"We are back!!" This is a recent Instagram caption from NIGO®, who shared the trailer for the latest single More Tonight (the full version has been released). "We" here refers to the hip-hop group Teriyaki Boyz in the early 21st century, composed of NIGO® and four other people, and was quite influential in the music and streetwear industry in Japan at that time.
I Know NIGO | Via Instagram @nigo
At the end of December last year, NIGO® announced the Feature lineup of the new album "I Know NIGO", Pharrell Williams, Kid Cudi, A$AP Rocky, Lil Uzi Vert, Tyler, The Creator, Pusha T... A number of friends in the circle came to help. After 18 years of separation, NIGO® once again released a new album in her personal name, which is another important move after serving as the creative director of KENZO.
As a pioneer in street culture, NIGO®'s legendary deeds and achievements in the field of fashion trends, I believe you are already familiar with it, but in addition to the designer, he has another identity - record producer and DJ. NIGO®, influenced by American and hip-hop cultures, has a musical career as impressive as a fashion career.
NIGO & Pharrell Williams | JOSEPH JP PATTERSON
NIGO® found the perfect soil for the outbreak of BAPE® in the rap culture in the mid-1990s and before the 2000s. As Virgil Abloh said, "The hip-hop aesthetic shaped by BAPE® has become the Chanel of my generation." A$AP Rocky once said in an interview with Complex, "To me, NIGO® is no less important in hip-hop music than Pharrell, Slick Rick or Kanye."
Major Force's impact on Japanese culture
Hiro Fujiwara and Takagi Takagi | Via sabukaru.online
html In the 180s, NIGO® still listened to the United States Elvis rock music by Presley, Buddy Holly, but in 1986-87, he came into contact with hip-hop combinations such as Run DMC, TINY PANX, etc. Since then, NIGO®'s preference for listening to music has turned to underground music and started working as a DJ.
, and the one who had a greater impact on NIGO® was our godfather, Hiro Fujiwara. In the late 1980s, Hiro Fujiwara returned to Japan from the UK and formed TINY PANX with another DJ Takagi, Tsunami, and Gota Yashiki. Then the two formed the brand Major Force together with Masayuki Kudo, Toshio Nakanishi and Gota Yashiki.
Via Shane Lester
Major Force With its counter-cultural spiritual core, it has promoted the popularity of musical styles such as hip-hop and New Wave, and has had a huge impact on many fields such as music, fashion, and art in Japan and even the world, and has also laid the foundation for Tokyo street culture that has continued to this day.
"The explosion of Major Force and Riharajuku culture are not at the same starting point. Major Force has existed before this. There is overlap and overlap. Major Force influenced the new generation of young people at that time, and these people are the main driving force behind the explosion of Riharajuku culture." - Hiroshi Fujiwara
Nowadays, all the big guys in Riharajuku must have been familiar with them. For NIGO®, Major Force is like a symbol of Tokyo pop culture, which has influenced his views on music, fashion and even personal style. In NIGO®'s subsequent deeds, you can almost see some Major Forces. The shadow of…
Last Orgy Magazine Column | Via Collater
The magazine column and TV program "Last Orgy" co-founded by Hiroshi Fujiwara and Takagi Takagi is a must-see music trend field spiritual food that NIGO® must follow in every issue. NIGO® will record each episode and watch it repeatedly with friends. "Last Orgy" has also become a catalyst for NIGO® to move to Tokyo to study at the Cultural and Clothing Academy.
Later, with the development of his personal brand BAPE®, NIGO® began to collect toys, artworks and movie souvenirs. During this period, it collected a large number of action figures from "Star Wars". It was these dolls that allowed him to meet another very important figure in his music career.
1997 Conversation with James Lavelle | Via More Better 10
NIGO® covers of two CDs in 1997 | Via Discogs
995, NIGO® met James Lavelle, the founder of Mo’Wax Records in London. The two naturally became good friends because of their love for Star Wars and collections. Then they started two collaborations in 1997, one titled "60 Min’s Of Mo’Wax Shit’s remix CD, and a CD collection called A Bathing Ape Vs Mo’ Wax.
James Lavelle explains the reason for the collection, "I just want to do something with NIGO® that I haven't done before. This CD combines our strengths and combines all the elements. To some extent, it's a pretty crazy project." In addition to music, some of BAPE®'s early collaborations such as Futura, Stash, etc. were introduced to NIGO® by James Lavelle in 1995.
's first album "Ape Sounds"
"Ape Sounds" album cover | Via Rate Your Music
999 When BAPE® became a popular street brand, NIGO® released the album "Ape Sounds" with the help of Mo’Wax Records. The artistic packaging of the cover was completed by NIGO® and Futura, and the references and patterns used became part of the design source of BAPE® later.
This album reflects all the influences he was young: Japanese traditional music, rock , electronic music, hip-hop, movies and even Chinese elements. "Kung’ Fu Fightin’" in the album sampled the classic Cantonese song "Men Should Be Self-reliant", which incorporates traditional Chinese musical instruments and is reinterpreted in the form of hip-hop.
Matthew Trammel wrote in New Yorker, "H punk rock in Jet Set and Beatles style in A Simple Song. I was shocked by the confidence and ambition of these works, and I also lamented the foresight of NIGO® music. His tracks "Monster" and "Freediving" almost foresee the pop rock style of N.E.R.D. in two years." Kid Cudi, who was not famous at that time, would go to work at BAPE STORE® in New York, which was largely influenced by this album. After
released its first album, NIGO® established its own music label APE SOUNDS under its name. The form is very similar to Major Force, which also illustrates the impact of Major Force mentioned above on NIGO®. In the early days, APE SOUNDS also asked Major Force's core employees Masayuki Fujimatsu, Nakanishi Toshio and others to participate in the production, basically focusing on hip-hop, electronic, and rock music, and also helped Hiro Fujiwara produce music.
