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Takashi Murakami’s venture into rap continues with MNNK Bro., his ongoing project with JP The Wavy, and its latest release might be the duo’s most immersive world yet. Released on May 22, ‘Shutoko Tokyo’ turns the city’s expressway into a high-speed fever dream of anime, Y2K gloss, gyaru energy, gaming visuals and Japanese youth culture at full volume.
The single is the fourth release from MNNK Bro., the unlikely but increasingly convincing unit formed by one of Japan’s most globally recognised contemporary artists and one of its most style-conscious rappers. On paper, Murakami alongside JP The Wavy could sound like a novelty. In practice, it has become something stranger and more interesting: a visual and sonic project where art-world surrealism, luxury fashion, internet aesthetics and Japanese hip-hop all crash into each other.
Drawing on the world of Akira, ‘Shutoko Tokyo’ takes its name from the very real Metropolitan Expressway, but in the track and video, the Shutoko becomes less of a road and more of a portal. It is late-night driving, neon reflection, speed, concrete, anime paranoia and the fantasy of Tokyo as a city that always looks better when it is slightly unreal.
The music video, directed by New York duo BRTHR, pushes that world even further. Known for their stop-you-in-your-tracks visual style, BRTHR turn ‘Shutoko Tokyo’ into a barrage of references that feel deeply Japanese but globally fluent: anime speed lines, game-like motion, glossy Y2K styling, club-kid energy, custom characters, girls, cars, screens and the kind of chaos that looks expensive and handmade at the same time.
It is also the clearest sign so far that MNNK Bro. is not being treated as a one-off directed project. Since emerging from the connection between Murakami’s Takashi Murakami Mononoke Kyoto exhibition and JP The Wavy, the project has kept building its own mythology through releases like ‘LV Murakami’ and ‘Rose Sélavy / Besides, It’s Always the Others Who Die / MNNK Made’. ‘Shutoko Tokyo’ feels like the moment that mythology hits the road.
A private premiere and release party for the video took place last Friday, placing the project back where it feels most natural: somewhere between art event, rap rollout, fashion hangout and subculture gathering. That mix is also why MNNK Bro. works. It does not try to separate Murakami’s art practice from JP The Wavy’s world of music, style and nightlife.
With ‘Shutoko Tokyo,’ Murakami and JP The Wavy have made a track that feels like Tokyo viewed through a cracked windshield at 2am. It is glossy, ridiculous, self-aware, overloaded and strangely sincere, pulling from the best parts of Japanese subculture. The result is something like a full-speed aesthetic stunt – one that makes Murakami’s rap endeavor feel like it might have been the plan all along.
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