DJ KANJI Interview: Accepting Himself, THE SOUL and the People Behind the Music

Interview and writing: Lucie. English translation of the Japanese interview published on September 22, 2026. The speakers’ recollections and references to time follow the published Japanese edition. Release information added by the editors is identified separately.

As I stepped out of Nakanobu Station, Route 1 came into view, pushing its way through the buildings. People, cars, even time itself seemed to be rushing past without a break.

I followed the road toward our meeting place. At the destination, a slightly cramped elevator carried me upstairs, and I stepped into the studio.

The room held traces of all the rappers and producers who had played with sound there. After I had waited a while, a DJ and producer appeared.

In hip-hop, it is usually the rapper who tells the story on a track. Unless producers contribute lyrics themselves, they have fewer opportunities to put their thoughts and feelings directly into words within the music.

Yet with DJ KANJI, those feelings and messages have a way of showing through the music—even when he is the one behind the beat.

How does he put so much of himself into a song without saying a word?

Because his role as a producer does not stop at making beats. He shapes the direction of the entire project, bringing its different parts together.

His work as a producer runs through three projects: the EP THE LIFE, his first album THE VOICE, and his second album THE SOUL.

Listen:
THE LIFE: Apple Music / Spotify
THE VOICE: Apple Music / Spotify
THE SOUL: Apple Music / Spotify

But the beats are not all his own. He brings in everyone from established talents to newcomers who have yet to step into the spotlight. Then he carefully chooses rappers who can respond to each beat on its own wavelength.

Perhaps that is why the rappers on his records sound so at ease, speaking without holding back. They are not simply riding the beat. They are answering it.

The result is a story. A story that seems to grow out of the way the record was made. To my ears, these projects are more than collections of singles.

The list of artists who have helped DJ KANJI give those stories their shape could go on and on.

LEX, HIYADAM, Y’S, Jin Dogg, Young Coco, Yo-Sea, Elle Teresa, Masato Hayashi, Kaneee, Kohjiya, MIKADO, Gottz… Let’s stop there.

The breadth of those connections traces the path of his career. Since his early days, he has traveled from club to club across Japan, valuing the moments when he can meet people face to face. These relationships are the beautiful tracks that journey has left behind.

We look back on DJ KANJI’s life and career, talk about the records that move with his emotions, and ask how he sees the scene today.

As usual, YTG Sam joined us. After we caught up, the interview began almost of its own accord.

Following DJ KANJI’s Path: What Came into View When He Accepted All of Himself

Lucie: Thank you for joining us today. Could you start by introducing yourself?

KANJI: I’m DJ KANJI, a DJ and producer from Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Lucie: Thank you. It was a little while ago now, but first, congratulations on the THE SOUL headline show!

What has the response been like since then?

KANJI: I’m still really feeling it. We did that show at Zepp, and there was some distance between me and the crowd… It wasn’t so much a conversation with each individual person as taking in everybody’s voices at once.

Now I’m touring around Japan, and people who were there come up and say, “I went to your headline show!” Hearing things like that makes me really glad I did it. It keeps me motivated.

Lucie: I can imagine. It probably still feels pretty fresh.

I’d like to go back to your roots. What was your childhood like?

KANJI: Well, it was a fairly ordinary home—not particularly good or bad. I had a pretty normal upbringing.

But my parents divorced when I was three… I’d seen them fighting right in front of me, too. After that, we moved into my grandma’s house. It was my older brother, my mom, my grandma and me.

Lucie: I see. When did you discover hip-hop?

KANJI: Until I was about 12, I hadn’t really been exposed to much music. My mom would have Mariah Carey playing in the car… That was about it. I wasn’t deeply into anything.

Then, when I was about 13, I saw an iPod commercial on TV. There were dancers, and Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” was playing. I thought, “This is so cool. So this is what hip-hop is.” That was around when I first recognized it as hip-hop.

At the time, DJ RYO-TA—who would later become my mentor—lived about 50 meters from my house.

When I was in junior high, his younger sister, who was older than me and had a bit of a rebellious streak, started talking to me. She’d be like, “What are you doing? Want to walk to school together?” So we started going to school together.

