Based out of the New York/New Jersey area, 23-year-old hip-hop producer Killer Bee shows tribute to glistening old-school hip-hop on his new tape Otaku, “influenced by a variety of great hip hop instrumentalists including bsd.u and Knxwledge. It is also inspired by animes like Mob Psycho 100, albums like Frank Ocean’s Blonde, genres like lo-fi hip hop and Future, jazz artists like John Klemmer, funk artists like George Duke, and R&B artists like Xscape.” So yeah, it has an eclectic influence. The track contains aspects of “Am I Dreamin’“ by Xscape; NWA on the Arsenio; “The Muthaphukkin Real” by Eazy E feat. MC Ren.
The release is a passion project, for sure. “I took the summer off to study beat-making and this is the culmination of that effort,” Killer Bee explains. “I would watch videos for seven hours a day every day of the week, and probably watched upwards of 300 hours of video tutorials. I named the album ‘Otaku’ to poke fun at myself and my love for anime/Japan. It also falls in line with lo-fi Hip-Hop’s obsession with the anime aesthetic. I also wanted to explore the stigma behind it and question its definition. I don’t think people should judge each other so harshly.”
Stream the rest of the very atmospheric Otaku below:
