Album review: Teriyaki Boyz - Serious Japanese

Serious Japanese is pretty much what you'd expect from the Teryiaki Boyz. Cool hip-hop beats?Check. Pharrell? Check. A handful of hot US producers? Check. Mention of BAPE? Check, check, check. And yet it manages to fall short.

Despite Pharrell only producing two of the albums tracks, his influence is spread throughout the album and sets the tone for most of it. After all, his tracks are the one that have gone on to be singles and he's who you probably associate with the Teriyaki Boyz now because of that damn Tokyo Drift song. "Work that" is an alright track. It's cool at first, but then gets old really quick. "Zock On!" is a nice new facet of The Neptunes' sound which manages to really play with Hip-Hop in cool and fun ways. The only problem with this track is that the Teriyaki Boyz get pushed into the background by Busta Rhymes's killer first verse and Pharrell's effortlessly cool delivery on the chorus. There's no reason why Verbal couldn't have done the hook instead of Pharrell. And as cool as Busta's verse is, it felt like an unnecessary inclusion to give the Teriyaki Boyz a western helping hand, as if Pharrell wasn't enough of one himself. Especially considering he's more well known in Japan than Busta is anyway.

The problem with the Pharrell productions is that whilst they set the tone for the album, they also create a distraction from the other songs on it, all of which are actually the better songs, because they place the Teriyaki Boyz at their centre. There's something very self-indulgent about Pharrell's productions which offsets the selfless energy of the Teriyaki Boyz themselves. His productions are to serve him, not the group.

Adrock of The Beastie Boyz returns for "(Can't) "Bake" that "Fape"", which is one of the albums hottest cuts. It does a great job of encapsulating what makes the Teriyaki Boyz so cool and unique, and hearkens back to the album title track of their debut "Beef of Chicken". It's also the one track on the album where the Teriyaki Boyz do not play with the flow. They ride the beat like their careers and families lives depend on it. This would've made a great US single with The Beastie Boys' co-sign, even though the Teriyaki Boyz spit very little in the way of English on this song.

All of the songs on Serious Japanese are good. The production is fresh and each member of the group brings their own energy to the songs, but still manage to sound unified and like a collective. But despite this, Serious Japanese manages to feel like just another rap from a who's who roster of popular US Hip-Hip producers. (The Neptunes, Kanye West, Mark Ronson, Jermaine Dupri). And the producers here are part of the problem, because there's no sense of them working towards a singular vision. The album plays like a jukebox of songs. As a result, you're likely to listen to the album once, then just pick out your favourite songs and then never run the album back again.

At times, Serious Japanese feels like more of a vehicle for Nigo's clothing line and the producers, then the Teriyaki Boyz themselves. It's just BAPE promotion and Nigo merch. The Teriyaki Boyz probably know it too, because they lack the energy and brashness they had on their debut. Nothing about Serious Japanese feels essential. We coulda just had Beef or Chicken, a song for the Tokyo Drift soundtrack and then let that be that. And given how some members of the Teriyaki Boyz phone in their raps, they were probably happy to just hang it up after "Tokyo Drift", instead dragging the Teriyaki Boyz shit out for another album.

Serious Japanese a fun listen for sure, but it didn't need to be a full album. This could have been a nice EP or bonus tracks on a re-release of Beef or Chicken.

👍🏾 Great production and a fun listen.
👎🏾 This did not need to be a whole ass album.

VERDICT: I WONDER IF YOU KNOW, HOW THEY LIVE IN TOKYO

Album highlights:
■ After 5 (A.M)
■ 5th Element
■ Serious Japanese
■ Zock On!
■ (Can't) "Bake" That "Fape" 🏆