AnnieB's Detour: Teriyaki Boyz

Alright, so this next post of mine is completely out of left field as I know zilch about hip hop. However, I stumbled upon this new single that’s been out for a couple weeks from a group I haven’t heard of before but has worked with extremely notable producers.

From wikipedia:
Teriyaki Boyz is a j-hip hop group from Tokyo, Japan. The four MCs in the group are Ilmari and Ryo-Z from Rip Slyme, VERBAL from m-flo, and WISE. Nigo is the DJ and founder of the popular Japanese streetware brand A Bathing Ape. Hence the group members are prominently seen sporting Bathing Ape wear for live concerts and in music videos.

Their debut album from Def Jam Recordings and (B)APE Sounds titled Beef or Chicken? was produced by a who's who of rap and electronica producers including ADROCK of the Beastie Boys, Cornelius, Cut Chemist, Daft Punk, Dan the Automator, DJ Premier, DJ Shadow, Just Blaze, Mark Ronson, and The Neptunes. Their first single "HeartBreaker", was produced by Daft Punk and contains elements of the Daft Punk song "Human After All".

Two tracks by the Teriyaki Boyz were featured on the The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift soundtrack, the title track "Tokyo Drift (Fast and the Furious)", and "Cho L A R G E", featuring Pharrell which had previously been released on their debut album Beef or Chicken?.

In 2007 the single, "I Still Love H.E.R.", was released, which was produced by and featured Kanye West. West also appears in the promotional video, which was shot as a YouTube parody.

On March 19 2008, the Teriyaki Boyz released their latest single, "ZOCK ON!", featuring Pharrell and Busta Rhymes.”


I don't know the slightest bit of Japanese, so I'm not really sure what they're rapping about, but it's catchy and has...how you say, a phat beat? (I'm definitely not one to use that sort of lingo.) Though, I did manage to skim through the video comments and find out that "zock on" is an anglicized spelling of a phrase in Japanese slang, zokkon, which is often used to describe when one is seriously crushing on someone or something, if that helps. Anyway, I like the suaveness Pharrell adds to the track. And a slight comment on the video, I could do without Busta Rhymes's attempts on breakdancing.

Also, I've linked the other tracks to videos I found on YouTube if you're inclined to check those out too.

[Sidenote: I've updated my post on Low vs Diamond by including a recent video clip they've added to their myspace.]

3 comments:

Michele Yamazaki said...

I have to send this to my friend Natsuki. She likes hip hop a lot. My husband who is Japanese was surprised to suddenly hear them rapping in Japanese. He's not a fan of hip hop at all but thought this was kind of cool.

For the longest time it seems like all i heard from Japan was J-pop. My husband's Japanese music is all pretty poppy, with the exception of the band X-Japan, who seriously rock. They have a song called Jupiter, which isn't on YouTube (even behind some Sailor Moon clip lol). It's an 80s power ballad and it's just incredible.

It's really too bad we don't hear much foreign language music on the radio in the US (besides Tejano music, of course).

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
phreakymonkey said...

Americans in general seem particularly averse to exposure to non-English languages, or at least the media companies seem to think so. How else do you explain them remaking movie after movie from various locales overseas almost shot for shot, just so audiences in the U.S. won't have to watch them with subtitles?

Anyway, the first track I ever heard from the Boyz was Celebrity Death Match. Good stuff.