Taku Takahashi

is a Japanese DJ and record producer who debuted in 1997 as a producer of the hip hop group M-Flo. The group rose to prominence in the early 2000s, with hit singles such as "How You Like Me Now?" and "Come Again." Takahashi was also a member of Avex's 20th anniversary dance music project Ravex, and has produced songs for musicians such as Crystal Kay, Ami Suzuki and Rie Fu, and remixes for Hikaru Utada and Ayumi Hamasaki. He formed the record labels Tachytelic Records and TCY Recording.

Taku Takahashi has occasionally rapped in his songs, such as on M-Flo's songs "Get On!" and "The Rhyme Brokers," and occasionally sung vocals ("I Wanna Be Down," "Love Long and Prosper", "Toxic Sweet").

Biography

Taku Takahashi grew up in Yokohama, with his father employed in the construction industry. He attended high school in Tokyo, at St. Mary's International School, along with Verbal. In 1992, the pair formed a rap rock band called N.M.D. in 1992, in which Takahashi wrote the music and performed the drums. The band received many offers from major record labels after their live performances, however as Verbal did not see being a rapper as a practical career, these offers were turned down. The pair went their separate ways after high school, with Takahashi travelling to Beverly Hills, Los Angeles in 1994, attending Occidental College, and Verbal to Boston. Takahashi tried majoring in physics, philosophy and Asian Studies with little success.

Takahashi returned to Japan in the mid-1990s, and formed a musical unit with a female vocalist, called Love Soul. After sending a demo tape of this group to Artimage management, Takahashi met Masaji Asakawa from the DJ group GTS. Takahashi began producing music full-time, and in 1998 recorded a cover of Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were" with Verbal when he returned to Japan for winter break. The group achieved great success in 2000 and 2001 with the songs "How You Like Me Now?" and "Come Again," with the former selling more than 220,000 copies, and the latter approximately 390,000 copies. Between 2002 and 2003, the label produced six releases: Emi Hinouchi's first four singles and debut album, along with a DJ mix tape created by Takahashi called Tachytelic Night: Welcomes You to the Far East. However, none of the releases were successful, with all of the releases charting under the #100 mark on Oricon charts. He also began working as a music director, for the Gainax animated series Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, which began airing in October 2010.

In 2011, Taku Takahashi filled in for Kissy Sellout's radio show on BBC Radio 1 as part of "Jaguar Skills and His Amazing Friends." His ten-minute mix included remixes of songs from his time with m-flo and the Godzilla theme.

Discography

Albums

Other appearances

Below are songs featuring input from Takahashi away from M-Flo (i.e. without Verbal, or without Lisa circa 1998–2002).