MURO — Han-Tōmē (Boa-Viagem Remix)
Hip hop wouldn’t be the same without sampling from dusty jazz, soul and funk records. Whatever you feel about hip hop, it’s hard to deny it shares a lot of roots in the same emotions and principles as jazz music. Truth be told I wouldn’t have gotten into hip hop if not for the jazz sampling. Gang Starr, A Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star’s albums were my introduction into that world beyond what was playing at the radio at the time which was a lot of Nelly and 50 Cent (Admittedly I’ve grown to see the appeal lately).
When I had picked up this copy of Han-Tōmē, I was excited to see an interesting name being featured on a track, Eddie Pazant of Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers was credited on flute for Side B. At that point, I had known more of MURO as a DJ who was an insane 45 digger but hadn’t quite delved into his work as an MC and productions so was excited to find something jazzy.
Side A features the vocal and instrumentals for the single, which was off his solo album, K.M.W. (King Most Wanted). The samples in this track are filled with lush relaxed bossa piano and string loops, which admittedly might be what people would envision when mentioning Japanese jazzy hip hop due to its strong associations with Nujabes. However, the productions for this single were helmed by MURO and Watarai, another important figure in the scene whom MURO had collaborated with on Nitro Microphone Underground.
In recent years there’s been a lot of attention on Nujabes, with more people discovering his productions and connecting to it, which is well deserved. For myself, growing up watching Samurai Champloo with my dad cemented my love for jazzy hip hop too. However I do think that his work is starting to be over emphasised into seeming like the penultimate holy grail of jazzy hip hop in Japan. Nujabes came up in an era together with guys like MURO, DJ Celory, Dev Large (RIP) and considering how homogenous Japan is more likely all grew up in households that had parents or relatives that were into jazz. There’s just a treasure trove of jazzy and soulful beats from Japan yet to be discovered or rediscovered by people who are willing to dig just a bit further.
Side B aptly dubbed the Flutemental is what I was most excited to hear and it did not disappoint at all. The switch from the main sample of bossa piano and strings to a backing vibraphone complemented Eddie’s flute well. Everything is fitted tightly together you could almost imagine it as a quartet backing a flute soloist with only a few minor elements that remind you this was a hip hop production. These are the type of tracks that I really love finding, the ones that blur the line between what really is jazz and hip hop.
Closing this off with a surprise find, the music video to this track.
Enjoy and vibe out.
