When Seba Jun, or the hip-hop producer better known as Nujabes, died in February 2009, he left behind unfinished work. Last year at about this time, his label, Hydeout Productions, dropped the bulk of that in the form of the posthumous Spiritual State, a release that celebrated the life of their prodigal son and seemed a fitting close to Jun’s life. But if Spiritual State was the ultimate chapter to Jun’s work, his “Luv (sic) Part 5 (feat. Shing02)” is the epilogue.
Released earlier this month by Hydeout, “Part 5” is the final portion of Nujabes and rapper Shing02’s collaboration, the first portion of which debuted in 2002. A decade later, that Luv (sic) partnership is closed, with a release far more somber than its four predecessors. Over a wistful piano and soul-wrenching beats, Shing02 (Shingo Annen) slices straight to the point: “Til’ death do us apart, and it did/ Come sudden like clouds, and it hid my sun.”
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