FEATURE
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Rhyming in the Far East
On a study abroad trip to Japan, KU student Travis Tewes took his passion for the Japanese language into the country's rap scene
Photo by Chance Dibben
By Derek Zarda dzarda@kansan.com
Huddled together, the sweat collecting on their necks, two hundred or more Japanese locals wait patiently in the dark for the next performance. Backstage, Travis Tewes, Lee's Summit, Mo., senior, is thinking only of the show. The lyrics. How did they go again?
Back in Lawrence,Travis Tewes keeps in touch with the rappers he met when in Japan.
Maiku wo motteru kagiri ni,
Ore ha daijoubu dayo, zettai ni heiki...
Catching a late night show in another country is one thing,but actually performing in one is quite another. Tewes' Japanese classmates from the nearby university are eager to see what this American will do.The DJ starts up the music as the low-fi lights begin to dance across the stage,signaling that the performance will soon be under way.
Tewes has done this before back home in the States, so why should he be more nervous? The people in the crowd begin clapping in anticipation. Tewes, using all his built-up stress, runs out on stage, mic in hand, and spits out a fast flow of Japanese rhymes over the pulsating bass lines and punching horn samples.
Tonight, Tewes is the American who raps in Japanese. Tomorrow morning, he's just another student scrambling to finish his school assignments before they're due.
While the rest of his friends were taking classes in Lawrence last spring, 21-year-old Travis Tewes, aka "Crazy T;" was rapping in Japanese in Fujisawa, Japan in front of a packed club the size of Lawrence's the Bottleneck. Thousands of miles away from his friends, family and college professors. Tewes felt right at home.
On a study abroad program in Tokyo this past spring and summer, Tewes used his talent for rapping in both Japanese and English to push himself into an international hip-hop scene. He left the States hoping he'd have time to see his favorite Japanese rappers perform live. Instead, he wound up in the studio recording an album alongside them.
Hooked on a culture
Tewes doesn't look like a Japanese rapper. It's only in the baggy hip-hop attire that Tewes shares in appearance with the average Japanese emcee.
He was christened with the name "Crazy T" in middle school by friends because, even then, he was "crazy" about rhyming. In high school back in Lee's Summit, Tewes would rap with a live hip-hop band, performing at local venues and house parties.
Tewes was first exposed to hip-hop at the age of 6 when his cousin, a DJ from Belize, made him a mixed tape of early 90s hip-hop hits. After that, Tewes says he was stuck on rap for life.
His first taste of the Japanese culture came in third grade during a month dedicated to learning about the cultures of different countries. Tewes remembers being able to relate to some of the cultures from Latin America with his father being from Belize, but something really clicked for Tewes when his class studied Japan.His eyes widened with interest as he learned about a country that "seemed like a completely different world."
Tewes continued to learn about the culture through books on Japan that his parents bought for him. However, it wasn't until he took up studying the language at KU the summer before his freshman year that Tewes truly began focusing on immersing himself in Japanese language and culture.
Sister city rap
Tewes' first real-life exposure to Japanese hip-hop came during a summer study abroad program in 2006 to Hiratsuka, Lawrence's sister city in Japan. There he met Japanese college student Tatsuya Yanagibashi, aka "Willow B," through a mutual friend, and the two began to freestyle late into the night. These freestyle sessions led to stage performances at nearby clubs in town where Tewes would rap for the local crowds in their native tongue.
The inspiration for what Tewes raps about comes anywhere from his personal life to the current state of rap on the radio.
"I don't really think what I want to say in English and translate it," Tewes says. "When
I'm in the Japanese mode in my brain, I don't even think in English anymore."
Tewes' parents have been supportive of his penchant for music since he first started playing piano in second grade. But at times, they've had their share of questions. One night while talking to his father online from Japan, Tewes let him view his most recent show. This was his dad's first time seeing him performin Japan, and his dad, Robert, was a little confused. Robert says he and his wife don't follow hip-hop much, and he asked his son why he was holding a towel on stage, thinking it was some "hip-hop thing."
"He said it was mostly because he would get sweaty on stage." Robert says. "I told him I thought it was his flag or something to promote himself."
Prominent rappers in Hiratsuka's hip-hop scene also took notice of Tewes'sperformances and invited him to join in battle-rap sessions that would pop up around the city. Tewes stayed in contact with the emcees he met in Hiratsuka after he returned to the U.S. He e-mailed beats and rhymes to the emcees back in Japan and, over the next two years, began assembling songs and tracks to produce independent albums.
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September 11,2008