As we talked, she said, “My older brother’s a DJ.” Back then, I was still at the stage of “What’s a DJ?” I knew nothing. [laughs] She told me, “Come over sometime. I’ll introduce you.”

When I went to RYO-TA’s place, it was like everything I’d pictured hip-hop being was right there. Music was blasting from a boombox, and he came out in oversized clothes and a New Era cap: “So, you’re interested in hip-hop?” [laughs] He gave me caps and clothes, too.

After that, I put all my energy into learning about hip-hop. We didn’t have streaming subscriptions yet, so I’d go to the CD section of the video rental shop thinking, “Who’s this ‘gojussen-to’—50 Cent?” I’d rent something, listen at home, copy it onto a MiniDisc, return it and rent something else. I just kept doing that over and over.

Translator’s note: “Gojussen-to” is KANJI’s Japanese reading of “50 Cent” in this recollection, rather than “Fifty Cent.”

A few years after meeting RYO-TA—around when I started high school, I think—I bought turntables. He taught me to DJ from then on… Or rather, I learned by watching him, constantly.

Learning by Watching His Mentor

Lucie: When you started DJing, could you imagine yourself where you are now?

KANJI: I was completely into motorcycles back then, so DJing was just one of my hobbies.

I was that kid who’d play hip-hop, and when friends said, “This is cool, what is it?” I’d tell them with a bit of a swagger. [laughs]

When I was around 15 or 16, RYO-TA started taking me to clubs more regularly. And, man… the volume. That bass hitting you right in the heart really got me.

He looked so cool up there DJing, too. I started thinking, “I want to be like that.” Once I started learning from him, my passion for music really took off. I made my club DJ debut at 18.

Lucie: So you couldn’t have imagined any of this. Your younger self would be pretty surprised. [laughs]

KANJI: Not at all. [laughs]

Not many people around then were making a living from hip-hop, and I wasn’t really thinking commercially. What I enjoyed was meeting someone and going, “You know that track? That’s crazy,” and building a community that way.

At 18, I was constantly sharing whatever I was listening to. It was like making friends through music. Finding that connection was genuinely fun.

Lucie: So it was really about enjoying the music and connecting with people. And at 18, you began taking DJing more seriously.

In your artist profiles and earlier interviews, I read that you approached places like HARLEM and Abema yourself early in your career…

KANJI: Yeah. Until a little while ago, Abema had a live space right outside Harajuku Station. I’d only just moved to Tokyo, but I wanted to play there.

I emailed them myself: “This is what I do.” I sent my profile, links to mixtapes, press photos… They replied, and I ended up getting to perform there.

After that, DJ YANATAKE reached out and I got to DJ on WREP. I think those opportunities helped me start playing more often in Tokyo.

How DJ KANJI Became a Producer

Lucie: To me, you’re almost more of a beatmaker or producer than a DJ.

I wanted to ask how you made that move from DJing into production.

KANJI: Right, right. Even under the label “DJ,” there are so many different types. Battle DJs, club DJs, radio DJs, people entering competitions to test their skills…

I’ve been really lucky with the people around me. There’s DJ SHINTARO, a world champion. If we’re talking battle DJs, TIGU is great at scratching, and YANATAKE, too.

Honestly, competing with those people on technique would be pretty difficult. They’re all seriously skilled.

I felt like I couldn’t beat them. When I was thinking, “What could I do better?” I looked at DJ Khaled in the US. He was releasing songs and making records that were uniquely his.

Around 23, I went to New York and Los Angeles for the first time. I realized I didn’t have anything of my own to hand someone that would show them who I was as a DJ.

I wanted to make something only I could make. That’s how I started making beats as a producer.

Lucie: I see. Did becoming a producer change your perspective compared with when you were only DJing?

KANJI: Definitely. As a DJ, you hear so much different music.

Not just hip-hop, but R&B, pop, rock, reggae. The way you move to it and the sounds themselves vary so much between genres. Being able to bring those sounds into my production is one of the good things about being both a DJ and a beatmaker.

