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I was privileged enough to get to sit down and discuss with the great Arancione Kirifuda about his background, music, style, and influences.
The first thing we jumped into was the origin of his name. Arancione is Italian for orange. And Kirifuda is the type of card that completely changes the course of the game in Yu-Gi-Oh. Combining the two names and their origins creates an entirely interesting and beyond unique stage name. Italian+Japanese =DOPE, when it come to hip hop fusion.
His latest record is titled Drillifuda?! A clear cut play on words off of his own stage name but the title goes deeper than this...the entire project is what happens when you cross Chicago/New York drill flows, beats, and hi hats with lyricism entrenched in Arancione’s favorite animes, video games, and comics! The title Drillifuda!? is like a new type of “drill” music that “changes the game”. And after hearing this record, he’s definitely changing the game by just being himself.
Rappers don’t have to come from intense circumstances in order to make great music or tell a profound story. Does coming from those backgrounds sometimes make it easier to tell a heart wrenching compelling story? Sure. But that’s not always the case, and seeing how rappers like myself being a white rapper from Nebraska or a black rap artist from Matteson Illinois make hip hop; we have different perspectives yet we still strive to tell stories, write songs, and convey energy through the record!
Diving into some of the references and things Arancione mentions in his music. He takes the literal drill idea from drill music and decides to bring up characters and situations from pop culture, anime and games that relates to all things, drill. Gurren Lagann is an anime which is mentioned multiple times over in his project, Arancione Drillifuda!? Gurren Lagann is a Japanese anime about humans that constantly drill underground to escape devastating earthquakes. He also mentions the different Mega Man video games and instances in which the theme and idea of “drills” pop up.
One can see the art behind flipping a negative violent cultural stigma into something positive and creative! In Arancione Kirifuda’s case, he’s flipping the idea of “drill music” and taking an outside of the box approach. It works brilliantly especially if you’re into both hard music and music that references anime.
Arancione Drillifuda!? is a 9 track record fully produced by Arancione Kirifuda himself and engineered by RappaHeartless of Heartless Productions. Favorites from the project include Geyser Kick (Mortal Kombat - Rain reference), Shademan, Nanase, and Drill Power! Arancione Drillifuda!? is streaming everywhere music is available!
ANCHOR.FM link below for full interview!