Kubota is a Japanese-American musician, rapper, and composer who
lives in Los Angeles. Kingsford is a music producer and percussionist.
He creates tunes like Lofi Hip-Hop and Jazz Hop, working with a wide
range of musicians. “Thank You” is a joint work of the two of them on
Kubota’s latest EP, Zen, after collaborating on an earlier release called
Sequel in 2021.
When did your awareness and interest in music begin?
I used to play the piano when I was really young but I was never into it. A bit later,
my dad showed me a few chords on the guitar and I just took off from there. I was
probably in elementary school at the time. From then on, I knew that I loved
playing and writing music, and that interest just grew and grew as the years went
on.
Can you tell us about your first music project? And how did it come to be?
My first ever music project would probably be when I formed a metal band and
called it The Trees. We were just a couple of middle school kids who enjoyed
playing and writing music. That band was renamed Carlyle in high school but
unfortunately, we broke up once everyone went off to college. I stayed back and it
was around that time that I started making my hip-hop beats which turned me
into the artist that I am today.
As Kubota, I believe the first official project I made was an EP called Outlier EP that
I created it during my time at Musician’s Institute. I still sucked at rapping so that EP
isn’t on streaming platforms but you can probably find it somewhere online.
What are the motives for the “thank you” song?
I knew I wanted to write about something related to “love” when I first heard this
beat by Kingsford.
Initially, I wrote the second verse first and it sort of turned into this breakup-type
song. I felt that there were too many breakup songs that are bitter or sad so I
wanted to write about relationships that didn’t end with resentments, anger, and
negative emotions.
How was the cooperation in working on it?
It was pretty straightforward. I think Kingsford and I have some good chemistry,
both as friends and artists so it went very smoothly. He sent me a few beats, I
chose a few out of them, wrote lyrics, and then shared my work with him. And
that was that.
After the last EP got 120,000 accumulated streams, how do you see that?
I’m very grateful. I really started pushing my music at the start of 2020, and I never
thought to achieve the milestones that I set for myself. It feels good! And I’m
really thankful to see the fans and listeners that happened to come across my
music enjoy the new song.
“This is just the beginning,” you said regarding “thank you.” Tell us what’s
next, then.
We’ve got more music! I also have some music that I produced myself coming as
well. I’m planning to have stuff released consistently until the holiday season.
Have you encountered difficulties in your work during the recent period? Have
social relationships inspired you to submit another work, such as “Thank you”?
No, not really. I’m actually pretty contempt with my social life. While the subject
matter and emotions were pulled from past experiences and relationships, I’m not
really going through any sort of difficulties at the moment.
Edited by: Viola Karmy