rather than another city. Are you really going to LA?
R-Naby: Well, if people read the earlier interview before this one, the two form a story.
Basically, when I first started, I got into rap because I admired what people call Los Angeles gangsta hip-hop. From there, I fell deep into hip-hop. So this goes back to where it all began: I’m simply going to make the dream I had as a kid come true. That’s really all it is.
SEI: So did you just get tired of New York? Or rather, do you have no regrets?
R-Naby: Honestly, when you put it that way, all I feel is sadness.
SEI: Of course it’s sad. After 13 years, you must have friends there, and your entire life is established there.
R-Naby: Exactly. It’s because I love it so much that I want to keep that love intact. I want to keep loving it forever.
“It’s because I love it so much that I want to keep that love intact. I want to keep loving it forever.”
R-Naby
「だからもうほんと大好きだからこそ、大好きのまま残したいって自分は思うんですよ。もうずっと大好きでいたいんですよ。」
SEI: Right, right. I see. So you want to leave while you still love the city and go to Los Angeles to make your dream come true. That makes sense.
R-Naby: I’ve been performing constantly for the past six months, and it’s genuinely so much fun. But I think this happens to everyone: when you stay somewhere too long, there comes a moment when what used to excite you no longer does. You get too used to it.
SEI: Still, you perform regularly, and you probably know plenty of people in the industry. At the end of the day, this really is a fresh start—completely from zero.
R-Naby: Everything really is starting from zero. In a good way, it’s almost insanely reckless. [Laughs]
SEI: It is. I mean, it’s incredibly wild. And you have a wife, too. Your whole life…
R-Naby: In LA, I won’t have a job or any connections for shows. I’m going there for the incredibly selfish reason of making the dream I had as a kid come true, so yes, it’s pretty wild. I have nothing but gratitude for my wife.
SEI: It is wild, and I think your wife is incredibly devoted. I met her last time, and she struck me as such a kind, understanding person.
R-Naby: There is one big reason I can do it.
SEI: What reason?
R-Naby: Confidence. I have nothing but confidence.
“Confidence. I have nothing but confidence.”
R-Naby
「自信。自信しかないですよ。」
SEI: Ah, confidence in yourself. Right.
R-Naby: This is just my estimate, but once I get there, I plan to bring myself back to roughly my current standard of living within about three months.
SEI: I see. So you have confidence that you can actually do that. There must be a basis for it, right?
R-Naby: Fundamentally, though, I really have nothing. I haven’t even found a place to live yet. The only preparation I’m doing is… getting my driver’s license.
SEI: Right. You said you got your license. You obtained a driver’s license that you didn’t need in New York. Driving is a MUST in California, after all.
R-Naby: And I want to live in a place called Inglewood.
SEI: Inglewood, yes. That’s near the airport.
R-Naby: All I’m doing right now is looking for a place there. That’s honestly about it. My wife is also in the middle of transferring language schools.
SEI: You said that in addition to rapping, you work in consulting in New York. What will you do about that side job?
R-Naby: That ends in December, too. The lease on my place will also be up.
SEI: Then you really have to go. There’s no turning back.
R-Naby: I have to go, and now that I’m talking about it in media like this, I’ve put myself in a position where I can’t back out.
SEI: R-Naby, to be honest—and forgive me for saying this—you’re not exactly young. If you were in your teens or twenties, you could do something reckless and still recover. But at this age, if you fail, that could be it. Where does that drive to take on a challenge come from?
R-Naby: That drive comes from confidence, which goes back to what I said earlier. I have confidence in myself because I’ve made it through 13 years here in New York.
SEI: You didn’t start from zero—you started from below zero when you first came to New York. You built a foundation for your life, and now you’re in a comfortable position where you can live normally in the United States and make rap music, too. I live in the US as well, so I understand how remarkable that is. It’s a genuine American dream, isn’t it?
R-Naby: In a sense, it really is. But the big thing for me was that I still hadn’t fulfilled the dream I had as a kid.
R-Naby: Rather than calling it a challenge, I feel like if I’ve come this far and don’t go, I’ll be left with regret.
SEI: I see. So it’s about living a life without regrets.
R-Naby: When I’m 60 or 70, I’ll definitely think, “I should have gone to Los Angeles back then.” Visiting somewhere and actually living there are completely different.
SEI: That’s true. Visiting and living somewhere really are completely different.
R-Naby: If, over the course of my life, I can live in both New York and Los Angeles and become something close to the person I want to be in both cities, I think that would be a lot of fun.
A lot of people stay in Los Angeles once they’re there, and a lot of people in New York stay in New York. But wouldn’t it be incredible to really establish myself in both? That’s the feeling. It’s pure momentum.
