I was like, “Yeah, I’m a samurai right now.” Rōnin.ĭid you see this gig as a way to express another side of your artistry? Some of the music has a different feel from anything you’ve done before. I live a really disciplined, regimented life, so I felt even more connected. I was watching a lot of samurai movies, eating a lot of sushi, and getting bento boxes. I think that getting in his head space was real spiritual for me in a way, too. As I started seeing stuff move, seeing real animation, and getting a feel for the flow and pace, I was like, Oh, okay, this is what it needs to be. I’m a loner, and I was able to connect with it instantly. When it was time to get into Yasuke, it was weird because I felt like I live like him anyway. When you’re soundtracking the life of a samurai from the 1500s and filling out the gaps in his historical narrative, how do you get into the mind of the character? Were you just watching Ninja Scroll and Seven Samurai and stuff? What was the process? It was really uninspiring, but I was so grateful to have this show to turn to and put all my energy into, because I probably would have just been really, really mad.
It was just so disgusting to see how everything was flowing last year. But how do you concentrate when the world is crumbling? If you were a creative person or even anywhere near the arts, it was a year to hang back and try to get stuff done. It was a task, but it was the most fun I had working on a project in a long time. I had to somehow get beyond that and try to make the best soundtrack I could make. It was the most uninspiring year of all time. They say, “Write what you know.” I was able to help shape Yasuke’s present-day narrative in the story based on my friends and things that I was feeling.īut I had a little bit of pressure on me as well, because I knew everyone had done such a crazy good job of making this thing so far, so I wanted to do my part as well. Also, being a Black man whenever I go to Japan, it was real easy to get the story.
I empathize with Yasuke so much - feeling like an outsider all the time, especially in music and in the electronic-music space that I occupy. This just feels like the most natural progression, and honestly, this is one of the deepest because there are so many things that feel super-personal to me about this story. I’ve been behind the scenes with Grand Theft Auto, and behind the scenes with Aqua Teen Hunger Force and other animation I had a little part in this recent show, YOLO. I feel like, even though I haven’t had a direct credit, I’ve still been involved in this stuff for a little while.
THUNDERCATS THEME SONG COMPOSER FULL
Does it feel like you’ve come full circle? Now, you’re on the inside helping a show get made. A decade and a half ago, you were doing bumper music for Adult Swim. On Yasuke, you’re a composer and an executive producer, and you’re credited with helping to come up with the story. Was this the first Grammy win for Brainfeeder? I should start by congratulating you on winning the Grammy with Thundercat for Best Progressive R&B Album for It Is What It Is. I spoke to Flying Lotus this month about what he saw in the life of Yasuke that made this collaboration a no-brainer, and his journey from watching Dragon Ball Z in syndication on Toonami to making music for Adult Swim to helping to pull Yasuke together in the middle of a profoundly taxing and uninspiring year. Its sensibility is further aided by FlyLo’s score, in which chilly synths and traditional Japanese instruments carry the producer’s signature sound in new directions, and friends like Thundercat and Niki Randa pop up in the opening and closing themes. Yasuke delivers dueling metaphysical narratives, bouncing between the character’s past and present as new threats necessitate revisiting old scars, giving viewers the feeling of being dislodged from time. Directed by LeSean Thomas ( The Boondocks, Cannon Busters, Black Dynamite) and starring LaKeith Stanfield, Yasuke rounds out its creative braintrust with Los Angeles producer and Brainfeeder founder Flying Lotus, whose anime bona fides include the score for the Blade Runner 2049 prequel Blade Runner Black Out 2022 and songs written for Carole and Tuesday, both by Cowboy Bebop and Space Dandy director Shinichirō Watanabe. Yasuke, Netflix’s newest anime series, released today, is based on the life of its titular figure, a Black samurai who served under Oda Nobunaga in 16th-century Japan. “I empathize with Yasuke so much - feeling like an outsider all the time, especially in music and in the electronic-music space that I occupy.”