Interview: Lotus Juice
/Lotus Juice is a rapper, composer, and lyrcist who is most known for his involvement in the Persona series. Lotus Juice isn’t just any musician, he is a pioneer in the Japanese music industry, paving the way for rap music specifically in the video game music industry.He was born in Tokyo, Japan but moved to the United States at a young age, and grew up in New Jersey. Growing up, he was influenced by rap/hip-hop music, such as Biggie and Tupac. In 2006, an opportunity came up and he was introduced to Shoji Meguro, the composer of Persona and from there on the two began working together. Lotus Juice is not just known for his works in Persona, but has been a part of other series such as Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Noragami, Black Butler, Magic Kaito, just naming a few along with his original works.
Lotus Juice has been traveling the world attending anime and gaming conventions which give the opportunity for his international fans to meeting him, such as the USA, Mexico, and Argentina. A big thank you to Anime Central and staff as us at Ongaku to You, along with two other media outlets, Nyarly and CEntertainment Media had the opportunity to interview him.
OTY (Luna): How different is it to write music for a product like Persona as opposed to writing music for your personal releases:
Lotus Juice: Its very different. Because for any contents like Persona, Shin Kamen Rider the movie, I like to ask for a script as I like to understand the whole concept and content. One time I was playing a fighting game, the ending theme was Snoop Dog and it had nothing to do with the whole concept, which bummed me out and I didn’t want to do that. As for Persona, I’m a fan, I’ve played the game eight times already. I’d already been writing music for Persona the Animation as well. That is so different than how I write my personal songs.
Nyarly: Out of all the different musical styles you listen to, what made you interested in pursuing a career in rap?
Lotus Juice: Because I was most influenced by it. Growing up int he 90s, hip hop and R&B was a sensation. it was a growing market, probably the biggest market in the 90s. Bad Boy and Death Row records, there wasn’t a day that’d go by you didn’t listen to their songs. You’d walk around a small town and you’d hear their music. So, everyone was into it and I was a basketball player. We’d play at night and some people would bring their boom boxes and play random hip hop songs from Hot 97 from New York City. So we were all influenced by it. Notorious BIG was my favorite rapper, so naturally, it became a thing. I never thought I was going to be a professional musician, I came to New Jersey when I was 8, graduated high school in the US and went back to college in Japan. Identity crisis, I only spoke English in high school. But back in Japan, I couldn’t talk to my peers in Japanese as I wasn’t speaking Japanese to them. While back home I was only speaking Japanese to my parents. Its different speaking to your parents than your peers.
Nyarly: You went to college at Sophia University. Were a lot of their classes taught in English back then?
Lotus Juice: Its all in English.
Lotus Juice: My friend had asked me to perform at his event. I had never performed before and never thought about it. But I did perform and it was such a bad show. This dude came up to me after the show saying he was a rapper too and asked me to perform at a show in Shibuya at the venue Club Venoes. He stated, I want you to perform because you were great. We kicked it off and got together, made a song and performed. My career in the clubs started from there.
Nyarly: One comment I want to make: Before I played Persona 3, I wasn’t a fan of rap. But hearing your music made me more open to it. Since then I’ve been listening to a lot more mainstream rap from the 90s.
Lotus Juice: I get that a lot. When I rap, I don’t know about other rappers and how they do it. I want to make sure it is a sound. I don’t want it to be a poetry reading. It feels like on a two mix, such as in a song; like an instrument and you rap over it. It feels like there’s a vocal and there’s a track and you have to mix it and make it sound like music. That’s my intention when I write my music; I listen to the drums, I listen to the bass, then subconsciously I listen to the lead and other riffs, chords. It has to mingle with all the instruments.
OTY (Luna): As a music industry veteran, how do you feel your music style has developed over the years?
Lotus Juice: I don’t know? I try to sing more because its something that I can’t do. You know, I’ve been rapping for so many years and working with all these singers makes me want to do something new. I wish I could sing better, I’m practicing and trying to expand my skills. Working on the song, the approach is different I think because I’m better at it now. I now know how the process goes. Usually when I receive some offers for movies, anime or games, I get the song, I get the concept script, and I read it. Then i don’t do anything for a couple days. I think about it subconsciously, trying to absorb it in like a sponge. Then go back in my studio and try to find something I can relate it to. Sometimes the concept is so crazy, I have nothing I can relate it too so I act it out. I make believe that its not me and I just write. In terms of Persona, it’s the social link and the bitter sweet ending. Even P52, there are so many things that I can relate too. I’d say 30% is me and 60% to 70T is from the content.
OTY (Luna): Thank you, I appreciate that. You’ve been in the industry for so long and worked with so many artists and projects.
CEntertainment Media: How did you get connected to making for video games and anime?
Lotus Juice: It was connection. Let me rephraise that, I started making music while in college such as shows and clubs and didn’t get paid. Didn’t make an album or anything, no streaming services back then. I was going to quit in my senior year. I was also doing narration as well, such as TV commercials as well as making music. I thought maybe I should concentrate on narration, then this group, called Vildge, they saw me do an accapella hip-hop rap and asked me to do a collaboration with them. A week later we were performing at an auto show, biggest crowd I’ve ever been in front of, about 1500 people. Hanging out and having fun, this made me want to pursue this career. I made a single, then made an album. Didn’t sell much but it reached the right people, such as Shoji Meguro, the composer for Persona. He just found me, he called me up through a friend of mine and asked if I was interested in rapping over a game music. Being the cocky rapper that I was, I wanted to listen to the beat first, so he sent me a CD. I heard it and it goes ‘baby baby baby’ and I wanted to do it. I go into the studio, a lot of its in broken English, it was difficult to understand. He asked if I could revise it, so I put it on loop and I fixed it, that was ‘Mass Destruction’. I did that in 30 minutes. He then mixed it, brought it back to the company and they loved it. So he asked me to do another song and that was ‘Burn My Dream -Last Battle’. From then on, Personal Trinity Soul the Animation came, the producer was a huge fan of Persona 3 and he wanted me to be on the anime. That happened to be Taque Iwasaki (Shin Kamen Rider, Rurouni Kenshin). He liked me so kept asking me to do some animation songs.