SEI: I think many readers may have the wrong idea about you. People who only know the R-Naby they see on social media probably imagine that you’re completely outrageous and reckless. But you’re actually… a perfectly sensible person, aren’t you?
R-Naby: Something really surprised me recently. I read Cs interviews from time to time, and the other day I happened to see a Story from CzTiger, so I liked it. Then a lot of posts started appearing in my feed, and I kept liking them. Cz wrote, “Getting a like from R-Naby in New York—knowing he’s reading my article—has me seriously hyped.” It made me realize that’s how people see me.
SEI: Right, right.
R-Naby: That made me happy, too. I mean, I can serve as an example of someone doing this overseas—that’s why he would write something like that.
And maybe people like this kind of way of living, too. That’s another reason I want to go to Los Angeles.
SEI: You said you’re doing about two shows every week in New York now, so you’re very active.
R-Naby: Yes. I was performing until just 12 hours ago today.
SEI: And you said you have another one tomorrow.
R-Naby: Exactly.
SEI: On top of that, you also do consulting work. After moving to LA, how quickly do you plan to return to your current level of activity?
R-Naby: The plan is to spend the first month switching over my driver’s license, bank accounts, ID, and everything else like that.
I’ll also need to make an appointment with the DMV, the California agency that handles vehicle registration and the issuance and renewal of driver’s licenses. Then, around the second month, I’ll find a daytime job. I also want to try doing something I haven’t done in New York.
SEI: Right, right. That sounds good.
R-Naby: And at night, I’m thinking I’ll go around to the live venues in that area.
SEI: In that area?
R-Naby: When I first came to New York, I went to open mics all over the Bronx and Brooklyn. I don’t know what those kinds of places are like in LA now, but I’m just going to keep moving and be everywhere.
SEI: So you’re going to take on LA. Just be careful not to get shot.
R-Naby: I think I’ll be okay. I survived New York for 13 years, so I’m sure I’ll be fine. I’m not stupid, either.
I’m also confident in my communication skills. I plan to approach it humbly, gradually working my way up from the bottom in a very Japanese way.
SEI: Oh, so you’ll be humble about that part?
R-Naby: But as I mentioned earlier, I want to bring myself back to something close to my current level of activity in New York within about three months. I know how to operate in the United States.
SEI: That’s true.
R-Naby: I plan to put that knowledge to work. And fortunately, I also have a lot of connections. Even outside Los Angeles, I have quite a few connections in Vegas and elsewhere in Nevada.
SEI: You’ve traveled to all kinds of places for shows.
R-Naby: I’m thinking I’ll pursue those opportunities, too.
SEI: So you’ll use Los Angeles as a base and expand farther west.
R-Naby: Exactly. It’s the reverse of what I couldn’t do from New York. I’m going to pursue that thoroughly.
SEI: How many months do you have left in New York? It’s August now, so only about four months? What do you want to do during the rest of your time there—or rather, what are you planning to do at the end?
R-Naby: The last thing I want to do in New York is meet the people I haven’t seen—the people I’ve met over the years who have looked after me.
SEI: Who, for example?
R-Naby: People who kept me fed going all the way back, people I helped and people who helped me in all kinds of ways, and friends I worked part-time jobs alongside back then. I want to say one final “I’m off” to the people who were around me and supported me when things were hard and I was giving it everything I had. That’s one thing.
And I’m making an album now—a new album, I mean.
SEI: Oh! A new album. What’s the title?
R-Naby: It’s called Hey NewYork. This is the first time I’ve made a “concept album.”
SEI: Ah, a concept. I see.
R-Naby: I’m sampling remixes by New York legends on it.
SEI: That’s wonderful. That’s hip-hop at its most hip-hop.
R-Naby: Exactly. These days, everybody in hip-hop uses Auto-Tune, and so much of the music sounds alike, doesn’t it?
SEI: That’s true.
R-Naby: But for this album, I went back to the legendary rappers I admired in the 1990s and 2000s—and so many legendary rappers come from New York. I’m making this concept album by sampling classic tracks from those New York legends. One of the songs is “Hey Ma”… I mean, “Hey NewYork.”
SEI: The Cam’Ron song?
R-Naby: Cam’Ron’s “Hey Ma.” I really am sampling it.
SEI: That’s interesting.
R-Naby: And this time, it’s all about the real New York. You can’t write everything about New York in a single song. So I’m spreading it across several tracks and writing about things that have happened to me—things that happened in New York.
SEI: That’s really interesting.
R-Naby: I’m going to see that through to the end. Then, for the finale, there’s a legendary New York venue called SOB’s.
SEI: Yes.
R-Naby: I want to do one final “special show of my own” there.
SEI: Have you contacted the venue?
R-Naby: Of course. There’s an organizer, and he knows about it. I’m thinking of doing it either in October or December.
SEI: October or December. That sounds great.
