In the early 2000's, we were always in the pain of love or frustrated by how bad Japanese contemporary art was. There was no exit toward change, except for the air in MK masa's room. One day MK masa called friends to gather in his room and played old vinyl donuts. He looped the vinyl tracks repeatedly, and finally, we started making lyrics unconsciously. It's very practical like the movie The Karate Kid. Mr. Miyagi is our spiritual master. – NAZOLAZ
NAZOLAZ does not have any fixed members. The group tries to create a lasting spiritual energy through hip hop. Their lyrics do not necessarily rhyme, which may seem unfathomable to the listeners, yet to a certain extent, they have deconstructed the existing linguistic system, forming an unspeakable type of creativity. The subjects of their songs primarily consist of their response to the pressures and frustrations felt from society and the excitement from their artistic practice. BHKM published a collection of their English songs in 2018, presenting BHKM’s unconventional approach to language transmission in a cross-lingual context.
Lyric translation book of Japanese rap collective NAZOLAZ
translated by WATT, published by BHKM
First edition of 500, printed in Guangzhou
20.3 x 30.9 cm, 200 pages
softcover with wax
2018