Lucie: Right, you naturally end up hearing a huge amount of music. So the club is also somewhere you study sound.

Meeting Artists—and Bringing a Whole Project Together

Lucie: You’ve collaborated with more artists than we could count. How did you build those connections?

KANJI: Most of them started with meeting someone, too.

And I email artists whose work I fall in love with. When I really love a rapper, it’s almost like a confession—not quite, but I’ll tell them, “You’re seriously amazing. I want to make a track with you.”

Lucie: So many artists who are shining right now have appeared on your records.

Some have become widely known through a song you produced… You’ve been there for a lot of turning points in people’s careers.

Having known them before and after they broke through, do you notice anything that makes you think, “This person’s going to make it”?

KANJI: Hmm, what is it… Their eyes, though. There’s something intense about their eyes. Some people do have that aura…

Ultimately, I think it’s who they are as people. Musicality matters, of course, but when you really click, I think you can make a good song together. Without that human connection, maybe a good song won’t happen.

Lucie: So in the end, it comes down to the person. And you bring all those people you connect with together on an album…

Looking at the credits, you often use beats by other producers as well as your own.

So I think “producing” for you means more than beatmaking. It means directing the whole project’s vision and sound. Like DJ Khaled.

What do you enjoy about making an album that way?

KANJI: Sure, I could make a project entirely with my own beats.

But to me, that would just be satisfying myself. I wouldn’t be bringing in anyone else’s perspective. Even if something I made alone became a hit, I think… I’d feel really lonely.

So when I release something as DJ KANJI, I often use other producers’ beats as well as my own and think carefully about which rappers to bring together. That way, I can give those producers a platform, too.

The Feelings Inside the Records

Lucie: As you released THE LIFE, THE VOICE and THE SOUL, I imagine you changed as a person. To me, those changes show in the titles and the artwork, too.

On THE LIFE, thin branches surround an egg sitting in a nest, and there’s a key hanging from a branch…

But things keep changing as you move toward THE SOUL. I’d like to go through those changes one by one. Could you talk us through them?

KANJI: Oh, there are… so many. Let’s start with the first project, THE LIFE.

If you look at the rocks in the bottom-left corner of the cover, you can see one of a man’s legs sticking out.

Lucie: You’re right! I hadn’t noticed. [embarrassed]

KANJI: When I made that cover, I thought, “I want it to show both my future and the life I’ve lived up to this point.”

That leg actually represents my dad, who divorced my mom when I was little. In the top right, there’s someone shining light on the branches. The light makes the tree grow, and its nutrients go to the egg. That’s what it means.

Lucie: Ohhh, now I see… And the egg?

KANJI: The egg is me. I thought I was still unfinished, and that it would be more interesting if I hadn’t been born yet.

Lucie: But on THE VOICE, the egg disappears. The viewpoint drops, too. The key that was hanging from the branch has become a cloud, and there’s a right hand reaching out, looking lonely.

KANJI: THE VOICE… Yeah. I was really struggling with depression when I made that album. That’s the period it came out of.

Sometimes I hold my hand up toward the sky. The sunlight on my palm feels gently warm, and it feels good. I wanted that hand on the cover just as it was, so I asked KAMIOKA, who designed it. The idea was, “I’ve already been born, so I guess there’s no need for the egg anymore.” That’s why it disappeared.

The tree has grown a little bigger, too. There were leaves on THE LIFE, right? I pictured those leaves as the artists who had taken part in my music. Their careers were growing steadily, so the leaves grew, too.

I was feeling emotional at the time, so the background became that pinkish color, like dusk.

Lucie: And the key becoming a cloud…?

KANJI: The idea was that the key was something I already had.

Lucie: Ah! [in wonder] Right… THE VOICE opens with that lonely intro, and then Masato Hayashi starts singing…

KANJI: It’s really depressed, right? [laughs]

Lucie: Honestly… You can feel that loneliness so strongly it almost pulls you in…

KANJI: When I was going through it, I was pretty much listening to nothing but Joe Hisaishi.

