. a teenager who decided to work in a factory because of his admiration for "8mile".
PROFILE
Born in 1998 in Toyama , Japan. From childhood to high school, he spent his time playing basketball. In high school, he participated in a national tournament. He started making music at the end of his club activities, and made his modeling debut at the 2018-19 AW Paris collection, and is currently working extensively as a model.
Instagram : @keigo__okazaki
. You played basketball when you were in school, didn't you? . When I think of Toyama Prefecture, Rui Yamura is the first person that comes to mind.
Keigo:Mr. Rui , he was my senior in junior high school. We sometimes went home together (laughs). (Laughs.) But he was my senior, so I was scared of him. He was a big guy even then.
You are currently working as a track maker in addition to modeling.
Keigo:When I went to high school, it took me about an hour each way on foot. Normally, I would have taken the train, but there was no train service in the countryside. At that time, my mother bought me a portable music player, and that is when I started listening to music. At first I listened to music from my mother's generation, but I got tired of listening to it and started renting it myself, and I started digging music.
You moved to Tokyo after graduating from high school, didn't you?
Keigo:. Yes, I did. I got a job at a printing company in Tokyo. While working at the factory, I was making music. I bought a sampling machine called "MPC 2000XL" to make my own music. . I thought rapping was cool at the time, so I was also rapping. When I started making beats, I had not yet heard of Nujabes or anything like that.
Why did you choose the factory?
Keigo:. I admired the movie "8mile" and decided to work at the factory. At the time, I had a great balance between "working" and "music," between "input" and "output. To be honest, I didn't want to quit, but I was invited to model for the "Vetements" collection. They asked me to come to Paris, and I wanted to go, too. But I had to take a long leave of absence from the company to go, so I had to quit.
. It must have taken a lot of courage to jump into a place where you didn't know what would happen next.
Keigo:. At that time, I genuinely wanted to go to Paris. So I wasn't thinking about that at all. Nowadays, it would be impossible because I have too many things to protect, but at that time, I had nothing to protect.
