Bring Nara on The Map of J-Hip-Hop: Lil Soft Tennis
With the number of artists in Japan’s evergrowing music scene increasing, standing out seems better than fitting in.
Building an audience as an upcoming artist can be tough, but sticking to the same, true identity that fans can love may be even tougher.
As eyes stay trained on Tokyo as the beacon of the music scene, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and other regions stay criminally under the radar. But genres and interests continue to evolve, overlap and intertwine themselves into the country’s musical DNA, niches continue to grow as the youth search for those that can fill them. Here enters lil soft tennis, the bedroom rockstar from Nara doing it all.
Being a part of the Nara-based collective, HEAVEN, lil soft tennis is never afraid to do something new with his music. Compared to so many up-and-comers in the game, lil soft tennis’ music does not box itself into one genre: the songs flit between bedroom pop and SoundCloud rap that gives an overall organic and genuine vibe.
His entire discography is an enjoyable, experimental experience that sees 808s suddenly embrace punk-like drums and heavy guitar riffs that flirt with constant somber melodies, or inner monologues in the form of bars that take peeks into intrusive thoughts in the middle of songs.
However, lil soft tennis’ effortless pieces are not all that they seem; the work that goes into his creative process is definitely impressive. With the appreciation and influence of American hip-hop present in his songs, lil soft tennis takes his time to perfect his craft and study, going so far as to read the Bible to understand his foreign inspirations and their views better.
About the Author:
Born and raised in the Philippines before coming to Tokyo. He thinks you’re pretty cool.