000 After NIGO® released two albums, "Shadow Of The Ape Sounds" and "(B)ape Sounds", as an art director and co-producer, including CD and vinyl limited editions. Among them, "(B)ape Sounds", released in 2004, is also NIGO®'s last previous solo album. Unlike "Ape Sounds", these two albums are completely hip-hop style, and 2000 was also a watershed period when NIGO® moved towards hip-hop. For example, BAPE STA™, the sneakers that returned to the American hip-hop field appeared in 2000-2001.
Japanese hip-hop group Teriyaki Boyz
Teriyaki Boyz group member | Via deeper
"Beef Or Chicken" album cover | Via RANDOM J POP
Single a personal album cannot satisfy NIGO® For the exploration of music, in 2005, NIGO® and Ryo-Z, Wise, Illmari, and Verbal formed a Japanese hip-hop called Teriyaki Boyz The group then released the group's first album "Beef Or Chicken", which included many famous hip-hop producers, Beastie Boys' Ad-Rock, DJ Premier and even The Neptunes...
Teriyaki Boyz's most famous is the theme song "Tokyo Drift" recorded for "Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift" in 2006. While entering the US market with this song, Teriyaki Boyz is also internationally famous.
Via barks.jp
Teriyaki Boyz x Kanye West | Via last.fm
After Teriyaki Boyz collaborated with many American artists to release singles, and finally included the team's second album "Serious Japanese" released in 2009, including the Japanese single "I still love H.E.R." released in 2007 and Kanye West, and the "WORK" launched in collaboration with Pharrell THAT, Zock-On! and TERIYA-KING, a team with Big Sean…
member Verbal talked about his story in 2018, “When NIGO® invited us to record his album, he proposed a new concept and tried to get all Japanese MCs to join the songs of American producers. The others of Teriyaki Boyz and I were friends a long time ago because they were funny, so we said, “Let’s do this for NIGO®!” After making a cool song, we gave ourselves a name, and that’s where Teriyaki Boyz comes from.”
from BILLIE IDLE to HONEST BOYZ
BILLIE IDLE The first four members of the group | Via JpopAsia
BILLIE IDLE Part CD and song cover | Via CDjapan
BILLIE IDLE The first girl group consists of former Japanese idol group BiS First Summer Uika, Hirano Nozomi and new members Momose Momo, Yasui Yuhi, are composed of NIGO® and former BiS manager Junnosuke Watanabe is a producer and debuted in 2015 with his first album "IDLE GOSSIP". BILLIE IDLE is themed "Neo 80's". Through sound and visual imagery, it pursues the unique world view of NIGO®, and its music style has also changed from the previous hip-hop to pop rock.
HONEST BOYZ® | Via Amino
At the same time, the second year after the establishment of BILLIE IDLE, NIGO® formed a new hip-hop band HONEST BOYZ® and served as a DJ. HONEST BOYZ®, composed of Verbal and three other members of the former Teriyaki Boyz group, debuted in 2016 with the single "Part Time Hero", which was also used as the theme song of the TV series "Night Hero NAOTO" starring member NAOTO. HONEST BOYZ® released several more singles between 16 and 2019, among which "Electricity" collaborated with Pharrell and Lil Uzi Vert appeared in the "POKÉMON Detective Pikachu".
NIGO® Conversation with NAOTO | Via EXILE BROTHERS
HONEST BOY x HUMAN MADE | Via suyanllo.top
Combination name HONEST BOYZ® is from member NAOTO. As a performer and artist, NAOTO met NIGO® before joining the singing and dancing group EXILE. The two have a common hobby of fashion and often go out for dinner. NAOTO called himself "HONEST BOY", so NIGO® invited him to make a T-shirt called "HONEST BOY for HUMAN MADE", and since then NIGO® talked about trying to do something musical.
"I KNOW NIGO": After 18 years of solo album
htmlOn November 28, "Arya" debuted, showing the transformation of NIGO® from trip-hop to trap style. From delicate piano melodies to countless logo decorative visuals, there is no doubt that "Arya" is full of modern culture, where fashion, music and movies blend.
"I KNOW NIGO" four singles | Via Genius
So far, NIGO®, including "Arya", has released videos of four collaborative singles on YouTube, "Want It Bad"—Kid Cudi & NIGO, "Hear Me Clearly"—Pusha T & NIGO, "Heavy"—Lil Uzi Vert & NIGO.
Steven Victor, vice president of Universal Music Group, who is responsible for record release, mentioned in an interview why this album was promoted. "Initially, we only planned to produce two songs for Pharrell and Pusha T, but after we started to contact other artists, everyone agreed! So we decided to make a five-track EP, which turned into a complete album.”
Via Instagram @blowingsmokehiphop
A series of powerful Featuring lineups have earned a lot of gimmicks for "I KNOW NIGO". In today's era of information virality, these music can undoubtedly resonate with countless fans and fans. Returning to the music career has also made NIGO® a highly-watched artist this year.
Looking back after many years, this may become the hip-hop stage in the Human Made era, which is quite close to the "company" of NIGO® entering the American rap circle with BAPE®...
NIGO® has never forgotten the subculture of subculture. From beginning to end, it has been trying to enter the music field and participate in the music industry in different ways. In his eyes, if he doesn't understand music, he will not be able to understand fashion.
"I have a formula in which music + fashion becomes culture. If Japanese big names do something fashionable or cutting-edge, the level of young people will improve and the next generation will change, so I am very happy to be involved in this kind of work. At the same time, it is also a kind of pressure to urge me to move forward." - NIGO®
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