By Nick Pinder

Hey! Good Morning! Buenos Dias! おはようございます！

I hope your winter break was as relaxing as it could be and that you had a wonderful time with your friends/family or even by yourself! (No shame in spending some well-deserved alone time).

For 2018 I want to push myself to do a lot of new things and break out of my comfort zone even more (it’s a lot easier said than done). Over the course of 2017, one of the new things I explored was the realm of hip-hop/rap/R&B. It’s bee a fascinating ride that has changed my appreciation and view of music completely.

I’ve played Kendrick Lamar probably every day since October. “DNA” is just SO good.

Lyrical content usually takes the backseat when I listen to music because I focus on the melodies, the chord progressions and the overall feel of the tune. That’s why lyrically centered music – hip/hop, R&B, Musicals, and Spoken word – has always been difficult for me. I just get distracted by the beat, or the overall feel that I forget to pay attention the lyrics. In my head I could appreciate this style of music, but in my heart it was a bit harder for me. However, when I sat down and started to really pay attention I was blown away. I can now listen to stories and really detailed events AND listen to music? That’s awesome!
Are you the same way? I’d love to know how you listen to music.

So here we go! This month’s artist is.…

SHING02

Name: Shing02
Hometown: Honolulu / Tokyo, Japan
Genre: Hip-Hop / Rap
Members:
Shingo Annen (AKA Victor Omega)
Most recent release: For The Thyme Being 5 – WENOD Records (Co-written with DJ Icewater)

Shing02 is a notable name to hop-hop fans all over the world, but not necessarily because of his own albums and mixtapes. The majority of his work is on features, which is fascinating because you think if he were so talented he would go out and make his own mixtapes/albums. Well, he’s done that too. He’s a jack of all trades really. He has written music of course, created his own synthesizer, and even directed four short films. Even though he has created all this content Shing02 does like to stay behind the scenes. Finding extended information on him was a bit of a challenge I will say.

Having grown up all over the world – Tanzania, England, Tokyo, and San Francisco – Shing02 raps in both English and Japanese. The majority of his work that I have listened to is in English, but he often collaborates with Japanese artists like: jizue, toe, and the late legendary hip-hop DJ Nubajes. Interestingly he never code-switches during songs and always stays entirely in one language.

Shing02’s website has an archive of many of his collaborations that are uploaded and available to download entirely for free. To me, this shows that Shing02 is truly in the game for the art and the pleasure instead of the money. He was even described by Patrick Neate – a British journalist and self-proclaimed hip-hop head – as one of the Japanese writers that “has addressed important issues from Japanese ethnicity to sexual exploitation to the education system” (Neate, 2003). Exploring topics as complex as these within his lyrics is fascinating frankly. I always really appreciate it when rappers really take the time to make their lyrics have depth.

おすすめ

South side

This songs starts out very spacey with acoustic guitars and a bouncy bass and a simple, classic hip-hop beat. Shing02 comes in saying:

Just another lazy afternoon
I’m tired of being bored it’s time to take the board out
Hit the south side

The lyrics aren’t profound on this specific track, but there’s something nice about just listening to a rapper talking about wanting to surf and just hangout at the beach. His fast and quick flow juxtaposes the relaxed and laid back hip-hop beat. This is the style that Shing02 is most famous for, continually being featured on tracks that have a soft-jazz and hip-hop combination, i.e. low-fi hip-hop.

The instrumentals are good enough to keep someone hooked on the song as Uyama Hiroto follows in Nujabes’ low-fi style. The hook of the song features a saxophone riff accompanying the title “South Side” referencing a beach in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Luv sic pt 2

This is the banger. The Nujabes song. Everyone knows Nujabes. He’s the father of modern low-fi hip-hop. This is easily Shing02’s most famous song. He raps about how good music is intoxicating, sensual and a lot like falling in love. You don’t know what will happen next, but you’re dying to know more and to stay around.

Like a movie that you can’t predict
Like a book that you can’t resist
I sing along a song that’s oh so sensual

Even though he loves music so much, he admits that he struggles to find a job that pays the bills. He loves music so much that he doesn’t have the motivation to get a good paying job because he wants to put all his effort and energy into being the best rapper he can be. That means constantly raising the bar and constantly pushing himself, hence the lovesickness. He loves music so much but being “poor” and constantly making things hard for yourself tires Shing02 out.
Something I think many of us can relate to.

I wont go into descriptions of Nujabes because he’s incredibly famous and you can do that on your own. However, to summarize it briefly he is revered by fans.

真黒

This is easily the most interesting song I know featuring Shing02 because both Jizue (a jazz band) and he blend their styles to create a captivating song. This is fascinating on Jizue’s end because they typically play jazz/lounge music. To see them go “heavy” and break out of their genre while still garnishing it with their style is awesome. They do it better than a lot of hip-hop producers.

It’s interesting for Shing02 because he also leans into the “heavy” hip-hop a bit more than he usually does on this track. He brings a fast paced energy to the song and gets a bit more hype compared to his other tracks. He raps quicker, he’s pumping out more words and he brings this energy to it. As the lyrics are in Japanese and I don’t trust google translate, I can’t provide an analysis of the lyrics but I can say that it’s worth the effort to look into it.

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Conclusions

Shing02 works from behind the scenes to keep lo-fi hip-hop authentic, fun and most of all relaxing. His voice is powerful when it needs to be but also routinely very soft and sometimes quiet. His reflexive and introspective lyrics make the lightheartedness of all the songs more profound after a quick read-through of the lyrics.

Other artists similar to Shing02
Campanella
Marcus D
呂布カルマ

Catch ya next time! See you!

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Did you like what you heard? Are you craving more similar artists? Do you want me to review a specific Japanese artist? Do you just want to talk music and memes? Let me know what you think! Contact me through Facebook, Line, or at goodmorningaomori@gmail.com!