It seems like there’s no slowing down when it comes to the Japanese Hip Hop scene. Year after year, MCs from the Land of the Rising Sun stoke the fires of its bubbling Rap circuit. Watson, 炒炒, Lunv Loyal, Bene Baby, JAKEN, as well as Yvng Patra, have started the year off with a bang with a cypher.

On January 1, the six MCs came together for a cypher which was released on 03- Performance’s YouTube channel. Unlike conventional cyphers, for this take, a singular beat was used for all of the participating MCs’ verses. It was produced by Rommy Montana, a beatmaker and also the CEO of 03- Performance.

With a gimp mask zipped up tightly, 炒炒 takes on the cypher’s first verse – delivering a heavily autotuned 16 in a sing-song fashion. Lunv Loyal goes next, carrying on the melodic vibe from where 炒炒 left off. The mic is then passed to Yvng Patra, who switches it all up completely with his double-paced rhymes. It takes crazy breathwork to spit the way he does on his verse, yet he stays relaxed while doing so.

JAKEN takes on the cypher’s fourth slot, incorporating the two elements we’ve seen from the previous MCs into his verse - melodic flow coupled with a fast-and-furious delivery. Bene Baby slows it down again with a relaxed offering, setting up the stage for the cypher’s culmination with Watson, who absolutely slams it out of the park with a masterclass of a verse.

Check out the cypher below.