My solo album has been released! The Amalgam Project is now available on ITUNES!!
Click the album cover below to get more information and to purchase it!
People ask me what the album is about, and I must say that it is about fusion. It is about going against the grain no matter what. It is about living life in a MAJA way, congruent to my values at all times.
Like I say in my song Go 'Head:
ANIME, games, life, pain
All passengers on the same train
And hip-hop's behind it;
Locomotive science,
This album is all of my past times collided
I hope you take the risk and purchase the Project. I hope you listen to the words I speak on these tracks and appreciate it so much that you tell others about it. Spread the word, from the States to Japan! I risked a lot for this album and I hope you do that same.
Ja,
Maja
ANIME (ANIME MIRU TOKI)
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First of all, thank you for coming to my newest MysSpace page. I bet you’re looking at it, listening to the music playing, thinking, “What in the hell is this and where did it come from?!†So, I figured that I would answer your questions and take it from there.
I’m Maja (pronounced "Mey-juh") a 24 year-old student living in Phoenix, AZ. I decided to take off a semester or two in order to make what it is that you’re listening to right now. What’s one or two semesters, right? *wink* Moving on, I’d like to say that I think I grew up at the perfect time. I was here when Nintendo hit the States with raging fury, and the console wars began with Sega and all the others. I fell in love with Super Mario Bros. on NES, StarFox 64 on N64, Sonic the Hedgehog on Genesis, and couldn’t manage to stop playing new games on new systems.
If I wasn’t playing videogames I was watching Japanese anime. It all started when I caught a glimpse of Vampire Hunter D on TBS one night as a kid. I mean, at that moment, the episodes of He-Man, Ninja Turtles, and Thundercats that I’d watched growing up seemed so irrelevant. The new animation before my eyes was so foreign and uncanny. I had visually stumbled into the world of anime without knowing what it was called. It took one trip to Blockbuster to learn that it did indeed have a name and it was "anime."
Music. I love everything about it. I still can’t believe that there is so much of it out there that I haven’t heard yet. I grew up listening to whatever my family listened to. Anita Baker, Luther Vandross, Gerald Lavert, New Edition, LL Cool J, to name a few. When I got to be around 12, I dove headfirst into music by artists like B.I.G., Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Jay-Z, and Tupac. I couldn’t get enough of hip-hop. These days I have songs in my iPod playlists that usually wouldn't be grouped together - like, I have Bjork's Earth Intruders playing after Young Dro's Shoulder Lean.
I started creating music at 14 and realized I couldn’t find music that talked about some of the coolest things from my childhood. I would ask myself, “Where are the rappers from my generation?†“Am I the only person who played these games or watched these cartoons or discovered anime?†So, I slowly started trying to bring that across through my rhymes. In fact, if you listen closely enough, you’ll find pieces of my childhood through various tracks of mine. Hopefully, you’ll have fun with that aspect of the songs I create.
Next stop, Japan.
So, I’m sure you’re listening to my songs and then hear something that sounds like jibberish coming out of my mouth. That’s the Japanese, lol. Well, it’s either Japanese or Spanish. I took the Spanish I learned in high school and used it. I figured, “Hey, why not?†If the stuff’s in this brain of mine, why not use it? I started learning Japanese after Spanish, thanks to my Spanish teacher, Sra. Throgmorton. I don’t know where she is now, but you can blame her for the jibberish, because she inspired it in a way. I found a book on Kanji on her classroom bookshelf and the rest just fell into place. I’ve been absorbing as much Japanese as possible since that time and I hope the Japanese like and understand it.
I’ve rambled on far enough, so I’ll make some long stories short.
I grew up in Northern California’s Bay Area. Right after I graduated from high school in 2001 I moved to Phoenix, AZ. If you like what you hear, I am doing my job as an artist. You may not understand it all, but it rhymes nonetheless. You’re listening to my rhymes rapped over some of the illest beats made by Les and Anglo-Saxon. I can understand some Spanish. I understand more Japanese. I can read and write Kanji, but I’m still learning. I’m a good guy. I rap what I love. I love that which loves back.
Check out my first MySpace page. www.mistamaja.com Make sure you add yourselves and comment! Check out the vid too! I had a blast making it. Big ups to Fugee for holding the camera for me!
Ja,
Maja
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