R-Naby: I’d like him to put together a special show for me. I’ve also collaborated with some pretty significant New York artists.
SEI: Maino, for example.
R-Naby: I don’t know whether I can bring Maino in, but I want to invite all of the local artists.
SEI: What about A-Thug?
R-Naby: Actually, I may have mentioned this before, but A-Thug and I agreed to make a track together. The thing is… our vibes aren’t really aligned right now.
SEI: Your vibes?
R-Naby: Right. Our vibes just aren’t that similar at the moment. That’s part of it, and A-Thug and I were also choosing tracks together.
SEI: Is it difficult?
R-Naby: Right now I’m writing about my gratitude for New York, so I’m also wondering how he would fit with that. But we did agree that we would make one last track together.
SEI: I see. To be honest, you could still collaborate and release something as a separate project after you move to LA, right? What you’re making now is a tribute to New York.
R-Naby: That’s true. A-Thug actually moved to New Jersey, but there are only so many Japanese rappers around New York.
SEI: Right, there aren’t many. But A-Thug is a legend—an OG in Japanese hip-hop. Plenty of kids must have become rappers because they wanted to follow in his footsteps. I think it would be an interesting feature.
R-Naby: Yes. I think we can probably make it happen.
SEI: Then I hope readers will look forward to it.
R-Naby: Someone told me, “Cs is really big in Japan right now.” I thought, “Oh, is that right?” And recently, someone came all the way from Japan to New York to meet me. That person said they had seen me on Cs, too.
SEI: It makes sense that young people might look up to someone like you, working in New York, as a role model.
R-Naby: I haven’t been back to Japan in 13 years, so maybe people wonder whether I really exist.
SEI: Ah, I see. You’re in the “fairy” category now—Fairy Naby.
R-Naby: They were asking, “Can I really meet you?”
SEI: They came all that way specifically to see you?
R-Naby: Yes. Isn’t that amazing? I guess that’s how I look from Japan. From my perspective, I’m thinking, “You can absolutely meet me in New York.”
SEI: So appearing on Cs did get some response. I’m glad to hear that. Changing the subject, do you have any broad goals from here?
R-Naby: To keep the story going, I’m thinking I’ll ask Cs to interview me again when the time is right. I really want you to follow what I’m about to tell you and see how it unfolds in Los Angeles.
SEI: To follow R-Naby’s journey. Right.
R-Naby: Exactly. My broad dream there is to do in Los Angeles what I’m planning to do at SOB’s before leaving New York: put on one final show.
SEI: What do you mean?
R-Naby: Let’s say I stay in LA for three years, just as an example. Over those three years, I plan to make a huge number of friends.
SEI: I see.
R-Naby: Not only Japanese people, but Americans, too. I want to make a huge number of friends and make my time in Los Angeles incredible. My broad goal now is to put on a Los Angeles show that represents the culmination of all of that. Then, after doing that, I want to return to New York once more.
SEI: What kind of timeframe are you talking about? How many years from now?
R-Naby: Two to three years. Then I’ll return to New York, and ultimately, in the future, I want to work in Japan.
SEI: Right, you mentioned that before.
R-Naby: I want to do my “true final show” there in New York. After finishing the Los Angeles show, I want to return to New York and do one last performance in the United States—the final, final show where I say, “I’m going back to Japan.” That’s what I want to do within the next few years.
So I really see those two or three years in Los Angeles as the decisive stretch. Physically, I’m at an age now when I still have the most energy.
SEI: I see.
R-Naby: While I still have that energy, I want to take on the biggest challenge I possibly can—at the MAX. That isn’t some vague dream anymore—it’s my goal. I’m going to make it happen. It’s up to me. So the moment I get there, I’m joining the community.
I want to put on that culminating show in LA, then come back to New York one more time and take the stage there for a final “thank you”—a last performance to say, “Thank you, America.”
SEI: Do you ultimately want Japan to be where you spend the rest of your life?
R-Naby: Of course. As things stand, I probably haven’t seen my parents in 15 years. So yes, I genuinely want to pursue things in Japan next. And because I speak English, I’m interested in Asia as well.
SEI: Ah, expanding into Asia.
R-Naby: I’m extremely interested. It would be a waste to limit myself to Japanese, so I want to see what else is out there.
SEI: That sounds interesting—R-Naby featuring a rapper from another Asian country, for example. I’m looking forward to the kind of international work that only you can do. Could we ask how you’re feeling again a few days before you move to LA?
R-Naby: Yes, please.
SEI: When exactly are you moving? On New Year’s Day next year?
R-Naby: Specifically, it will be in mid-December.
SEI: The album will be out before then, right? When are you planning to release it?
R-Naby: I’m thinking of releasing it about five days before I actually leave.
SEI: I see. So the date is still undecided, but it will be sometime in December.
