Dropout Kings’ Trap Metal Homage To Dragon Ball’s Akira Toriyama

Posted in: Comics, Current News, Manga | Tagged: dragonball, DragonBall Z, Dropout KIngs, trap metal

Phoenix trap metal band Dropout Kings are releasing a tribute song to Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z creator Akira Toriyama entitled Toriyama.

Phoenix trap metal band Dropout Kings are releasing a tribute song to Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z creator Akira Toriyama entitled Toriyama. You can listen to it here for now. Not sure for how long… it’s meant to be officially released tomorrow.

Dropout Kings vocalists Eddie Wellz, aka Black Cat Bill and Adam Ramey are both fans of anime and drew inspiration from Toriyama’s frenetic art style. They are also keen readers of Bleeding Cool, so how could I not plug their tribute?.

Black Cat Bill tells us, “The inspiration for this song is the late great Akira Toriyama. When he passed away Adam, Jalopy and I definitely felt the impact of losing a figure that inspired us so much with his art and stories. Knowing that we’re not even close to the only ones who admired his creativity we wanted to make a song that was fun and just celebrated the imagination of a man we greatly appreciate and his memory. We named the song Toriyama because it’s literally a song dedicated to him and the fans of all of his work, especially Dragon Ball of course. We figured why not just name after the legend himself? We made this song in hopes to create something the fans of Toriyama could turn up and get lit too while also reminiscing on the amazingness of his art. A fun demonstration of hip hop and anime for the summer and an another piece to immortalize Toriyama forever. Not sure what songs to compare it to, but it definitely has a summertime energy and it’s more upbeat in hopes to inspire celebration about his life and spirit which’ll inspire us forever and not so much about his physical passing. It gives you an imaginative and alternative type feel in ways, but also its 3 verses and full of alliteration, entendre and metaphor as well as just straight up references to Toriyama’s works”.

“The song was recorded, mixed and mastered for the most part at Sullivan Audio studios in Phoenix Arizona earlier this spring. Adam and Jalopy actually recorded their verses at two other locations, one of which was Tribe Ave Studios in Mesa This song is actually the first song by Dropout Kings that’s just us going over hip hop production. It was one of those songs that you just create in a moment’s notice when you feel the inspiration because of the suddenness of the event which inspired it. In that way the process felt unique for me because there was just a need and desire to get in and use the emotion to create as soon as I could unexpectedly.

“The process of writing this was simple and quick. Adam and I wanted to do it and I thought it would be a great opportunity for us to do a song with another artist from Arizona who I knew would fit it well. Nothing was out of the ordinary other than the fact we’ve never made a song dedicated to a specific person before. In that case, it was emotional in a way and we all felt some type of way, but ultimately it really was a lighthearted experience. At the end of the day we spent so much time reminiscing on our childhoods and all the amazing things we learned from Toriyama through his art that helped us become the artists we are today. Jalopy Bungus is the feature on this record and if you ask me he’s one of the best rappers I’ve ever met. A friend I met through music and hip hop in specific, it didn’t take long for us to bond over anime as well and Dragon Ball is one of those anime we’ve both enjoyed since we were kids. Knowing both of these things, as soon as I heard the beat produced by David Arcade, I immediately thought Jalopy would be a perfect fit! I hit him up and he cooked, nuff said.”

“I think this song fits into our catalog of work as a special release and a unique experience from us thus far. We haven’t released a lot of music that’s stood alone as singles not attached to any specific project. When you consider that and again the fact that it’s a dedication to another artist, it gives the song a different type of energy from an inspiration perspective for us. Not only that, but because it’s a song that is a straight up hiphop song, it doesn’t haven’t any of the metal elements we typically utilize in our work and yet we believe it still brings that energy and passion we’re known for as well as shedding light on the greatness that was Toriyama in a fun and festive way for the fans.”

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