RIP SLYME -- Nettaiya（熱帯夜）

Although the hip-hop group RIP SLYME has gotten its first appearance on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" through the article for the BEST compilation for Master of Groove Keiichi Tomita（冨田恵一）, tonight will have RIP SLYME in their first article all on their own. However, the question that had been bugging me for years was how these guys got their name.

Well, according to J-Wiki, when RIP SLYME started up in 1994, the collective of 3 DJs and 2 MCs brought their heads together and it was decided that the first name would consist of the first initials of the three DJs: RYO-Z, ILMARI, and PES while SLYME was a stylized spelling for the word slime which happened to be a popular toy in Japan at the time (I thought Slime was a 70s thing in North America).

Now that the mystery has been solved, we come to RIP SLYME's 13th single which was released in July 2007, "Nettaiya" (Sultry Night). Created by the group, Luis Gonzaga and David Nasser Zedantes, I'm not a big hip-hop fan but I have to admit that this is darn catchy. What helps is that Latin beat running underneath that sounds like it was inspired by Sergio Mendes and Brazil '66 which might also explain that feeling of lounge-y 60s I can hear.

I gotta admit that the music video is quite the thing, isn't it? Not sure where it was filmed but it looks like the boys enjoyed that filming experience thoroughly while wearing their cheesy John Travolta disco suits and almost wearing the ladies in their excessively endangered bathing suits. Incidentally, I also found out from J-Wiki that those women were actually Japanese porn actresses (I wonder whether RIP SLYME asked for their autographs). Anyways, good times!

"Nettaiya" went Gold as it peaked at No. 3 on Oricon. It was also a track on RIP SLYME's 6th album, "Funfair" from November 2007 which all the way up to No. 2 and also went Gold.