R-Naby: Right. But all of the recording is already finished. There are only two tracks left to master, so the album is about 90 percent complete.
SEI: Are you going to make and release music videos for songs from the album?
R-Naby: I uploaded the “Hey NewYork” one recently, and I’m about to shoot the final one now.
SEI: So when this article comes out, we’ll be able to include a link to the “Hey NewYork” video?
R-Naby: Yes, I want you to include it. And I want people to really enjoy that New York sampling.
SEI: That sounds great.
R-Naby: Right. And for the next and final interview, I’d like to talk about how I feel and about the album just a few days before I leave—when I can say, “I’m going in only a few more days.”
SEI: Understood. So we’ll interview you again in December.
R-Naby: Yes. Then you can keep following the story regularly, once every six months. By next time, 2high might appear with me, or something else will definitely have happened.
SEI: It will also be easier for me to interview you once you’re in LA.
R-Naby: Yes, of course.
SEI: One last question. At this point, is there any message or advice you would like to share with readers and viewers?
R-Naby: I think Cs readers genuinely love hip-hop. But most of what they see is probably rappers and music active in Japan. I know this outlet interviews some people who are active overseas, but even so, I think it’s rare to find a Japanese rapper who has immersed himself in it as deeply as I have.
SEI: Right, right.
R-Naby: I want people to see that this kind of way of living is an option, too. It isn’t necessarily the right answer, but if hip-hop and Cs can show people that living this way isn’t so bad either, I think that would be a good thing.
“I want people to see that this kind of way of living is an option, too.”
R-Naby
「なんかこういう生き方もオプションとしてあるんですよっていう。そんな感じに見てもらえるといいのかなって。」
SEI: Thank you. I’ve said this many times, but your social-media image tends to come first, so people often assume that R-Naby is outrageous and reckless. But when you actually talk to him, he is remarkably sensible and considerate of others.
You talk yourself up quite a bit on social media, don’t you? You post things that come across like, “I’m out here working hard in New York,” so I think some people probably find that off-putting. Is that a persona?
R-Naby: It’s pretty much a persona. In the first Cs article, you wrote that I was “like Gian.”
SEI: Oh, I’m sorry about that.
R-Naby: No, no. I received quite a few comments and DMs about it, and people told me, “You really are Gian.”
SEI: Right. You’re hot-blooded, but you also have a great deal of compassion—and you have common sense. In the Doraemon movies, Gian tries incredibly hard, doesn’t he? He breaks out of the bully role, shows tremendous leadership, and gives it everything he has. He cares about his friends. That’s the type of person I think you are. And I’m sorry, but you do look a little like Gian, too. [Laughs] Your personality is more grounded, though—like Gian grew up and became a sensible adult.
R-Naby: That may be true. [Laughs]
SEI: Sorry—that may not sound like a compliment. [Laughs] With that, I hope everyone reading will check out R-Naby’s music. Thank you very much for speaking with us today.
“This kind of way of living is an option, too.”
That is what R-Naby said at the end of the interview.
No one yet knows whether his way of living is the right one.
He is giving up the life he spent 13 years building and moving somewhere where he has no job, no home, and no connections for shows. And as he repeatedly acknowledges, he is no longer at an age when he can act recklessly and easily start over if things go wrong.
Still, he is going.
Because more than failure itself, he fears the regret of thinking, “I should have gone back then.”
Looking back, success was never guaranteed when R-Naby began his 13 years in New York. He built a life from nothing, formed relationships, and kept performing. Eventually, he became someone whom visitors from Japan would ask, “Do you really exist?”
Now he will start from zero again in Los Angeles.
After spending several years in LA, he plans to return to New York one more time, perform a final show to say, “Thank you, America,” and then go back to Japan. That is the future he now imagines.
Will everything unfold according to that plan?
Probably not. Plenty of things may go differently.
But that, too, is true to R-Naby.
On social media, he is supremely confident and a little outrageous. Speak with him directly, and he is surprisingly sensible, repeatedly expressing gratitude to the people around him. In an earlier article, this writer described him as “like Gian.”
After speaking with him again, that impression has not changed much.
Except perhaps this time, we should call him Gian, all grown up without ever giving up on his dream.
In December, R-Naby will leave New York.
HIPHOPCs plans to speak with him once more just before he goes.
And if possible, we would like to keep following him beyond that.
What will the man who said, “There is another way to live,” actually build in Los Angeles?
The answer is still to come.
Editorial note: Original interview and Japanese article by SEI. This English edition was translated and edited by HIPHOPCs from the Japanese original. The responses were translated from Japanese and lightly edited for punctuation without changing their meaning. All remarks reflect the circumstances described at the time of the original interview.
R-Naby Links
URL: https://linkco.re/xAQbh00m
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/r_naby_official_nyc/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@r_naby
