Instead of following the well-trodden road, Verbal has always made paths of his own. He came up as one of Japan's most successful rappers and has evolved into a style icon, investor and connector of dots between East and West. But pioneering requires letting go of what other people think you should be, which is particularly difficult when those people are your parents.
VERBAL was born a third generation Korean in Tokyo, Japan, whose family ran the Pachinko business. He found hip hop at a YMCA summer camp, moved to England after being picked up by the cops in Tokyo, studied ministry in Boston, and jumped on a Nigo track that would blow up under a group name made as a joke. He found things that moved him and pursued them fully, even when no one around him was, gaining the fashion patronage of Pharrell, Kanye, Rihanna and others.
He and his wife Yoon Ahn, a pioneer herself in fashion design and business, created a fashion brand called AMBUSH®, which does what they do best: creating a path of their own and flipping an industry on its head.
VERBAL
I'm a third-generation Korean, born in Japan. My grandfather, who moved to Japan after the war, was entrepreneurial and took care of the family through his Pachinko business.
KESHIA
What was that like as a kid? Did you feel any kind of difference?
VERBAL
Now that K-Pop is dominant most young people may not be able to imagine this, but I experienced blatant discrimination growing up. When I attended a local kindergarten in Tokyo, I remember kids in the neighborhood throwing rocks at me, saying ‘go back to Korea'. I was four or five and didn’t understand where the hatred came from, but my parents always reminded me to be proud of who we were.
My mother was convinced that for us to win as immigrants, I had to have an international education. Entering an international school was very difficult unless you had a plug or your parents were expats. P. I don't know how she did this, but she went to Boston to study English. While she was in the US, she also picked up on real estate business and managed to purchase some properties; all this when she could hardly speak English.
I tagged along with her to Boston, and while she was studying, she dropped me off at a local YMCA day camp. I was the only Asian kid, with a bowl cut in short shorts and everyone else my age were very mature–wearing Nike tracksuits, gold chains, and breakdancing with big boomboxes.
The Black and Latino kids were freestyling, and I was captivated. It was an awakening experience for me.
KESHIA
Yeah, that was the first time you had ever seen that, right? The first time you're witnessing any kind of hip hop at all?
VERBAL
Yeah, this was the first time ever. That's also when I discovered Run DMC, because all the kids were singing “You Be Illin” together. I got my first ever cassette album then, which was Run DMC’s “Raising Hell”.
KESHIA
Then you came back to Boston years later for college. Did you like it? What was most different about living in America?
VERBAL
I went back to the US to attend Boston College. In Japan I was in a unique environment, attending an international school, speaking English with people from all over the world and everyone appreciated differences from all walks of life. In Boston, people associated and clicked with people based on ethnic backgrounds, so the first people who befriended me were those who felt akin to me because I was Korean. I found that interesting since Japan was a homogenous country, or at least most people were Asians who only spoke Japanese, so race was never the basis of joining a community.
KESHIA
Did you feel more Korean then?
VERBAL
Yes, but I kind of stuck out because I didn't speak Korean well, and was very culturally Japanese. My English is way better than my Korean, but my demeanor is very Japanese. I don't notice it, but everyone in the States would point that out.
Anyway, in my fourth year in college, I met Yoon. She went to Boston University, and she was an art major. She definitely stuck out from the crowd, and there were not many Asians back then who would dress in vintage clothes and listen to grunge. She’s from Seattle, and that was around the time when Nirvana just came out, and I discovered groups like Sunny Day Real Estate through her.
KESHIA
And then what happens when you finish university? Did you decide to go back to Japan? What did you think was gonna happen for you after you finish University?
VERBAL
I had a brief stint in the workforce, at Smith Barney (currently Morgan Stanley Smith Barney), but I decided to move on to something I could be more passionate about.I was drawn to inner-city education programs and charity works, since I was volunteering during college. But most Asian parents’ idea of success back then was to be a doctor, lawyer, or a businessman of some sort, so pursuing something that was not lucrative in their perspective was incomprehensible for them.
Also, since my father had a stroke in 1995 and that totally shook the financial situation of our family, they were expecting me to start working to support them.
KESHIA
Where were you musically at that point?
VERBAL
I had been in a band in high school in Japan that had done reasonably well, but gave that up when I entered college, so I wasn't anywhere musically at that point. But when I went back to Tokyo for a break after I left the workforce Taku(☆Taku Takahashi), with whom I had the band in high school with, was doing a remix for a music label so he asked me to write a 16 bar rap “for old times sake”.
The record I rapped on subsequently shot off the shelves, so Taku wanted to record more songs, and he told me the label was interested in signing me. We started making demos, but this is while I was still figuring out what to do in the US, so when I returned to Japan from time to time, I had to make ends meet, and was washing dishes at a local bar in-between recordings.
KESHIA
When did you realize your music was becoming successful? Was there much hip hop in Japan at that point?
VERBAL
There was a budding scene around that time in the late 90s and Japanese Hip hop and R&B groups were on the come up. We ended up forming the group m-flo with Taku, Lisa, and myself, and aspired to become the Japanese Fugees. We released our first album in 2000 which sold over 300,000 copies and our second album in 2001 did a million, so I ended up going back and forth between Tokyo and Boston frequently. Ultimately I had to dedicate full time to be in Japan.
KESHIA
So what happens between 2001 when you come back to Japan and 2005, when you start TERIYAKI BOYZ®?
