【Eng】萌装東京 03 MONQ

I`m Mousou Tokyo (@mou_sou_tokyo).

Illustrations by illustrators using real sneakers and fashion items.
I’m sure illustrations could be a trigger to know about more about fashion items and brands. 

For such people, we will introduce the story of items and brands through illustrations under the theme of “Fashion story telling through Illustrations” in the note of Mousou Tokyo.

MONQ(@m_OnQ) × Nike Air Foce 1#萌装東京https://t.co/39m6T1t65W pic.twitter.com/sm1rMHifzk

— 萌装東京 (@mou_sou_tokyo) November 19, 2019

We will talking about such stories like the connection between anime culture and Lo-Fi hip hop with came from a hip hop artist Nujabes who began to become deeply involved with hip hop by producing the tracks for anime “Samurai Champloo”.

In addition, a fashion brand “Maison Kitsune” which is worn by Ichinose Nozomi who also had the AF1 on should be picked up.

About Mousou Tokyo

Mousou Tokyo is a fashion and art creative group originating from Tokyo. Through visualization through fashion and pop culture, we want to connect with people all over the world through “culture” and promote cultural exchanges that could deepen mutual understanding. 

On the note, there will be this article in 3 languages, which are in Japanese, English, and Chinese. We are delivering this article to global creators and people with similar interests. 

It is also posted on instagram so more than welcome to check that out as well.

MONQ (Illustrator)

リハビリ pic.twitter.com/sPGs69kHaC

— MONQ (@m_OnQ) July 27, 2019

Hatsune Miku
“Magical Future 2014” Main Visual
“Hatsune Miku x HSSB Official Skate Board Deck” Deck Design 

Snow Miku
“B.League All-Star Game 2020 in Hokkaido” Digital Ambassador Illustration “Snow Miku Snow Sports Line” Snowboard / Ski Design and Illustration

Would be some of the creations he currently is active as.

MONQ x NIKE Air Force 1 White

November 2019, which Mousou Tokyo was released. The 1st Look, which was officially released, was this illustration. 

We will be introducing the story of AF1 that this character is wearing.

Story of Air Force 1

NIKE introduced AF1 in 1982 as the world’s first air sole “Nike Air” basket shoe. 

Design was managed by Bruce Kilgore. 
The air sole unit with the concentric circle of the outline, a belt to form a better fitting, such high quality basketball shoe brought a lot of attention at the time when it was released. 

NIKE distributed AF1 to the 6 most famous NBA players at the time to promote the shoes.
They were the first players in the world to compete in the match wearing AF1 and later to be called “Original Six” 

Among them, Moses Malone was very active and AF1`s popularity accelerated as he led the team to victory.
With that being, it became widely popular on the street.

AF1 was discontinued once in 1986 with the advent success of Air Force 2.

However, three stores in Baltimore, Maryland, commonly known as “3 Amigos”, requested NIKES`s headquarters to resell. 

NIKE accepted to resell with a term for each store to purchase 1200 pairs.
After being resold, many fans visited the shops from various places and sold out instantly. 

 Furthermore, when resale grew further to cities such as New York, the movement of AF1 became even larger and created even a bigger impact to the culture. 

Later on, as basketball shoes progressed to high-tech designs with the rise of the Air Jordan series, AF1 became common on the streets. 

Currently, its being collaborating with many artists and iconic artists of the generation.

AF1 and HIP HOP
Hip-hop, which has a close relationship with basketball, is one of the cultures that have a deep connection with AF1. 

In particular, there are many overs of the white-collar AF1 called “White on White”.

Why a white AF1? 

The reason comes from a unique culture of hip-hop, which they always wear new things as a symbol of being successful. 

At that time, B-Boy wore brand new clothes and sneakers to show success and wealth from the ghetto. 

Therefore, it became a status to always wear new-conditioned white AF1 sneakers. 

It is rumored that music producer Dr.Dre, also known for his audio equipment “Beats”, is dropping new AF1 everyday. 

This movement brought a huge impact on the Japanese streets around 1994, which is strongly influenced by the hip-hop culture. 

This street style trend of wearing the white and beautiful AF1 is still the same today. 

Hip Hop and Anime

Hip-hop, which has a deep relationship with AF1, also has a deep relationship with anime. 

There are many anime`s that hip-hop artists are being involved in music portion, and also the culture being featured in many of them. 

Moreover, there are many hip hop artists from all around the world that are deeply in love with Japanese animation which it leads for them to sample the songs. 

Let us explain the most important work for both cultures, the artist who worked on the music, and new genre of hip hop that originated from the artist and spread to the world.

Samurai Champloo and Nujabes
Anime “Samurai Champloo” which has one of the deepest relationships with hip hop. 

The artist who created the music was Nujabes. 

Nujabes was based in Shibuya, Tokyo, and was well known as DJ, track maker, and music producer. 

He created the “Jazzy Hip Hop” genre that incorporates jazz into hip-hop, and he also became the music director for the fashion brand Comme Des Garcons. 

Which that being, he received an offer from director Shinichiro Watanabe, who is know for his anime “Cowboy Bebop”, to direct the music for “Samurai Champloo”. 

This was the point where the relationship anime started. 

The ED theme “Shiki no Uta”, above, was also produced by him. 

However, he passed away in 2010 from a car accident. 

At a young age of 36, his music passed through many generations and counties and still loved by many people.

Lo-fi Hip Hop and Anime Culture
Do you know what “Lo-fi Hip Hop” is? 

It would be characterized as “Relaxed melody and simple drum structure”, and is very popular as background music during work and study. 

This music, which was spread through You Tube, has a close relationship with Nujabes and anime, and is formed by multiple cultures.

Nujabes`s “Jazzy Hip Hop” and “Vaporwave”, which sampled Japanese subculture, are positioned as the musical origin of Lo-fi hip-hop. 

Also, Lo-fi hip-hop and Vaporwave have a common point in that they “use a unified artwork for the music”.

“Adult Swim”, an animation show for adults in the United States, was one of the trigger to Lo-fi hip-hop and anime. 

“Samurai Champloo” which is also broadcasted in the states, and it is said that Nujabes songs influenced the generations who later built the scene of Lo-fi hip-hop.

From these points, the root of the culture and the connection was born and now being even stronger today.

Music that Represents Lo-fi Hip Hop
One of the You Tube channels that represents Lo-fi hip-hop would be “chilled Cow”. 

Chilled Cow is said to have established the “Japanese animation + chill beat” format. 

The channel started broadcasting in 2017 by looping a scene from Studio Ghibli`s “Whisper of the Heart” and playing a beat to it. 
They are currently creating its original animation for their channel. 

There are so many other artists that are releasing great songs. 
Go check them out yourself on You Tube.

Conclusion

AF1 being the base of the story, cultures of many anime and music that have deep relationship with AF1 was introduced. 

In this way, there are many cultures that were formed by various intersections of fashion and animation. 

We will continue to introduce them through illustrations and items, so please look forward to the next episode.

takashi