I didn’t want to see anyone, and I didn’t reach out. Listening to hip-hop sometimes made me feel even more suspicious and uneasy. It was a difficult period, so the intro ended up with a slightly sad melody, and the whole record became quite emotional.

Lucie: But then everything changes on THE SOUL.

The viewpoint doesn’t just rise—it goes above the clouds. The tree, standing in that dazzling morning light, is shaped like a heart. And two people’s hands are touching it… At last, you’re not alone.

After those two records, especially with THE VOICE being so emotional, opening with “LoveMyself” feels so good. “Once again, only the distance between us grows”… It made me go, “Yeahhh, exactly.” [laughs]

KANJI: True… Now that you mention it, yeah. It all connects. I think making “LoveMyself” might have helped me get past some of my upbringing and the painful things in my past.

Watch “LoveMyself” by DJ KANJI, Kaneee & Masato Hayashi

Before that, I’d been ashamed of having been depressed. I couldn’t tell people. I’d worry, “Am I making someone worry about me?” and get caught up in those thoughts.

But looking back now, I’d just lost sight of myself, and in the end, that was on me. I learned to love myself, and now that experience is something that helps me.

Lucie: That’s just… wonderful. That makes me happy…

KANJI: Of course, THE SOUL isn’t only happy. There’s a song called “Bad Trip,” too. I think having those shifts in pace is what lets you enjoy the waves and really feel both the happiness and the pain.

Lucie: That’s the track with Dexus Ogawa, formerly GOKU GREEN, and Myskinteriyaki, right? I listened to Dexus Ogawa myself, so it reminded me how wild he is.

KANJI: It actually wasn’t supposed to be on THE SOUL. It was going to be on the second project, THE VOICE… But I got too caught up in my own doubts and couldn’t put it on there. I finally managed to include it this time.

Lucie: But maybe now was exactly the right time… With the underground scene developing the way it has, I thought that track’s texture fit perfectly.

Looking Back on His Inner Struggles

Lucie: A lot of people around me, myself included, have been through those… struggles with their mental health. I think there’s that feeling of “How did this happen?”

KANJI: Exactly. [laughs] You do wonder, “Why?”

Lucie: In my case, I think having too many people to compare myself with was part of it. You go on social media and see somebody else succeeding… To me, that was a factor particular to the time we’re living in.

I think there are so many people feeling that way now. I was hoping you could offer some guidance on getting through it.

KANJI: …Yeah. When I was depressed, I really didn’t want to contact anyone or see anybody. I’d spend the whole day in a pitch-black room, not doing anything, just thinking negative thoughts…

But I had friends who kept reaching out and kept trying to get me outside. Those little things added up to where I am now. I’m genuinely grateful. If they hadn’t kept contacting me then, I might still be shut away now.

Even the small things—happiness really is close by. I think it’s important to recognize that and take a proper look at yourself in the mirror.

How KANJI Makes Music

Lucie: We’ve gone pretty deep, so I’d like to turn to how you make music!

What DAW do you normally use? And are there any plug-ins you particularly like?

KANJI: Ableton Live. Favorite plug-ins… Pro-Q, I guess.

It’s an EQ that can do all kinds of things, like cutting low frequencies. I mainly use it to take some low end out of vocals or remove parts of a beat that don’t need to be there. I find it easy to use.

Lucie: Oh, I had this image of most trap producers using FL Studio. You can make all sorts of things with Ableton, too.

Where do you start a beat? Melody, drums, maybe bass?

KANJI: I don’t think I have a fixed starting point. I work with other producers quite a lot.

Melody isn’t really my strong suit. I still don’t properly understand chords… I can make a melody with single notes, no problem, though.

So I might ask a friend who’s good at melodies to handle that while I just put the drums together. Then it becomes a collaboration, and it can help get their work out there, too. That’s often how I work.

On THE SOUL, for melodic songs like “LoveMyself” and “Celebrate,” the chords are especially important, so I asked this guy called LEGOFACTORY to help. He’s right over there, actually.

Watch DJ KANJI’s “Celebrate” featuring MIKADO & Tete

Lucie: Oh… Wait, what?! You’re here! [laughs] H-hello.

