Dan The Automator

Courtesy While You Were Sleeping

Dan the Automator may be the most famous Japanese guy in show business- well, at least in the rap world. He's been down with the boyz in the hood since day one. Producing the most intelligent, progressive and down right good hip-hop on the block. He made Kool Keith an erotic gynecologist, Dr. Octagon and most recently, he transformed Del tha Funkee Homosapian into the futuristic humanoid superhero, Deltron 3030. For both projects he's had Asian sidekicks on the one¼s and two's. But, he convincingly argues that he, Q-bert, and Kid Koala are good at their craft, regardless of race- ethnicity aint' got shit to do with it. With the recent influx of hip-hopping Asians with afros and dread locks, rocking the latest gear, the white, rhythmless suburbanite has got to ask himself, how can they get away with it, when we look like shit heads?" And so The Automator answers.

Hi, I'm Dan the Automator. I'm third generation Japanese American. I'm more American than anything else. As far as hip-hop goes my introduction to it was Rapper's Delight. I was in fourth grade. I'm from San Francisco, probably the most mixed community in America. My mom wasn't a hippie but had this alternative school aesthetic thing. She wanted me to be the studious type and had me playing violin when I was three.

I played classical music for fourteen years. I've been around for two hip-hop revolutions. I was here for the start of hip-hop. And I was here for the start of electronic music with midi production. I grew up listening to black soul and pop. Earth Wind and Fire and Michael Jackson. I didn't listen to a lot of rock back then so I didn't think much about it.

It's not like, being an Asian guy, I'm like, "now I'm going to buy the new Asian artist- there is no Asian artist. So soul music was the thing back then and hip-hop was a branch of soul music. It all just evolved. There was no hip-hop before so I didn't think about it being just black. There was one radio station playing hip-hop for a couple of hours one day a week. People, black, Asian, whoever, just weren't interested in the music. So I wasn't one of twenty black guys, I was one of three guys at the radio station, so it was no big thing.

Being a minority there is already a connection with African-American's as a minority. My parents were put in the camps in World War II. My experience is that of any minority experience. There's a level of connection with the African-American community with being on the outside looking in. But, I have to say that it's not just hip-hop, when I was growing up a lot of the Filipino kids were listening heavy metal. It's more about feeling a connection with the outside of music, not necessarily black or white, being on the fringe.

The Japanese population really isn't that big, contrary to what you all in major cities might think with all the tourists walking around. I watch T.V. and there's no Japanese guys on it. Black and Latino people are complaining about there representation on T.V., but we don't even have representation. Yo, we're not even regarded. If you're Japanese you got no pop stars or sport stars to look up too. By and large we got no idols. So I just gravitated towards what I was interested in, seeing that I had no indigenous thing to look to. I felt I could relate to hip-hop.

A couple of years ago I went to a lecture on race discrimination at a college hosted by Jerry Springer. I thought it would be funny, but it wasn't funny. On the panel they had lesbian, Native-American, black, and Latino activists. They were all up there complaining how their people have been treated. The Native-American fellow is talking about how his father is living in a tenament with the rats. Now, he's up there complaining, but I'm thinking that it would be unusual to see an Asian person on that panel.

Asians culture is really different from these others. We're told to assimilate into culture, don't make waves, don't rebel in anyway. The Asian dream isn't to be the President, it's to be middle management. Make a great living for ourselves and go on. My point is, when you're Asian you're told to go to college, be an accountant, etc. I think that another reason I got into hip-hop was that when I discovered it, I just saw it as the ultimate rebellion from my parents and culture. Hip-hop was as far away from the Asian norm as I wanted to go.

Now, about Japan and hip-hop. I don't think it's fair to lump everyone together. Japan is a country that is so steeped in tradition that when something new comes along they will embrace it to death. More power to them I guess. But, a word about the hip-hop fashion wave (Japanese guys with dread locks and Afros). To me they're all clowns. Don't get me wrong if that's how you want to look then that's how you want to look. It's like disco suits, it's just fashion. There's no understanding of the culture at all.

It's much worse in Germany. There's no joke about this shit, if you don't know all the elements inside out or joke about it at all, they think you're not serious. I mean, a blonde, blue-eyed dude, rapping in German and telling me I'm not keeping it real?

My point is, people co-opting another people's culture is always a problem. I don't feel the need to get my Cross Colours or Fubu shit- that's not what it's about. A couple of years ago Madonna was wearing gold teeth. Was she hip-hop? Fuck no. There's always the fashion side of things, and there's people who really add to the culture and make stuff for it.

You really notice the tourists, who are traveling in little packs around the city wearing their "hip-hop" gear, but it's happening all over the world. Hip-hop is an important part of what's going on in the world. It's changed the face of music. People want to be about it even if they wrongly go about getting into it. You don't wear 555 Soul and think you¼re hip-hop. That's ludicrous. You make hip-hop, wear a damn suit when you're doing it.

I disagree with anyone who says that Q-Bert (Filipino DJ on Dr. Octagon) isn't the best DJ in the world. I also disagree with anyone who says there's a more musical DJ than Kid Koala (Chinese DJ on Deltron 3030). If they're better DJ's then them, tell me. The fact they're Asian is just a coincidence.

I've known Q-bert since he was a freshman in high school. I remember him asking me about being a Filipino DJ. I was like, dude, you're not the best Filipino DJ in the world, you're the best DJ in the world. You got to get out of that race mentality. When it actually comes to making the music, you just have to go forward and think you're adding to the culture and not about your race.

I don't pick the people I work with based on race. I pick who I like working with, whether it's Kool Keith, Del, or Prince Paul on our Handsome Boy Modeling School project. When Paul and I did Handsome Boy we just worked with people we knew. We just picked up our phone books and called our friends, no manager or anything. I worked with Del on Handsome Boy and realized we should have worked together before.

When we made Deltron 3030 it was our tension relief. It's about corporate relations and race relations. Our goal on the record was to discuss how life¼s not a black and white thing, but rather a money and not money thing. Race may effect everybody today, but it's really about the money.

It's about how one guy owns all the networks, another guy owns all the computer companies. In the end, it's really difficult for me to discuss all this race stuff because, when it comes down to it, I never think about it. It's good for me to step outside my box and go, yeah this is really how it is. I make just make my music. I couldn't really do it if I was always thinking about it and if it were right or not right. It's these asshole A&R guys that I have to worry about.



-end of interview-

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