Ayumi Hamasaki 2007
 Hamasaki's first professional musical endeavors were in the rap scene. On December 1, 1995, her first album, Nothing from Nothing, featuring Dohzi-T and DJ Bass, was released under the Nippon Columbia label. When the album failed to chart on the Oricon, Hamasaki’s label dropped her.
Hamasaki was introduced to her future producer, Masato Matsuura in a disco club, the Avex-owned Velfarre. Matsuura asked Hamasaki whether she was interested in a singing career, but Hamasaki, suspicious of Matsuura, turned the offer down. Matsuura, however, persisted until the following year, when Hamasaki agreed and began taking vocal training.
Finding the instructors too rigid and the classes too dull, Hamasaki skipped most of her classes. When she confessed to Matsuura, he sent her to New York for training. While there, Hamasaki corresponded with Matsuura who, impressed with her writing, suggested she try writing her own lyrics
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