OWN INTERVIEW CONTENTS Vol.19 CENJU (DOWN NORTH CAMP)
OWN (hereinafter referred to as O): First, please introduce yourself!
CENJU (hereinafter referred to as C) My name is CENJU and I'm a rapper! This is DOWN NORTH CAMP!
O DOWN NORTH CAMP has disbanded!
I think I'm the only member of the new DOWN NORTH CAMP for now (laughs).
ODo you mean solo activities (lol)?
C: When I met JJJ a few months ago, he told me that it was popular for him and Sasaki (KID FRESIONO) to call themselves DOWN NORTH CAMP. So I thought maybe I should join in too (laughs).
OSo the original members are the ones who get to join in instead (laughs).
C: That's right (laughs). I also run an izakaya called "Hounancho Shan2."
So , CENJU, please tell us what inspired you to start an izakaya.
C I've always wanted to open a restaurant. I've always had the vague idea that I would do it someday. Ever since I was in my 20s.
OSo it was around that long ago. Was it as a restaurant?
C: That's right. I myself love izakayas, and I'd vaguely thought I'd like to do one someday. When my grandmother was alive, she used to say, "You never know what's going to happen in these times, so get a job that lets you earn money day by day." So I thought, business would be the answer. Then, just as I was thinking about that, my previous job started to falter due to COVID-19. I was also doing accounting work at the company, and I was the liaison with the bank.
OThat was about three years ago?
C : That's right. It was 2019, right around the time the COVID-19 pandemic began. So I asked the banker who was in charge of my business, "I'm thinking of starting a restaurant as my new business. Can you lend me money?" He replied, "Right now, the government wants to increase the rate of business start-ups, so it's easy to get a loan." So I decided to try applying for a loan, and I was able to get a loan, so that's how I got started.
Why did you choose to open a takoyaki shop?
C Actually, I wasn't particularly attached to a takoyaki shop. I met someone at my previous company when we were trying to start a new business, and they had the recipes and know-how. They also suggested this property in Honancho as a set. I lived in the Honancho area with my mother for about 10 years, from the age of 26. I met DJ Highschool when we were living in Honancho, so I felt like there was a strong connection. It's close to my hometown, so I felt like it was fate.
O CENJU's hometown is Shimokitazawa, right?
C : Yes. I live in Kitazawa 5-chome, somewhere between Shimokitazawa and Sasazuka. So Honancho is within cycling distance, and I felt like I was part of the local area.
O : I see. Have you always liked cooking?
C : I've always loved cooking. I cook at home and I've also worked part-time as a chef. Cooking is kind of similar to a live performance. Sometimes it turns out well and sometimes it doesn't (laughs).
O (laughs).
CThere are days when the seasoning just doesn't come out right. I have an acquaintance who used to be the executive chef at the Spanish Embassy, and he said, "Cooking is an art, so sometimes things don't turn out right!" (laughs).
OI see (laughs).
C Humans nod their heads when they eat something delicious. They also nod their heads when they hear good music. It's interesting to watch those kinds of things from the kitchen.
OHow was it opening a store in the Honancho area?
CThe people in this town are very kind and there are only good people. The greengrocer has said good things about our store in BEST PLACE. I was happy that many people came to our store after hearing about it from the greengrocer.
When O shan2 first started, there were artists working there too, right?
C BUSHMIND, Senninsho, CHANG YUU, and others used to work there. Now I'm the full-time staff, along with Jay, the guitarist from FIGHT IT OUT, and a young guy I became friends with who loves skateboarding and lives in the neighborhood. 
OD : Did you encounter any difficulties once you started working in sales?
It's tough when there are no C customers in the month. Maybe that's too realistic (laughs). I wonder if someone will hire me?
OIt has to be more than just fun.
C: That's right! Maybe it's because it's so hard that people are starting to turn a blind eye to reality (laughs).
OAre there any new developments happening at the store ?
C Sometime in 2023, DJ HOLIDAY will be making a mix CD for shan2, which we will be selling. Also, our shop is small and customers get bored of the same menu, so we change our business about once every six months. We started out as a takoyaki shop, but after yakitori and jerk chicken, oden is now our specialty!
OI see. What are your thoughts on the new menu?
Just like C Lyric, I wait for him to come down (laughs). When I go to buy groceries, I sit in the ingredients section and just think. From the outside, I look like a pretty dangerous guy (laughs). 
OThat 's true (laughs). Continuing on from the store story, your album will be released on January 11th, 2023. Does that mean it's not under your solo name this time, but under a joint name?
C I think it's under the name "CENJU&YAHIKO Presented by DJ Highschool".
