Dragon Ash (ドラゴンアッシュ, Doragon Asshu) is a Japanese rap rock group founded in 1996 by Kenji "KJ" Furuya and Makoto Sakurai.
Though temporarily sidetracked into following in his father's footsteps, Furuya gave up the few acting gigs that he was getting on TV dramas to concentrate on music in high school.
The band finally reached the peak of their success when they released their third album, Viva la Revolution, in July 1999 and it hit number 1 on its debut week.
Meanwhile, Furuya and DJ Bots formed a duo of sorts, writing and producing songs for acts such as Sugar Soul under the name Steady & Co.
In 2003 the group expanded to include its full current roster of members, bringing in Hiroki, Atsushi, and Dri-V.[3] In 2007 they celebrated their 10th anniversary by simultaneously releasing two best-of albums, The Best of Dragon Ash with Changes Vol.
Following his solo debut song "Swallow Dive" in March 2015, anime director Kenji Kamiyama directed a music video for "Stairway", the leading track from the album.