dbo:abstract
| - Dragon Ash (ドラゴンアッシュ, Doragon Asshu) is a Japanese rap rock group founded in 1996 by Kenji %22Kj%22 Furuya and Sakurai Makoto. They were one of the first groups to popularize hip hop in Japan. They brought a western flavor to Japanese music and helped to turn rap music mainstream, with a mixture of reggae, hip hop, metal, punk, drum 'n' bass, rhythm 'n' blues and Spanish music influences. Some of their best known songs include %22Shizuka na Hibi no Kaidan o%22, %22Grateful Days%22, %22Life Goes On%22, and %22I Love Hip Hop%22. Kenji has stated in several interviews that the reason Dragon Ash started out as a pseudo-punk band was because, at the time, punk was popular in Japan, and his handlers felt that the hip hop image would not sell. He has also noted that hip hop has always been first in his book (although has great passion for rock music), but he did what was necessary to become successful in the industry. Dragon Ash is a member of Mob Squad, which is an affiliation with the bands Source and Endive. Dragon Ash also has the French fleur-de-lis as their band logo/symbol, and have several songs with lily imaginary. Dragon Ash are known for their slogan 'Free Your Mind', this is where they utilize their open-minded approach with their adaptability with incorporating music genres to their forte of musical creativity. Additionally, Dragon Ash are also known for their slogan 'No Music, No Life', with their creativity & dedication for the importance of music first and foremost, before the fame and money of the music industry. Kenji Furuya (leader of Dragon Ash), has expressed his music terminology 'No Music, No Life' most effectively, with Dragon Ash producing millions of record sales from their debut, and No.1 charting singles and albums. Kenji also has displayed this creativity evolving with different music genres; first releasing raw and powerful punk rock albums during their earlier songs (between 1996-1998), gracefully progessing towards the 'hip hop/rock amalgamation' expression of sound for their 1999 album 'Viva La Revolution', selling 2 million copies; (the first half of the album with strong elements of hiphop, and the second half with powerful elements of rock music). By 2000 Dragon Ash were creating multiple chart selling hits of hiphop influenced tracks, once their 2001 album was released 'Lily of da Valley', their powerful fusion of rock & hip-hop was finally ready for Dragon Ash fans to embrace, as this album sold 1 million copies in Japan.
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