Shawn "The One Piece Rapper" Conrad Shares His Celebrity Stories

While the name Freshco and Shawn Conrad might not be known by many anime fans out there, said fans might recognize the musician for his contribution to the anime franchise of One Piece, most specifically being the talent responsible for the theme song that arrived via 4Kids. With Shawn's theme being one of the first songs linked to the series when it made its North American debut, we had the opportunity to sit down with the musician and discuss the celebrities that he had influenced and shared stories with over the course of his career, long before he created the Straw Hat rap.

Conrad began our talk by discussing the influence he had on some major names in the hip hop and R&B industry, specifically with the likes of Busta Rhymes, Redman, and Queen Latifah to name a few:

"Busta Rhymes has told me how he was a longtime fan of mine and said that hip hop needed me. Keith Murray said he started rapping because of me. I had been working as an audio engineer, helping put together the 'El Nino' album for Red Man and he told me that I was "the best rapper he ever heard." before he had released music of his own."

Shawn's work as the rapper Freshco saw him performing alongside the likes of Notorious BIG and Queen Latifah, with the latter taking him aside during one of their performances in his earlier days:

"When I was in hip hop in 1989, I did a show with De La Soul and Queen Latifah and some Tommy Boy (Records) acts. Queen Latifah came up to me during a soundcheck and said "You are REALLY good!" It's the one interaction that I had with her one-on-one but she was so nice to come up and say that."

During his travels in the industry, Conrad had also made friends with Big Daddy Kane and several other noteworthy musicians, eventually finding his way into audio engineering and being asked by the company 4Kids to create the theme song for One Piece when it first aired in North America as a part of Saturday morning lineups.

With Conrad's recent resurgence thanks to One Piece fans taking note of his Youtube story, Shawn shared with us that he is still thinking about sharing his creativity in the world of music with audiences:

"Creating is something I'd love to be doing and I could have been making more throughout the years. It's never too late though and I still have good energy for it. I want fans to know that I could still have some real treats for folks and I want to thank them."

You can find Shawn on Youtube, Patreon, and on his personal website as he continues to create and reflect on his past with the franchise created by mangaka Eiichiro Oda.