Review: Nigo – I know NIGO!

Japanese Producer, DJ, and founder of notable streetwear fashion brands Billionare Boys Club, A Bathing Ape, and Human Made—Nigo—drops an 11-track album, bringing together some of the most culturally iconic musical artists right now. Nigo acts as a creative director here getting people from Pharrell Williams to A$AP members to Tyler, the Creator to produce and create songs to culminate into this work. Named I know Nigo!, the title refers to a fashion motif Nigo uses when gifting and building connections with musical artists like the ones featured here. Ever since the 90s, Nigo and his contemporaries have spearheaded the cultural outburst of youth artistic expression in the intersection of Asian and black cultures, specifically between Tokyo, Japan and New York, USA. Asian artistry (from the founders of original streetwear brands to martial arts to even anime) permeated hip-hop as the genre ascended into mainstream popularity in the 21st century. And the inverse, black artistry (hip-hop production, rap vocal delivery, and staple attire like iced-out chains and sneaker culture) heavily influenced the way music evolved in Japan and other Asian countries and what the designs brands would create. It is precisely this discursive constellation with no clear starting point (consistent with likewise subcultures since the early 1900s) between like-minded yet drastically different people that makes this album such an interesting cultural moment.

Track-by-track analysis:

Lost and Found Freestyle 2019 – Finally, an official “streamable” collaboration between Tyler and A$AP Rocky is here (Potato salad still excluded i.m.o. because streaming services uses the video); the synergy is as perfect as expected between the great friends, hearing Tyler giving a more aggressive rap flow here, which is refreshing.

Ayra – One of the weaker tracks, the Rocky single has some nice shoutouts to Nigo through emblematic lyrics. The piano instrumental is light but groovy, producing a more laid-back song for the project. Honestly, just too repetitive with not exciting enough of a riff or hook.

Punch Bowl – The bringing together of Clipse again is impressive here with fitting production and vocal accompaniment by Pharrell himself. It’s just such a great surprise to hear No Malice on this record, contributing a solid verse with one of my favorite “Arm and Hammer” bars.

Functional Addict – One of the best things about this project is the deep influence of an OG Pharrell, which makes total sense in the historical context of his working with Nigo. Pharrell’s rapping is greatly crude here along with his rap production skills, juxtaposing it next to Gunna, as if saying that he can still keep up with the contemporary artists now.

Want It Bad – The Kid Cudi single probably finds his fans well, contributing a full song for this album while doing what he does best. Nothing boundary-pushing, but it has the elements most love about Cudi with an almost disco-influenced instrumental by Pharrell.

More Tonight – Will definitely be the least listened to track simply because it’s the only one not in English, but it will be drastically underrated. A Nigo album would simply not feel right without his music group Teriyaki Boyz who notably produced the Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift soundtrack. Also, Verbal and Wise rap some catchy verses along with creating a Tokyo-Drift-esque chorus on top of a more modern Pharrell club beat.

Paper Plates – The album feels to really pick up in energy levels with the help of A$AP Ferg here, giving a hard-flow vocal delivery along with the infectious yelling adlibs (with the great easter egg of Playboi Carti’s “right” adlibs from “Mad Man”). Pharrell also exceeds his usual bounds of both vocal experimentation and an extremely intense and banging beat. Pharrell’s main vocal contribution consists of these weird risings in pitch when saying “You know that feeling from the paper plates” as the adlibs interpolate between similar lines in the Chorus. Many will find this tough to listen to, but I think it’s a successful experimentation by Pharrell.

Hear Me Clearly – Pusha T appears again here by himself this time, even one-upping his performance in “Diet Coke,” which is also produced by Kanye. The production is obviously different with Kanye’s clear influence, but the flow from the last song is still very fluid with a high-pitched electronic melody-loop built on a more minimalist heavy bass beat this time.

Pusha T is very confrontational and affirmative in his rap delivery here, making for an enjoyable energizer-type track.

Remember – Absolutely great to hear Pop Smoke on a fitting cultural moment of a project. The drill beat is curated with subtle string effects along with a primary loop of a soul vocal snippet carrying the instrumental. A Kanye beat before this made for a cleaner transition (probably because of implicit association to his recent drill experimentation), as well as the soul loop distorting towards the end flowing into the next track.

Heavy – Similar to Cudi, this Lil Uzi Vert single marks a more hyped release for the first time in a while. This appearance was even foreshadowed by a clothing collaboration between Uzi and Nigo’s clothing brand Human Made. The track starts in a grandiose rap style with quiet gongs/horns, falling analog video-game-esque effects, and explosion sounds all over another drill beat, which is new for Uzi. Uzi contributes a chill yet energetic chorus and verse that complements the production very well.

Come On, Let’s Go – Immediately starting with an Igor-vibe-synthesizer long note, Tyler plunges us into the great conclusion to the project with the most meritorious track of them all. A full-fledged effort here, Tyler creates something that is easily polished enough for a masterpiece album of his. The chest-voice singing oscillating with his more current styles of rapping propels the synthesizer beat with him. Almost every thirty seconds there will be different electronic sound effects, beat drops, and silences that are clearly intentional as they are orchestrated to match his vocals. Not to mention Pharrell hops on here, too, for some singing accompaniment.

Nigo basically accomplishes what DJ Khaled remotely even wishes he could ever do, the difference being bringing together artists of cultural continuity rather than just ones that will run numbers. This short but content-pact album comes together as a cultural culmination for all the manifestations from the original germ of Nigo, Kanye, and Pharrell that have become “the culture” (youth subcultures of artistic expression in fashion, music, art, etc.). It’s astounding how many important figures and entities in “the culture” root from one of these three (Virgil Abloh, Sk8thing, Ian Connor, Bloody Osiris, Keith Ape, the list truly goes on). It’s worth noting that there isn’t much conceptual backing or musical theme but, this record symbolizes more than just another collection of rap songs, rather as a musical magnum opus for a dude that was just a Japanese kid fascinated with hip-hop 30 years ago.

Favorite Tracks: Lost and Found Freestyle 2019, Paper Plates, Remember, Heavy, & Come On, Let’s Go.

Least Favorites: Ayra

Score: 7.8