TAMURA KING hit the Japanese hip-hop scene seemingly out of nowhere, and they made an immediate impression with their lyrics and sound production, as well as their contemporary sensibility and insightful structural criticism. The trio wearing each choice of UT talks about how it started.
In search of what the most wanted to say and do.
Today’s most famous sibling trio in Japan are the Tamuras, a.k.a. TAMURA KING. They are a hip-hop trio who live in the port city of Chigasaki. From oldest to youngest, the members include Nasa (a creative director), Namichie (a costume creator and rapper), and Mana (a dancer who is still in university).
“I spent a year studying in Switzerland,” says Nasa, “but it was a tough school. I got pneumothorax, and I was dying while flying back to Japan.Throughout my suffering, I thought about what it was that I most wanted to say and do, and I realized: I want to say the word, tamakin (testicles).” “To satisfy this precious insight my brother gained through his time in Switzerland, the three of us got together to form TAMURA KING,” Namichie adds. “Not that anything really changed, since the three of us have always done things together.”
TAMURA KING pose on the roof of the home in Chigasaki, Japan; not surprisingly, dancer Mana has the most colorful poses. All three are wearing UNIQLO pants.
Conceptual art that is formed as a hip-hop song.
When spoken fast enough, TAMURA KING sounds like tamakin—thus fulfilling Nasa’s wish. Namichie writes all the trio’s lyrics. “I wrote the verses to be accessible, to universalize TAMURA KING,” she says, pronouncing the name like tamakin. It may be toilet humor, but it’s appropriated to make a more conceptual point about being able to discuss any subject in the open. Through the trio’s art, the tamakin has been set free. This conceptual and contextual density can also be found in Namichie’s solo work. It’s also apparent in a makeup tutorial filmed by Nasa and starring Namichie and Mana—the tutorial presents a hilarious satire of YouTube celebrities that ends with a twist.
“I don’t think you can make contemporary art or hip-hop without structural criticism,” says Namichie. “It’s through structural criticism that you can create something new. By elevating your unconscious, you sometimes discover a new side to yourself—so there’s structure inside your mind as well, and I find that structure interesting.”“I think by elevating my mind, I can even get a bird in the wild to land on my shoulder,” says Nasa. “That’s how far I want to upgrade my senses. That’s why I can’t ride trains. Nothing agitates the soul more than riding a crowded train; you just can’t come up with good ideas in that environment.
”Throughout the interview, youngest sister Mana stays on the sidelines, grinning—clearly, she is on the same wave length as her brother and sister. The deeper you dig into the three, the more likely you are to discover their uncommon and diverse talents. How long will their hip-hop act last? Who knows. But wherever the three decide to take their pursuits, it’s bound to be an interesting ride.
©Disney © Peter Saville and New Order
PROFILE
TAMURA KING | The hip-hop trio was formed by three Ghanaian-Japanese siblings: Nasa, who has an MA from ECAL in Lausanne; Namichie, who is an alumnus of the Tokyo University of the Arts; and Mana, who is studying at Hosei University and working on paying off her student loans. Their grandmother is a taxi driver who sometimes gives them free rides.
YouTube @Tamura King
