Dragon Ash Bassist Baba Dies

Ikuzo Baba, the bassist of popular Japanese rap-rock band Dragon Ash, died April 21 of acute heart failure in Tokyo.

Baba, who was better known by his stage name Ikuzone, was 48.

He was apparently found in his Tokyo recording studio by a family member and rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

As is often the case in Japan with celebrity deaths, Baba’s was not announced publicly by his family until after the funeral took place.

Baba was much older than the other members of Dragon Ash when the group came together in 1996 and thus held considerable artistic weight in the project.

The two central members were in junior high school and Baba was 30.

They were the first group ever to score a Top 10 single with a song that was mostly rapping.

The hit contained a sample of a song by Smashing Pumpkins, a group that was a primary influence on Dragon Ash.

Expanding to a seven-piece in 2003, Dragon Ash has since solidified its position in the Japanese rock world as a consistently compelling musical enterprise, able to balance successful commercial prerogatives with genuine originality, a combination that is rare in the world of major label Japanese pop.