Two young men were also sitting in on the interview, alongside DJ KANJI, Sam and Lucie.

LEGO: [bows]

Lucie: I recognized that name from the “LoveMyself” credits, but I never imagined the person himself would be sitting right in front of me… What a surprise.

So, as with LEGO, you often meet people in person to work on music. These days, a track can be made entirely online…

KANJI: Yeah, I go and meet people quite often. We might get as far as the demo online, but when it comes to the final recording, we meet in person.

Sometimes I’ll call or have a meeting with a rapper before we record. Communicating and understanding the other person first makes me more emotionally invested in the song.

Lucie: So there’s something that comes specifically from doing it the old-fashioned way…

KANJI: Definitely, definitely. Especially now.

Lucie: Absolutely. Every song carries a memory with it.

A rapper can make a message clear through the lyrics. A producer, on the other hand, can’t put that message into words… You have to communicate it through sound, right?

How do you put what you want to say into a beat?

KANJI: The title of the beat… Titles are pretty important.

Say a beat is just named after the date it was made. Even if the beat itself is amazing, I end up thinking, “There’s no topic. What should I do with it?” I think a rapper receiving it would feel the same way.

So I give every beat a title. It can be anything. Sometimes it ends up being something completely ridiculous. [laughs]

Sometimes the name someone gave a beat becomes the title of the finished song, just as it is.

KANJI and Sam on the Changing Scene

Lucie: THE SOUL has some newer sounds, too, including tracks with that recently revived futuristic glo sound.

But sounds go in and out of fashion ridiculously fast, don’t they? Something was popular a moment ago, and suddenly it’s old. Do you do anything in particular to keep up with what sounds good right now?

KANJI: I’m always checking new releases, whether they’re Japanese or from overseas. Music from elsewhere in Asia, too, for example.

The other day, I ate at a curry restaurant run by people from Sri Lanka. I got curious: “Is there hip-hop where they’re from?” So I asked them. There was a proper culture there, of course, and they told me, “This is the kind of sound that’s popular.”

That’s how I do it. I go looking for things myself. And not just hip-hop—reggae and all kinds of other genres, too.

Lucie: That’s a great way of finding things out! [laughs]

Let’s talk about the scene today. I think you started your career a little before trap really took over… Is that right? You’ve watched trends come and go in Japan over quite a long time.

How does the scene look to you now?

KANJI: I think it’s good. Looking at the positive side, people have so many opportunities now. Social media lets a song spread really quickly…

But I can’t imagine this lasting forever.

Sam: Y’S said the same thing two weeks ago. [laughs] He usually tries to look at things positively. He’s not someone who says much that’s negative.

KANJI: Really? [laughs] He’s an OG, too, so he’s been watching the scene properly.

Sam: Yeah, he really has. The other day, he said, “The hierarchy we had when we were young isn’t there anymore.” When we were coming up, going around and greeting everyone as soon as you got to the club was an absolute must, right?

But kids now can make their own tracks, record themselves and put everything out alone. In a way, they can blow up entirely on their own. That means they don’t necessarily have relationships with older rappers. For better or worse, they can come across as a little cheeky.

KANJI: Yeah… It might be a little different from the hip-hop we grew up seeing.

It’s not so much about childhood friends, friends, older heads—everyone working to come up together. It feels lonely when those connections aren’t there.

I’m glad the scene has grown and there’s money in it now. That’s progress. But I think there are definitely things being lost alongside what we’re gaining.

My friends and the people around me helped me through, and that’s why I’m still making music. So I don’t know whether the younger generation will be able to keep doing this for a long time.

Lucie: So does that hierarchy still matter?

KANJI: Looking back, there are definitely times when I think, “I’m glad I got punched back then.” [laughs]

Even now, I’ll thank older guys back home: “Thank you for hitting me back then.” And they’ll say, “You finally get it, huh?”

Lucie: I see… So you can’t really dismiss manners and those unwritten rules.

As you were saying, more people doesn’t automatically mean better quality. Even with the scene growing, I worry it could end up declining. I seriously, really want it to keep going. I don’t want it to end…

KANJI: Of course. I feel the same.

