Culture, Ura-HaraGuest UserFebruary 28, 2022japanese, subculture, original, culture, tinypanx, hiphop, fujiwarahiroshi, fragment design

Shaping The Japanese Hip Hop Scene - TINY PANX

Culture, Ura-HaraGuest UserFebruary 28, 2022japanese, subculture, original, culture, tinypanx, hiphop, fujiwarahiroshi, fragment design

When you look at Japan's street scene and its history, there is no way around the name Hiroshi Fujiwara.

Most of you reading this are most likely aware of his project fragment design, but some of you might not be aware of his life before it, and the impact he has had on just about everything in street culture. If you've been keeping up with what he's been doing, you might have noticed his announcement for one of his most recent projects, "TINY PANX +1 TOKYO CHRONICLE 1977-1990". But what exactly is TINY PANX?

shaping-the-japanese-hip-hop-scene-tiny-panx-street-fragment-hiroshifujiwara-culture-subculture-japan-japanese-punk-perspective

In the early days of Fujiwara's career, even before his involvement in the many brands he directed and was a part of in the UraHara era, Fujiwara was one of the key players in the Japanese hip hop scene. Fujiwara and Kan Takagi, one of Japan's legendary musician/DJ/producers, would come together in 1985 to become TINY PANX, and shape the future of Japanese hip hop.

You may wonder what TINY PANX means, and why "PANX" is spelled with an A. While living in London, Hiroshi was often at World's End, Vivienne Westwood & Malcolm McLaren's iconic Chelsea-based shop. He was called "Tiny Punks" by Malcolm McLaren there, and since the two didn't want to use their real names, they ended up using his nickname as their stage name. The "A" in "PANX" is the Anarchism mark, adding their own twist.

The two were inspired by punk, dressed punk, and even had it in their name. But what really made them stand out was their ability to clash cultures. From a fashion perspective, punk outfits paired with laceless adidas Superstars, and from a music perspective, English hip hop fused with Japanese. They even caught the eyes of the Beastie Boys [which happened very spontaneously], and performed together with them.

The two would release a number of singles, an album with Seiko Ito, started their label MAJOR FORCE, and even had magazine serializations like LAST ORGY [also the name of their single], where they shared info about the latest music, fashion and more. TINY PANX would disband around '90, but released their comeback single "YESTERMORROW" in '96.