VERBAL
I was always about collaborations but back then in Japan, that was unusual. I had so many ideas, so I would jump on people’s tracks and work on different projects for fun.I met Nujabes, when he was running Guinness Records in Shibuya, when I was passing around my demo tapes. We ended up recording many songs together, and he released them from his label, Hideout Productions, but I was under a different pseudonym.
Around 2003, ILMARI (RIP SLYME) asked me to do a verse for a DJ Shadow track that NIGO® gave him on his upcoming album “NIGO® (B)ape Sounds”. The track we did was the genesis of the group TERIYAKI BOYZ®.
KESHIA
I think most people don't know that NIGO® was a recording artist as well. He’s so popular as a designer, but he had a whole life as a producer beforehand.
VERBAL
He began his creative career as a DJ so music has always been important for him.
When TERIYAKI BOYZ® started picking up, NIGO® would bring track after track, and we would churn out verses. We were having fun, playing the stereotype and writing we would never rap about for our main groups (m-flo and RIP SLYME). Talk about Mount Fuji and ninja and karate. We're just messing around.
KESHIA
So you were basically joking. And you were all homies from just kind of being in the Tokyo scene together.
VERBAL
Yeah, I've known ILMARI since high school, and the other guys were from neighboring schools in Tokyo.
KESHIA
That happens in 2005 and that’s when things started taking off. Why do you think TERIYAKI BOYZ® was so successful?
VERBAL
Thanks to NIGO®, who was tapped in globally in fashion and music, we were able to work with producers and artists like Pharrell, Daft Punk, Kanye, etc. It was unusual for Japanese artists to be able to collaborate internationally, because the Japanese music industry was independent from the rest of the world, although it was the second biggest music market in the world back then (I think Hikaru Utada’s first album CD sold over 10 million copies locally). I think the success stemmed from the unique synergy from the curation of music and fashion - Japanese rap over beats by world-class producers, packaged with fashion that dictated trend with every drop. This is pre-instagram days when Hypebeast was still doing blogs, so it’s safe to say that we helped bridge Japan with the rest of the world. But what really gave us exposure was ‘Tokyo Drift’, when the Fast & Furious soundtrack came out.
KESHIA
Were you surprised by it?
VERBAL
More than being surprised, I felt that I finally discovered the hack for going global! I learned so much working closely with NIGO®, as he executed projects through his unique eye for music and fashion, garnering a worldwide community. I was constantly inspired by his uncompromising approaches, all the way from launching drops to making custom jewelry. Until I met NIGO®, I was always told by Japanese record labels that it was difficult to collaborate internationally and couldn’t quite figure out how to connect the dots. But I learned first-hand how to session with international artists, and that was a truly valuable experience, which molded the way I work today.
KESHIA
Is Yoon still living in Japan with you? How did AMBUSH® begin? How did you even get to that point of, let's make jewelry together?
VERBAL
Yes, we live in Tokyo, but she is constantly traveling. When Yoon first moved to Japan, we launched a design agency, taking on design works for merch, brand logos, record covers, whatever we can get our hands on. She was also styling for me, for my stage outfits. I was wearing Dior (Hedi Slimane) and Raf during the days when people told me “that’s not hip hop”. And of course, jewelry was part of my attire. We couldn’t find designs we liked, so we started making our own jewelry, with craftsmen and a friend who taught at a local jewelry school. Eventually, we were commissioned to design and deliver custom jewelry pieces for artists and celebrities, and that was the genesis of the brand AMBUSH®.
But since high-end jewelry was not for everyone, we decided to create accessories to give away, to share pieces of our creative universe. That was the beginning of the POW!® chains and rings. It was a fresh concept to paint over metal, and our theme was ‘wearable pop art’. Before we knew it, Rihanna, Kid Cudi, Big Sean were rocking them, and the exposure led to buyers from around the world reaching out to us. We started sending packages out of our apartments, and the brand launched officially in 2008.
KESHIA
And did that feel like a natural evolution? In terms of you as an artist and Yoon styling you, you had already started wearing more high-end fashion.
VERBAL
Yoon was always the brainchild behind all the creative. Back then, professional stylists would bring me racks of Pelle Pelle and Sean John, because I was a rapper. I was bored of the stereotypical hip hop fashion, and since I was experimenting with different looks and genres, I asked for Dior, Raf, Margiela, etc, but they would laugh at me… so I stopped hiring them. But when Yoon started styling me, I began to have signature looks, because she knew what I wanted, and what looked good on me.
KESHIA
You and Yoon are this power duo now in fashion. But how much of your heart is still in making music? I wonder how you both handle that now as co-creators of a thing, but with different roles, and whether there’s ever tension or confusion.
VERBAL
Yoon is full time in fashion, designing for AMBUSH® as the creative director, and also Nike’s Global Women’s Curator. I take on the business side of the fashion as well as music now. I’m really into experimenting to build new product categories and business structures, also digging into new technology that can enhance user experience.
KESHIA
I think that’s very cool, and very unusual. Most people's ego wouldn't be able to handle that. I've never heard of it before actually. Does it feel unusual for you?
VERBAL
Not really. Personally, I always wished there was someone looking out for me who understands creativity, that excelled in business. I’m striving to be that person, and the learning curve and journey hais only been exciting, not to mention very stimulating. It’s just as stimulating as writing a hit song or coming up with great designs. Yoon is on fire right now, and it’s very rewarding to be able to support her energy. I believe what I’m doing now is just as creative, and I’m looking forward to everything ahead of us.