OTY (Luna): International fans usually find out about this music through anime. First of all, do you watch anime? Do you have a favorite:
Lotus Juice: I do! I’ve been watching One Piece a lot lately. The new season is just incredible. I’m a big fan of One Piece. I wouldn’t say I’m a regular anime fan. I wish I could watch more, but I got to work. I’m more of a gamer, such as Splatoon and playing Like a Dragon 8. I’m making my island and time just flies by. I just wish I had more time.
CEntertainment Media: What is it you love about the Persona series?
Lotus Juice: There are so many things! Reload in particular, the user interface is amazing, the graphics are amazing. Shimada-san did an amazing job designing it. Music, overall music is amazing (not just because I”m in it). P4 and P5 are amazing too. I”m very blessed to say that I actually play and love each one of the games I’ve been in.
OTY (Luna): How did it feel to come back for Persona 3 reloaded?
Lotus Juice: It was amazing, incredible. I think I knew that Shoji Meguro was going to quit and Kitajo-san was going to be the new composer. It turned out very good, loved his works. Very excited.
Nyarly: How has your work with Persona effected you?
Lotus Juice: Changed my whole career. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the Persona series. Anytime I do anything with Persona or ATLAS, I give my 120%. Making sure that first of all, I have fun, second of all, its a good song. It’s something that ATLAS wants. When I’m making a song for a game, I want to make sure that I don’t interfere with the scenes they play the music.
Nyarly: Do you ever feel that your success with the Persona series has made it to that’s all they think about when they hear your name?
Lotus Juice: So, at the autograph session. this guy came up saying I like this song from your fourth album, and this song from that. That right there is a true fan. Its good and bad, but mostly good. It doesn’t really bother me.
Nyarly: Are there any other anime and games you’d like to be involved with?
Lotus Juice: Yes, if I could just participate. Like a Dragon! I love One Piece, but I can’t imagine myself doing a song for it as its so different from my style. Splatoon maybe?
Nyarly: I think that’d be fitting as you’ve done. You’ve also done a lot of the music for the side story in tactica.
OTY (Luna): How do you feel the Japanese hip hop scene has progressed since you began?
Lotus Juice: Like a huge step. They are actually really good now. When I first began, it was like a copy cat thing, trying to be a gangster, doing gun signs in Japan when there is no gun violence and trying to be tough like smoking weed in clubs. Its so illegal (referring to smoking weed). Just trying to be like Tupac. That’s why I stayed away from all these hip-hop scenes in Japan, usually there delinquents that have problems in school, got arrested. Such as Bosozoku, they take their bike/mopeds and ride around Tokyo highways and make a mess; they’re rappers. 60% or 50% I saw in 90s/00s were in bad. There were still talent MCs like TWIGGY or ZEEBRA or DABO. But those people were talking so much shit about things they didn’t have to sing/rap and they smoke too much weed. Nowadays, there are some cultural changes with so many tattoos. Tattoos are still looked down on, due to criminals and Yakuza and tattoos on face is so outlandish. A lot of young rappers do that, its crazy. There is one rapper, OZworld, he is so talented and he can sing too, I’m jealous. He’s a good looking guy too and you didn’t see that much back then. I’m looking forward to checking it out. I’m not in their scene but I think its good for the culture.
OTY (Luna): Do you mind if I elaborated? With Awich making her debut at Coachella, how do you feel this will impact the hip hop music scene in Japan?
Lotus Juice: Awich? I love her. Definitely good, there is nothing but good to come out of that. When there is one charisma, a lot of people follow that. That was Biggie and Tupac from my age. A lot of rappers try that but come to realize they are not them and try to be original. That effected me too. There are so many influences in other artists. Awich, OZword sure they’re being analyzed right now. Especially because of the free style battle, that’s been going on for ten years now and its changed how MCs are perceived in japan. Back then, it was ‘oh you’re a rapper’ , ‘yo yo yo’, so it was more like they were making fun of us. Its more than that, its graffiti, DJ-ing, dancing. break dancing - they are starting to recognize that. You got to be articulate to write a versus.
CEntertainment Media: What advice do you have for anyone who wants to make music for video games?
Lotus Juice: From my experience, try to understand the whole concept if you get the offer. Such as Like a Dragon. You can’t make a happy song, maybe depending on the situation. Mostly I’m assuming if hip-hop, implement it into Like a Dragon song like a be a battle scene. If you can include words or turns from Like a Dragon, the fans will like it, the creator will like it. It can’t just be me me me, you need to understand the whole concept. I think the creators and the fans will like that.
OTY (Luna): What kind of message do you have for your international fans?
Lotus Juice: Thank you for supporting me for all these years. Its incredible at my age, I’m here performing and I live in Japan. I have five other cons this year in the States. It’s something I never imagined in my life. I don’t take that for granted. It’s happening because of your support. Thank you and hopefully you keep supporting me. Hopefully when I do my tour in the States or anywhere, you guys show up.
