Oakland native Seiji Oda is not exactly a new artist to the Mundane readers. We already talked about him when we introduced amazing R&B/dream pop artist Asi Kemera.

Asi’s track ‘honey bb’ was made in collaboration with Seiji and was mostly about “being submissive in the bedroom. I’m actually a pretty dominant person with other areas of my life, but it’s fun to not be in control sometimes. The Gemini in me likes to switch it up haha.” Asi revealed. 

The two share a rich cultural background as well. 

Asi mixes different genres and sonic tricks borrowed from R&B, rock, Bollywood, and even traditional Ethiopian sounds while Seiji’s identity is rooted in his Japanese heritage and Bay Area upbringing. He translates that into sounds by melding R&B harmonies, lo-fi production and his hyphy roots.

Such a heterogeneous sonic collage has created a one-of-a-kind soundscape earning him a core of devoted fans.

Seiji released the deluxe edition of his debut EP, “BLUE +” in November of 2020, reaching over 400k streams. Since then, he has released collaborations with west coast powerhouses such as P-Lo and Guapdad4000 and executive produced his younger brother, Lil Ricefield’s, debut EP. 

His upcoming project, ORA, explores another hue of Seiji’s sound and is set to release in the near future.

Last month Seiji released two-sided single “CYBORG” and “no fillins.” Which is the second installation of his two-single releases, representing yin and yang. 

“‘no fillins’ pays homage to classic and old school bay area hip hop, while ‘CYBORG’ previews the future of Seiji’s music and upcoming project ‘ORA.’”

The “CYBORG” music video, inspired by The Terminator, follows a robotic seiji as he sees the world through his cyborg lens and forms a friendship with a fellow robot.  

Tell us about how the Terminator inspired your video

This is for the Cyborg video, you would have to ask Kiko Valle the director. It was all his vision. At first I didn’t really like the direction even while we were shooting but I loved it once I saw the final product. Kiko is one of those maniacal geniuses, you can’t tell how good what he’s making is until it’s finished.

Tell Us about your Latest release ‘Cyborg’

Cyborg I made while I was in LA looking for a new apartment, I was on the move and you can hear that frantic energy in my voice. It was originally a freestyle that I later reworked and turned into a whole song. No Fillins is a nod to Bay Area underground classic “Cupcake no Fillins”, I just wrote on similar themes but put my own flip on it, mixing the hyphy w the lofi.

What are your main Musical influences

Mac Dre, Ab-Soul, Lil B, Erykah Badu

Who inspires your production style?

The girl and her cat on the ‘lofi study beats to chill to’ playlist. But for real, I think I pull from all the music I listen to, as well as random sounds I hear through the day.

Do you prefer producing other people’s music or your own?

My own, but this includes working with all the homies and people in my camp.

How is the current scene treating you and alt pop artists like you?

I wouldn’t say I’m alt pop, but genre doesn’t mean too much at this point so I’ll take it lol. I think it’s forcing us to all be creative in ways to be connected with our audiences which is not a bad thing ultimately.

Top 3 best producers of all time?

BeatByJeff, Timbaland, Dilla