I was born and raised in Brooklyn so I had to be tough in every respect. The people reading this may think that's because I hung out with a bunch of hoodlums while I was growing up. But that's not the only reason. New York is a big city with 8 million people. Many people will wind up having the same idea if grown up during the same period. It could be the guy living next door... If you're going to reach a higher level than all those guys who have the same goal as you, you have to be tough yourself. Which means that fiercely-competitive New York City is definitely the toughest town in America.
The same is true for the music industry I'm in. It's a world where you have to be tough in order to survive. You've got to be willing to stand your ground in this business if you want to produce good music. That's why people tell each other exactly what they think. You can't be afraid of saying, "No", otherwise you end up being swayed by other people's ideas and losing the initiative. That must be why my music, which you could say is another version of myself, is tough. I've treasured the hard aspects since I was making music in Brooklyn. For example, I'll include a drum part in a song with a light melody. That's ‘hard’ to me. I give it the feeling of aggression by mixing them together. That part will never change, even if I make a cute little song. It's that non-negotiable tough factor. I feel like G-SHOCK is similar to me even in that respect.
I came across G-SHOCK around the mid-1980s, if I'm not mistaken. It was a blue G-SHOCK, which is my favorite color. Then, once I found out it had a lot of useful functions, I was hooked. I've kept paying attention to G-SHOCK ever since. I especially like the 6900 series and the Frogman models. I'm a big guy, and the size and shape are a good fit. The world time feature is also really convenient since my work takes me all over the world. The look and feel of the colors and the shapes, as well as the functions... G-SHOCK is the watch of tomorrow. Unlike other watches, I think it's more like a robot that you can wear. I love G-SHOCK and hopefully I'll have a chance to collaborate with them on something. It should go well, given our similarities.