Lucie: But sometimes that little worry crosses my mind. I think, “Something might be wrong here.” What can we do to keep the scene going?

Sam: I think it’ll probably be fine. KANJI will keep the quality under control. [laughs]

KANJI: I’m not doing that. [laughs]

Well… I think it’s fine that the scene has all kinds of people in it now. New people coming through has both good and bad sides. It’s not as if we can clearly say what’s right.

But it’s a bit like, “Other people can do their thing.” For now, we’ll do ours. I’m just going to keep making things with my friends.

For Better or Worse, Honesty Comes First

Lucie: In that scene, what makes someone a good rapper to you?

KANJI: A good rapper… Honest. I really like people who are honest.

Even if they’re saying some shitty things, if they’re the kind of rapper who can make it work, that’s fine. A lyric like, “I’ve got a girlfriend, but I hung out with another girl yesterday, yeah”—if it’s true, I’m fine with it.

Sam: If it really happened, it is what it is. [laughs]

KANJI: Exactly. [laughs] I like honest rappers because their words are believable. I think it’s similar with producers.

Lucie: That makes sense.

But producers don’t sing, so you don’t have lyrics as a way of judging that honesty… Does a producer’s personality change the sound?

KANJI: It comes through. I really think you hear it in the sound.

Lucie: Seriously, so it does come through. That’s fascinating.

Which honest rappers have caught your attention recently?

KANJI: My friend MIKADO, for example. His lyrics are honest. I like that.

To me, a rapper is different from a singer. A rapper is a little cheeky and has a strong sense of self. MIKADO fits that image. He’s got something important in him.

Lucie: MIKADO’s been doing amazing things lately. I’ve heard he makes songs by freestyling.

KANJI: Yeah, exactly. You put the beat on, and he really does start making something up straight away.

Lucie: How long does it take him to finish?

KANJI: At his fastest, he can finish in a few dozen minutes.

With “Celebrate,” he started singing about five seconds after the beat started playing. I was like, “You haven’t even heard two bars yet!” [laughs] He said, “This is it,” and the mic wasn’t even on yet. He had the whole hook and verse done in just under an hour.

Sam: Seriously?! That’s amazing.

Lucie: I’d heard the stories, but… that really is something.

And what about a producer?

KANJI: Him. LEGOFACTORY.

LEGO: [bows]

KANJI: He’s from Hamamatsu like me. We’ve known each other for about a year.

When I went back to Hamamatsu once, I decided I wanted to build a studio. I was looking for a producer from there, or someone who could make music while recording people.

That was when an older friend introduced him to me. He’d been going to university, but apparently he was thinking, “I really want to pursue music.” We met at that moment.

We clicked from the first day, and we’ve been making music together. I’m interested in what the next generation is making, and I like his mindset and his approach. I learn a lot from him.

Lucie: That’s lovely. What a great connection.

Sam: By the way, who’s the other guy next to him?

KANJI: That’s Woody. He sings on “LoveYourself.”

Watch DJ KANJI & Woody: “LoveYourself” / “FEEL LIKE THIS” on NEOWN

Woody: [bows]

Lucie: Ohhh! When I heard the album, I thought, “Someone on here has a seriously sexy voice!” So it was you…

KANJI: He’s young, too—still about 24. He’s part of the next generation of R&B singers after people like Yo-Sea and 3house.

There’s a producer in Okinawa called NGONG. He asked me, “Do you know a singer called Woody who lives in Shizuoka?” I looked him up, realized he was nearby, and contacted him. We met for tea in his hometown.

We clicked, and now we’re making music together.

Sam: Even your speaking voice sounds good. What was it like getting in the studio with KANJI?

Woody: Well, I moved to Tokyo when I was at university, too, and back then I used to watch KANJI’s DJ sets from the crowd… When I found out we were going to meet, I thought, “This is like something out of a TV drama.”

He sent me a beat pack on the first day we met. Something really lit up inside me, and I made a song that same day.