OWhy did you end up with this lineup?
Apparently, when C DJ Highschool was walking around Shimokitazawa, they saw YAHIKO coming out of a seedy bar and had the idea to make an album with this group of people!
O I see (laughs). It's been a while since you released a CENJU work, right?
C: Your second solo album was in 2014, and then you released an album under the name CJ&JC in 2016. So it's been about six years.
When did you produce it ?
C : Actually, it was finished in November 2021. Given the recent trends, we decided to release the music video first, and we had already finished filming it. But then the cameraman ran off. I felt bad for all the different people who were involved and taking time out of their day to make it. And then, I had to work at the store, so it got postponed, and I guess it's only now that we've finally managed to release it. 
OYou continued to make music.
C: That's right. I think things started to accelerate once we realized we could do things like pre-production on smartphones.
O CENJU, what do you think of the album?
C I've become emotionally unstable. They say my albums have a wide emotional range. I have ups and downs, so I think I'm a mentally weak person. I even went to an alcoholism hospital once, and they checked my EEG. The doctor there told me, "Before you have alcoholism, you have manic depression. Your mania is on the higher side."
Were you aware of your own bipolar disorder? When I watch live performances, I always thought of CENJU as someone who livens things up.
C: I think I may have vaguely noticed it since I was a teenager. I think my manic phase was more apparent during live performances. If I have manic phases, then of course I also have depression, and when that happens I sleep all the time. But I think being manic-depressive is a good thing because it suits an artist (laughs).
O (laughs) I feel like my style reflects that part of myself.
C : That's right. I think I'm the type of person who can pretty much say anything in rap. I do things like, "It's me, it's me!" and I can also put my weak and pathetic self into songs. I don't mind expressing myself through rap.
Does O- wrap act as a stabilizer?
C I think that's how it is. All I can do is write songs about the situations I find myself in.
I'm looking forward to listening to the album.
C Hmm, maybe there's one song I'm not happy with.
OThat 's the first time I've heard someone say that in an interview (laughs).
If you listen to C , you'll understand. He's not getting through it at all (laughs).
OThere will also be a physical release, right?
C : Yes! I get the money from selling the records, and being from the CD generation, I'm determined to make sure I release the physical copy (laughs). 
OHas the way you create raps changed between before and now?
When I create an album, it's when I have a lot of free time. When I made my first album, I was unemployed, and this time, I made it during the COVID-19 pandemic when I had plenty of free time. You can't make an album unless you have time where you can think about nothing but music. So I personally think that nothing has changed from the past to the present.
There are some artists whose songs reflect the changes in their own life stages.
C I feel like after 4 or 5 years, you'll have a solid topic that you can turn into a song, and that will lead to an album. This is just my personal opinion, but I feel like the work of people who release stuff constantly doesn't have much weight. It feels like they're just putting words on a rhythm. Even when you listen to it, it's hard to understand what they're talking about, right?
OSome people have a lot of similar songs.
C I'm an urban type, or rather, a rapper who is closely tied to the city, so I think it would be lame if people from cities other than Tokyo knew about me. I don't want people from other cities to say things like, "His lyrics are amazing." A five-kilometer radius is a bit of an exaggeration, but being understood by my peers and friends is a higher priority for me.
It's O CENJU's own version of localism.
C : Exactly. Of course I'm happy when people from other cities say I'm cool, but I also don't want them to understand. I rap about things that only people in the hood would understand, like "This song is about that." I feel like people who say, "This is Tokyo music, so you won't understand it," are really listening to my music. Well, maybe that's because I'm a cynical person. 
O I see! So, are there any rappers that you think are amazing?
C Tokyo has Senninsho. There's no one else but him. Outside of Tokyo, it'd be HIRAGEN. I listened to HIRAGEN's album and thought it was amazing. I'd like to do a song with them.
I really hope it comes true! If you have any information, please let me know.
CFor now, "neighborhood" will be released on January 11th under the name CENJU&YAHIKO Presented by DJ Highschool, so please check it out. After that I'll be releasing songs with Aizen, and I'm also planning to do a song with Senninsho. I've been thinking about making an R&B album. Do you know Jeff Bernat? He's an artist who reminds me of the latest version of D'Angelo, and he's really cool. I'd like to release something like this. Oh, when is this interview going to be released?
O I guess it's scheduled for the beginning of January.
We look forward to your New Year's party reservations at C shan2 (lol). 
[INFO]
Honancho Shan2
〒168-0062
Collins 38 1F, 2-12-26 Honan, Suginami-ku, Tokyo
TEL: 03-5913-8754
Instagram
@shan2_hounanchou