Teriyaki Boyz

With cosigns from the likes of Kanye West and Pharrell, Japanese rap supergroup Teriyaki Boyz were intended to be ambassadors of the country's hip-hop scene to the world music arena in the 2000s. Releasing their star-studded debut album, Beef or Chicken, on Def Jam in 2005, they also garnered mainstream attention for "Tokyo Drift (Fast & Furious)" from the 2006 movie of the same name. In 2009 they released the Delicious Japanese mixtape and sophomore LP Serious Japanese. Absent from the scene for over a decade, they made a surprise return on group member Nigo's 2022 album I Know NIGO! Their formation facilitated by Japanese trendsetter, entrepreneur, DJ, and producer Nigo (Tomoaki Nagao) of A Bathing Ape, the crew also includes MCs Ilmari (Keisuke Ogihara) and Ryo-Z (Ryouji Narita) from Rip Slyme, Verbal of hip-hop/club duo m-flo, and solo act Wise (Kameyama Seiji). Nigo debuted the Teriyaki Boyz on his 2004 compilation Nigo Presents: (B)Ape Sounds, adding the DJ Shadow-produced "Kamikaze 108." For the group's debut album, Nigo assembled an all-star cast of producers, hand-picked from the U.S. hip-hop underground and pop mainstream, including Just Blaze, Cut Chemist, the Neptunes, DJ Premier, and Dan the Automator. After the Teriyaki Boyz inked a deal with Def Jam, the tongue-in-cheek Beef or Chicken first arrived in Japan in 2005 with "Heartbreaker," produced by Daft Punk, as its lead single. The Japanese troupe dispelled doubts of being a one-off collaboration by contributing two songs to the soundtrack of the 2006 movie The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and issuing a new single, the Kanye West-produced "I Still Love H.E.R.," the following year. That track landed on their 2009 sophomore effort, Serious Japanese, which featured contributions from Towa Tei, Jermaine Dupri, Big Sean, Cornelius, Mark Ronson, Ad-Rock, and many more. While the project was inactive for over a decade, the individual members continued with their primary projects: Rip Slyme issued a trio of albums in the 2010s before disbanding in 2018; m-flo released four full-lengths; Wise remained a solo artist; and Nigo continued his work in the fashion world, both with A Bathing Ape and Kenzo. In 2022, Nigo released his album I Know NIGO!, which charted in the Top 15 on the Billboard 200. The effort included a surprise reunion with Teriyaki Boyz, "Morë Tonight." ~ Neil Z. Yeung & Cyril Cordor