Whether it’s in New York City, Japan, or Los Angeles, Kazuo is always going to be making music that isn’t limited by genre. He’s back and taking folks on a journey [or giving them a panic attack] with his latest video and track, ‘SUNNY IN HELL.’ LiFTED caught up with the MC to learn about blending sounds, his recording process, and how his superpower is having fat shmeat.
You’ve lived in a lot of places in your lifetime. Now LA is your home. How’s it going out in the City of Angels? Why did you move out there? How is it different from NYC or Japan?
I have been taking trips to LA since 2020, but started living here full-time last year. Shits been cool. It’s far from NY and Japan in almost every way, and I think that’s what has me drawn to it. A lot of talent here as well. Can’t have too much of a good thing, though, and I hate getting comfy cause that’s when you start slacking, so that’s when I take my ass back to Japan or New York to make sure I don’t lose who I am. Cause depending on where I’m at, you get a certain type of Kazuo and each one needs each other to survive.
Over your last few tracks, you’ve been experimenting with different sounds outside of Hip Hop. I feel 1980s New Wave in ‘Spider’ and some Pop/Punk in your latest ‘SUNNY IN HELL.’ Why the shift?
I think the most consistent thing about me is that I’ve always blended Rap with other sounds. I ain’t the most experimental, but you can’t tell me [my albums] AKUMA or even KAMI are candidates for what’s traditional or trendy in Rap. So I don’t know. I just put together what makes sense in my head and don’t wanna be limited by the bounds of genre. Genre is a classifier, not a boundary.
In the video for ‘SUNNY IN HELL,’ you have a few different Kazuos. You have Brooklyn Kazuo. You have Hollywood Kazuo. You have Fighter Kazuo. How many Kazuos are there? What are some of their names and some of their super abilities?
Shit, I don’t know. The universe is infinite. I’m pretty sure we’re just scratching the surface. You may be introduced to others soon. The one we're talking about right now’s superpowers are unemployment, overthinking, and having a fat shmeat.
‘SUNNY IN HELL’ has big main character energy. Tell us a bit about how the song was made and what you hope audiences get from it.
Nothing too out of the ordinary. I put together a demo, sent it to my producer, Ionika, and we expanded on it. That’s our usual process. I think that’s why me and Ionika click so well as a duo. In order for me to complete a song, I need to hear it in its entirety in my head. I then put together a demo on my end, and then try to explain it to Ionika and how he could contribute to the vision. This helps Ionika, too, cause he works best springboarding off of my ideas and using his strengths off that. Most of the ideas for the beats stem from past panic attacks I had and what those sounded like. I hope anyone who listens to it is taken on a journey or has a bad panic attack.
What big plans do you have for the rest of 2025 and 2026?
Go BAKA and make sure everything I want to happen, happens. Also, I want Ayo Edebiri to DM me back. It's important.
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