Takashi Murakami and JP The Wavy have joined forces in the past to form one of the most joyful and ageless Hip Hop duos ever, MNNK Bro. Based on a shared love of the Japanese animated series and Murakami’s exhibition Mononoke Kyoto, they released an eye-popping single of the same name last year. They have decided to continue the creative partnership, and were at Art Basel HK last weekend to perform at a secret event celebrating Murakami’s new collection for LV in a mansion on top of Hong Kong’s iconic Peak. We caught up with MNNK Bro. to see what it was all about.

Takashi Murakami: I was taking my daughter to her dance recital, and suddenly this song came on about Pikachu [‘Pick N Choose’ featuring LEX] and it was wonderful. I thought wow, this is so cool so I asked her who made it. You know, before Japanese Rap was always about biting from the West, and even now I think it’s too much trying to sound like the US. But Pikachu is a Japanese character and very cute, it’s a bit twisted to use it with Hip Hop so I love it. And JP the Wavy’s poem is so nice, the music is nice so I thought that Japanese Hip Hop was born.

JP The Wavy: Most of it was initiated by Takashi Murakami. He reached out to me, and I went to meet him on the very same day I got the message. That’s when he told me he wanted me to do the theme song for his solo exhibition in Kyoto. As soon as I heard that, I instantly said, “I have to take this opportunity!”—and that’s how it all began.

Takashi Murakami: Yes! I right away saw something, but I didn’t think about any collaboration. I just wanted to ask him to make a song for my new show, Mononoke Kyoto. Later we decided to do the collaboration.

Takashi Murakami: I can’t remember if it happened during the show or after, but I asked him if he wanted to create more together and he said yes! Great. Haha! I know I can create the visual if we do more music together. Also, when we went to his friend's tiny studio in Tokyo, the place was so small, but the sound was so heavy and rich. It was a very pleasing experience. Also, it’s really like the underground Tokyo experience, so I enjoyed it so much. I thought, Hip Hop is starting in Brooklyn or some underground place in New York, so this is really the real thing. Then I started to think about the visual part, like the music video because this is my part.

JP The Wavy: It was Takashi Murakami who said, “How about forming a unit called MNNK Bro.?” It was such an honor, so I’ve been holding on to it ever since—that’s how it feels.

Takashi Murakami: Well, I’m a visual artist. But recently I created music using AI, and that was a very interesting experience! I imputed my lyrics with Wavy’s music and something very nice came out, I really enjoyed that. But when I played it for JP the Wavy he didn’t like it. Haha.

JP The Wavy: I always start by thinking about what I personally find cool—something that looks cool to me visually, something I think would be cool to do. So making cool music is a given. When I got the opportunity to work with Takashi Murakami this time, I was confident that if I brought in a director whose work I genuinely think is great, someone who understands what I want to express, and then added Takashi Murakami's essence on top of that, it would turn into something incredibly cool.

Takashi Murakami: That video is a collaboration with the Louis Vuitton company itself. So we agreed on the director BRTHR with their office in Paris. BRTHR’s presentation was just amazing, and Wavy picked that one.

JP the Wavy: I had always wanted to work with BRTHR more than any other overseas director. They have a Japanese background and can speak Japanese, too. I had actually suggested them to Takashi Murakami a few times before, but to be honest, the response was always lukewarm. This time, when the topic of making a music video came up, I gave it another push and when he saw their presentation he was like, “This is insane!”

Usually, Takashi Murakami and I would throw around ideas like, “Let’s do something like this,” but this time BRTHR’s initial proposal was so perfect that we had zero worries. I was able to leave everything in his hands and go into the shoot with nothing but ourselves. I think it was the first time I ever had that kind of experience.