JP THE WAVY says he and Takashi Murakami are showing “a new side” of their collaborative project MNNK Bro. with the release of what marks their fourth official single, “SHUTOKO TOKYO.”
The new track, produced by ineedmorebux, arrives alongside a supersized remix spanning over 30 minutes and an official video directed by New York filmmaking duo BRTHR.
“I feel like my own color comes through a little more strongly this time,” JP said in a statement shared with Complex. “I’m rapping fast over a beat with a real sense of speed, so I think it shows a new side of MNNK Bro. For people living in Japan, the Shutoko is something we see all the time. But from an international perspective, it connects to this cool world of street racing culture — like Fast & Furious, Wangan Midnight, or Akira. We really focused on that feeling when creating the song.”
As Murakami explained, the song was actually finished roughly two years ago, though the aforementioned remix (inspired by Geinoh Yamashirogumi’s music for the classic 1988 film Akira) and the track’s official video both lengthened the process of readying it for release.
“I hope this song, which captures the present moment of the 2020s, will live on into the future!” the prolific artist, and ComplexCon alum, added.
Also enlisted for the just-released “SHUTOKO TOKYO” video were producer Anna Briand Hashimoto, NAKAMA founder and executive producer Kenji Lepretre Sato, and more. Catch the video in full up top.
