Naoki (Naoki Maeda) is a J-Pop
musician and
sound director, and is the driving force behind most of the songs in
Dance Dance Revolution, a popular arcade game published by
Konami.
Since licensing fees and similar red tape prevent real pop music from being a regular staple of DDR, Konami relies on in-house DJs and producers to create most of it's music. While four or five are employed, notably U1-Asami and dj Taka, Naoki is responsible in some way for almost all of the most popular songs in DDR history. He creates his songs under a variety of aliases, and even when a song is credited to another artist, it can usually be assumed that he shared some part in it, such as writing or remixing. He collaborates with different artists depnding on the sound, such as Paula Terry for female vocals (see N.M.R.) and Scott Dolph (Scotty D) for rap (End of the Century, Dynamite Rave).
a.k.a:Naoki, Naoki Underground, 180', 190', Naoki 190, 200', STM 200, NW260, Re-Venge, DE-SIRE, Uzi-Lay, No. 9, N.M.R., Mitsu-O!, 8-bit, DJ Swan, Z, Omega, Crystal Aliens, N&S, Jam Master, KTz, et al.