The group was formed in 1993 by rappers RYO-Z, ILMARI, PES and former members DJ SHOGI and DJ Shige. In 1995, the group had their debut with the mini-album “Lip’s Rhyme”, and by 1996 both DJs had left the group. Only in 1997 they would find a new DJ in DJ Fumiya, which joined the unit, as well as rapper SU, after what started as a collaboration in the track “Searching” from their first album, “Talkin’ Cheap”, released in 1998. In 1999 they took part in Dragon Ash’s Total Communication event. They became ever more successful and signed to Warner in 2000. The group shot to stardom with the release of first major label singles “STEPPER’S DELIGHT” and “雑念エンタテインメント” (“Zatsunen Entertainment”). In 2002 they received MTV Video Music Awards Japan for “Best Newcomer” and “Best Hip-hop Group”. The same year they released a big-budget album “Tokyo Classic”, which became Japan’s first million-selling hip-hop album, with a sound compared to James Brown’s soul and funk. Two singles from the album, “Funkastic” and “Rakuen Baby” collected MTV awards in the following year. Also in 2002, after being dissed by rapper K-DUB SHINE in his group キングギドラ’s song “公開処刑 feat. BOY-KEN”, the group replied with the phrase “THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND ADVICE AND SUPPORT!” at the end of the promotional video for the song “BLUE BE-BOP”. The artists have reconciled since then. In 2004, “Super Shooter”, a song from the single “Galaxy”, was used as the theme song for the anime Gantz. The release of their fourth album, “MASTERPIECE”, followed, and the song “STEPPER’S DELIGHT (Tricky Remix)” was made and used in a Nike commercial featuring Brazilian soccer player Ronaldinho. In 2005, a best of album was released, called “GOOD JOB!”, and DJ Fumiya took a break from the group’s activities due to his health conditions. In 2006, the group collaborated with famous rocker 布袋寅泰 (Tomoyasu Hotei) under the moniker RIP SLYME vs HOTEI, and the result was the song “FUNKASTIC BATTLE”, a mash up between HOTEI’s “BATTLE WITHOUT HONOR OR HUMANITY” and RIP SLYME’s “FUNKASTIC”, as part of the MTV TOYOTA MASH UP PROJECT. The same year, the group collaborated with rock band くるり (Quruli) and two singles came of the partnership: “Juice”, under the moniker くるりとリップスライム (QURULI TO RIP SLYME) and “ラヴぃ” (“Lovi”), this time as リップスライムとくるり (RIP SLYME TO QURULI). DJ Fumiya resumed his activities with the group for the single “ブロウ” (“BLOW”) and the release of their fifth album “EPOCH” followed. In the beginning of 2007, the group was attached as part of a new campaign of Sony’s VAIO line of laptops, appearing in the commercials, which featured a new song called “I・N・G”. The promotional video for the song also heavily promotes Sony’s line of computers, and the song is, as of yet, unreleased in single or album form. Months later, their new single “熱帯夜” (“Nettaiya”) was made part of a tie-up ad campaign between Coca-Cola and Japan’s iTunes Music Store. |
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