by Steven Carnana
As a huge fan of Nujabes and his work, I realized I’ve never truly understood the samples he used or what sampling even meant. As a challenge to myself, I’ve made it my mission to highlight a couple of Nujabes’ best songs and find their deeper meaning by uncovering their samples, the artists, and the backstory behind not just Nujabes art, but the jazz and hip-hop influences that were sampled and turned into some of the most notable albums ever to exist.
Seba Jun, better known as Nujabes, was a beatmaker and turntable savant who took Japan by storm from 2003 to 2005. He produced some of the world’s most masterfully crafted albums, like Metaphorical Music and Modal Soul, along with being a producer on the wonderfully brilliant anime Samurai Champloo. For the deep dive into Nujabes, I’d like to focus on the songs “The Final View,” “Light on Land,” and “Luv Sic Pt. 3.” These are some of my favorite songs for their melancholic nature, and they come from several of Nujabes most influential albums like as Metaphorical Music, Modal Soul, and Luv Sic Hexolog.
The first song I gave a long listen to and put research into was “The Final View,” often seen as one of the more somber of the songs I picked. The original sound found during “The Final View” is “Love Theme from Spartacus,” originally composed by Alex North for the 1960 Stanley Kubrick film Spartacus. In 1961, it was turned into a jazz album by the great mind of Yusef Lateef. The score was originally composed to reflect the bittersweet love of Spartacus and his wife, Varinia. The song was used by Nujabes to create “The Final View,” which, in my opinion, perfectly blends his style of warmth with the melancholic nature of the song, and it fits perfectly into an album filled to the brim with jazz
The second song I chose, “Light on Land,” comes from the album Modal Soul. The song opens with a simplistic rhythm, almost synth-like, but is accompanied by the chirping of crickets and a ghostly bird song, almost resembling a morning sky with the sun hitting land. The original sample was composed by Larry Ridley in the song “Feeling Blue,” one of his most popular tracks. It’s both somber and full of life and it perfectly matches Nujabes’ warmth and vibe of nostalgia. Nujabes elevates “Feeling Blue” by adding the aspects of morning, instead of the blues vibes created by Ridley, not just honoring the track but pushing it to the next level.
“Luv Sic Pt. 3.” was composed by Nujabes and Japanese-American artist Shing 02. The song’s lyrics reflect an idea of meditative reflection and growth, along with the idea of resilience brought by music. The sample used is by Caymmi, mostly; the hook and riff of the song are used as the foundational base plate for this track. The original score was made to reflect the poetic calm and stillness. The narrator of the song delivers a heart-wrenching performance. The narrator sings that the partner has everything, but they’ll only truly find peace upon the narrator’s death. This is a common theme for Nujabes, selecting songs of gloom and melancholy and applying a sense of warmth and kindness to them.
At the end of the day, Nujabes built his entire life’s work by giving life to songs that would otherwise be lost to time. If you’re looking for somewhere to start in his catalogue, these albums would be a great place.
