Music of Samurai Champloo

The series music was composed by multiple hip hop musicians, including Nujabes (left). Nujabes created the opening theme, performed by Shing02 (right).

The 2004 anime series Samurai Champloo was created and director by Shinichirō Watanabe, known at the time for his work on Cowboy Bebop. It was the debut television project of Manglobe, a studio founded in 2002 by former Sunrise staff.[1][2] Watanabe's goal for the series was to blend a traditional Edo period setting with anachronistic elements including the culture and music of hip hop.[3] When deciding on the music, Shinichirō Watanabe wanted to incorporate hip hop, fitting in with the series' original goals and themes.[4] While several staff members wanted him to bring back Cowboy Bebop composer Yoko Kanno, Watanabe was reluctant as he wanted to use professional hip hop artists.[3][5] The soundtrack was collaboratively composed by Shinji "Tsutchie" Tsuchida of Shakkazombie; American musician Fat Jon; Nujabes, a DJ known for his sampling and blending of genres in tracks; and the DJ team Force of Nature, consisting of KZA and DJ Kent.[6][7]

Watanabe was friends with Tsutchie and had worked with him on the final episode of Cowboy Bebop, and Nujabes was the first name which came to mind when he was thinking about the series music.[4][8][9] Tsutchie was on board from the beginning, being intrigued by the mixing of hip hop music and samurai culture. As with the rest of production, Watanabe was heavily involved in choosing and using pieces of music.[9] The non-standard sound design and dubbing approach, together with the improvised style of the production as a whole, meant that the composers had a harder time than expected finding suitable samples for their work.[1] The soundtrack included original work and sampling from pre-existing tracks.[9][10]

Watanabe wanted the music to be on an equal artistic and quality level to the animation, though he later noted his choice of hip hop limited the anime's audience and alienated many Japanese fans.[8] The music was not always used either in intended scenes, or in its entirety. One example was Watanabe only using the opening section of a theme for the opening of the first episode, which was motivated by the track's unsatisfactory sound on large speakers.[9] During production on the later episodes, there was some "chaotic" scheduling to edit and compose tracks.[9] When asked to collaborate, Fat Jon almost cried with joy as he was a fan of Watanabe's other work.[7] It was his first time working on an anime soundtrack.[11] Fat Jon's approach of fading tracks into each other frustrated Watanabe as he wanted the tracks to have abrupt endings and transitions.[9] Force of Nature were brought on board through Tsutchie, who provided samples to Watanabe.[10] They described their contribution to the soundtrack as even more heavily influenced by hip hop than their standard work, with several of their tracks being used for battle scenes.[7] Watanabe hired a professional DJ to perform scratches for the eyecatchs.[12]

Several other guest artists contributed to the soundtrack. Beatboxer Afra both voiced and performed the beatbox pieces for a character in the episode "The Art of Altercation".[13] The second part of "Misguided Miscreants" included a long uninterrupted piece of Okinawan music, "Obokuri/Eeumi", which was in Watanabe's mind before the animation was created. This track was performed by singer Ikue Asazaki.[3][13] For the two-part story "Lullabies of the Lost", the track "Pekambe Uk" by traditional Ainu musician Umeko Ando was licensed; Ando died shortly before the episodes aired. Yano Yuki scored the episode "Cosmic Collision", recording the music live using a theremin as she watched the completed episode. Yukiko Tsukioka sang the folk song performed by the character Sara in the story "Elegy of Entrapment", creating a new recording of it for the episode. Rapper duo Suiken & Sword provided vocals for "Hi-izuru Style", the closing track for "War of the Words".[13]

"Shiki no Uta" was released as part of Minmi's single Ai no Mi alongside the titular track on March 31, 2004, as her first music release of the year.[17] The track was also included on Minmi's album Imagine on June 30.[25] Midicronica's "San Francisco" was released on their debut album #501 on April 25, 2004 through the KSR label.[26] "You" was released as a single under the title You ～Himawari～ on August 18 of that year.[27] Geneon Entertainment released an English album, including a selection of twenty tracks from the anime, on January 11, 2005.[28][29] A limited vinyl release of selected tracks, titled Samurai Champloo: The Way of the Samurai, was released in 2007 by Fat Jon's label Ample Soul.[7][30][31]

Two remixes of "Shiki no Uta" were released on anime theme tribute albums; ATeam's Anime House Project -Oshare selection vol.1- in October 2009, and Victor Entertainment's Rasmus Faber presents Platina Jazz ~Anime Standards Vol.6~ in October 2019.[32][33] Minmi herself created a remix in tribute to Nujabes; one version in Japanese, and one using English lyrics created by YouTube fan cover creator Sapphire. The digital single, Shiki No Uta (Tribute to Samurai Champloo), was published by Domo Records on July 19, 2019.[34][35][36]

In 2006, the ambient soundtrack was ranked by IGN as tenth among their Top Ten Anime Themes and Soundtracks of All Time.[43] The soundtrack is attributed as an early example of lo-fi hip hop, particularly the track "Aruarian Dance".[8] In a 2020 article on NPR, Jon Lewis noted its influence on similar music popular at the time, praising Nujabes's opening theme.[44]

While he gave no specific commentary, Dave Halverson of Play Magazine praised the series music.[45] Tasha Robinson of Sci-Fi Weekly noted the strong musical identity of the show, though finding it less varied than Watanabe's earlier entry Cowboy Bebop.[46] Salvan Bonaminio, writing for The Escapist, positively noted the music's role in the anime's blend of cultures.[47] Anime News Network's James Beckett praised the integration of music into the anime's presentation and style as one of the series' strengths.[48] Nick Browne of THEM Anime said the music was perfectly suited for the show, in addition to giving high praise to the opening and ending themes, citing the music as one of the series strong points.[49] Mike Dent of Otaku USA Magazine summarised the music by saying "the collaborative efforts add a vibrant and moving atmosphere to each episode".[50]

• Nujabes
• Music of Cowboy Bebop