KANJI: Yeah. The demo had already arrived while I was on my way back to Hamamatsu. I was like, “Wait, isn’t that fast?” [laughs]

Woody: I’d been part of a community to some extent in Tokyo. But when I came home, I didn’t have one at all. I was just sort of working, making music alone whenever I wanted to channel what I was feeling into something.

But KANJI and I connected as people before anything else, before the music. Now I’m part of a community so much bigger than when I was working alone. I used to play soccer, and I like building or achieving something with other people. So I’m really grateful to be working in such a good environment.

An Unexpected Figure Behind His Career

Sam: KANJI, you really like people who make a track and send it straight back, don’t you?

KANJI: Love them. [laughs]

I make beats on the spot, too, and what comes out can be completely different from day to day. You don’t even know whether it’ll become a good song yet, so when a rapper starts freestyling while I’m still making the beat, it really gets me going.

I think the words that come out in that moment are the realest. I genuinely love that. It’s fine if they’re saying something stupid, too. [laughs]

Lucie: People who can freestyle are amazing. You see more of that now, including the punch-in style.

KANJI: Yeah. Travis [Scott] and Young Coco used that style quite a lot, too.

Actually, when I started making beats, Coco was the one who taught me a lot. He used Ableton, so that’s how I ended up using it, too.

Sam: I love that story. I might need to hear a little more about Coco. [laughs]

Lucie: I’m curious about Coco, too. How long have you known each other?

KANJI: We met in Osaka when he was still about 15 or 16.

Lucie: That far back! I see. He’s kept changing ever since. There’s something almost invincible about him.

KANJI: No, seriously, he’s incredible. So disciplined. I’d put him right up there as maybe the most disciplined rapper I’ve ever seen.

I bought his recent track “Warning” on iTunes. I’m a DJ, so that tells you something. [laughs]

Related interview: JIRO also discusses working with Young Coco in the studio in a separate HIPHOPCs interview.

Watch Young Coco’s “Warning”

The “Bumpy Friends” (デコボコフレンズ) Remix—and What Comes Next

Lucie: Finally, on your latest news… You’ve released a single.

KANJI: Yeah. I was touring THE SOUL until the end of August. We finished a remix of “Bumpy Friends” from the album and put it out on September 9.

MIKADO and SKy NET joined us for the remix.

Release information: “Bumpy Friends (feat. ENEL, MIKADO & SKy NET) [Remix]” was released on September 9, 2026, with abyss credited as remixer.

Listen to “Bumpy Friends” (Remix) on Apple Music

Listen to “Bumpy Friends” (Remix) on Spotify

Sam: Ohhh, the guy we were just talking about. That sounds good.

Do you have any releases coming besides “Bumpy Friends”?

KANJI: I do. One more track this year, produced by LEGO, actually.

LEGO: [bows]

KANJI: There’s a song that came together really smoothly a few days ago. Songs that hit me hard tend to do pretty well, and this one’s really hitting me. So, look out for it.

Sam: Before the end of the year, then. I’m looking forward to it.

Lucie: Me too. Thank you so much for today!

Closing Note

Listening to his story, I found myself picturing DJ KANJI in a cage, facing a mirror. All he could see in it was his own sorrow. Tired of that reflection, he tried to leave—but the key was outside.

Or so he believed.

Around him stood more comrades than the mirror could ever hold. The key was already there, firmly in his right hand. And someone’s voice kept calling him, again and again.

Back in the sunlight, he looks toward the person he used to be.

“Once again, only the distance between us grows.” —from “LoveMyself”

But it’s all right. One day, they will meet again in the music. He was never going to leave that earlier self behind.

DJ KANJI: Official Accounts and Releases

Official Accounts and Artist Pages

Instagram / X / YouTube / TikTok / Threads / SoundCloud

Spotify / Apple Music / Official link page

Albums and EPs

THE SOUL
Apple Music / Spotify / Streaming and download links

THE VOICE
Apple Music / Spotify / Streaming and download links

THE LIFE
Apple Music / Spotify / Streaming and download links

Singles

“Bumpy Friends (Remix)” feat. ENEL, MIKADO & SKy NET
Apple Music / Spotify / Streaming and download links