Instrumental hip-hop is on the rise. Textured and unique, Unagi's self-titled debut is some of the freshest I've heard.

Kristen: What's behind the name?

Unagi: Well, unagi means "smoked eel" in Japanese and is a really mellow, tasty kind of sushi. I'm part Japanese and unagi was always my favorite kind of sushi so when I started recording hip-hop stuff 6/7 years ago (actually I used to rap too but I put that on hold for a while) I called myself Unagi. I'm also just into underwater stuff in general, which is why I got the octopus, jellyfish and whatnot on the album art.

You're originally from Massachusetts; what drove you to the West coast?

Massachusetts is dope in a lot of ways, but after a while I just got kind of bored there. Especially trying to do music there and get beyond a certain bar/club level. Plus most of my friends had all left town, my family had all left town, and I was just kind of kicking it. I actually had lived out west before, briefly in So Cal and Portland about 10 years ago but basically I came to the bay because I was bored and wanted to bounce somewhere. I was gonna go to NYC but my brother hooked me up with a cheap room out here, then I stumbled onto a decent job and ended up really liking it in San Fran. There's always a lot of shows going on, tons of talented local cats, the weather is usually nice, awesome restaurants, the best weed, etc.� I been here going on 5 years and plan to stay for a while, maybe move to Hawaii eventually.

You've chosen to use some rare and assorted samples on your debut album Unagi - how were you exposed to such diversified selections?