PROFILE
Experimental soul band consisting of Kento Nagatsuka (Vo), Fumitake Ezaki (Key), Miki Inoue (Ba), and Kou Arata (Dr.), released their first album "Sphere" in 2016, which was highly praised for its musicality and free interpretation of jazz, soul and hip hop. The band has toured Paris and Berlin and performed at many major festivals in Japan. Remixes with José James and Oscar Jerome, official cover of The internet, Thelonious In addition to participating in the Monk tribute album, he will be collaborating with Kiefer and 9m88 in 2023, and is looking forward to new developments at home and abroad.
PROFILE
Born in Tokyo , 1991. He gained attention early on as a rapper of the Internet generation, and has been actively involved in the music industry, releasing more than 10 albums. He is also known as a beatmaker and producer under the name LEEYVNG. In recent years, he has garnered attention for his collaborations with national R&B singer AI and his double name work with Sweet William. In November 2011, he made a comeback with his latest album "DONG JING REN," his first album in five years.
With this track, strong representation is still inevitable.
-First of all, can you tell us how WONK and Jinmenusagi first met?
Jinmenusagi: It was around the time I released my collaboration album with Sweet William ("la blanka"), so about 6 years ago. I remember Ko-kun (Arata), Miki-san (Inoue), and Sweet William discussing the details of the album at a tavern that looked like an elementary school classroom in Ebisu. I remember discussing the details of the album with Ko-kun (Arata), Miki-san (Inoue), and Sweet William at a tavern that looked like an elementary school classroom in Ebisu.
Arata: Yes, it's an elementary school tavern (laughs). (Laughs.) I remember that Will (Sweet William) played me some of his songs. I remember Will (Sweet William) played me some of his songs, and I thought, "I really want to be a part of this. I asked him to join our group, and that's how it all started. . From there, I helped with live performances and remixes, even if it was only in a small way.
Inoue: You mainly helped with things like the fact that we didn't have album jackets yet and how to distribute CDs..................
-I believe that this is the first time that the two groups have released a song as a featured artist.
Arata: I had already made a track, and chaos became the theme. I thought that only Usa-san (Jinmenusagi) could capture this worldview, so I approached him with some trepidation, and he agreed. From there, the lyrics were mainly exchanged between Usa-san and Nagatsuka.
Nagatsuka: In the course of our meetings, we talked about various topics, such as the recent situation around Okubo Park in Shinjuku, the filter bubble, the sense of fragmentation, and the fact that Tokyo is in a bad way. We talked about a variety of topics, from the recent events in and around Shinjuku's Okubo Park to the current situation in which the future does not look bright and we do not know how things will turn out.
Also, when writing the lyrics, I tried to include strong words and sharp expressions that I had not used very often in the past, this time.
Jinmenusagi: I knew that strong expression was inevitable in this track, so I decided to face the heavy things without running away from them, and to describe them properly.
-. I understand that the direction of the lyrics was decided mainly through discussions between Mr. Jinmenusagi and Mr. Nagatsuka.
Jinmenusagi: However, Kento-kun (Nagatsuka) and I each construct our own separate worldviews. I was conscious of the rap design, though, such as Kento-kun's voice coming in at the end of my verse in a pleasant way.
Nagatsuka: . I guess I told them in advance that I was going to say something like this in the chorus. I had a vague idea that the chorus would be a lament about how we are going to get our future in this chaotic world. From there, I asked the rap part to dig deeper into the worldview.
