Shing02 and OMA bring iconic Luv Sic Hexalogy to Sacramento

By Jason Yu

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On a Thursday night, a growing line formed outside a popular lounge in midtown Sacramento. Known as Harlow’s to the city’s locals, the trendy venue played host to the Luv Sic Hexalogy tour in 2024, born from the collaboration between Japanese rapper Shingo Annen and DJ and music producer, Jun Seba.

Better known by their stage names, Shing02 and Nujabes respectively, fans of the 2004 anime Samurai Champloo, admirers of Nujabes, and chillhop enthusiasts came out to Harlow’s in droves. As more people started filing inside Harlow’s, the venue was rapidly approaching the maximum capacity of 475 people.

Thirty minutes before the concert started, the Sacramento stop was officially sold out, with the venue fully packed inside. At the time of this article, each stop on the Hexalogy tour has sold out.

Shing02 was not the only performer on this night. Accompanying him on the Hexalogy tour included the British hip-hop / chillpop cover group OMA for the live band instrumentals, with DJ Spin Master A-1 providing the beats.

Returning to Northern California

For Shing02, a multilingual hip-hop artist fluent in both English and Japanese, coming to Sacramento provided a familiar setting. The rapper has Northern California roots. About 120 miles away, he moved to Menlo Park when he was 14 years old in 1989.

From there, he became immersed in the Bay Area hip-hop scene. He would enroll in UC Berkeley as an engineering student in 1993, before pivoting his future career entirely. By the late 90s, Shing02 would pursue a hip-hop career, putting aside engineering to draw art and record music. His beats were heavily influenced by the Bay Area sound and civil rights movement in the area, with his songs mixing addictive beats and social messages within his songs.

In 2000, a Japanese music producer by the name of Nujabes would reach out to Shing02 via email. This email would change Shing02’s career forever, as his hip-hop journey would span two countries – Japan and the US, greatly impacting the anime, hip-hop, and chillhop scenes for future generations to come.

Spin that beat + OMA opens up the concert

As more people entered Harlow’s, DJ Spin Master A-1 entertained the audience during before the concert by spinning a mix of old-school beats, hip-hop, and chillhop beats. As the designated, live DJ for Shing02 events, he quickly set the mood for the upcoming tone of the concert. He hyped up the crowd, spun some fun beats, and prepared the now-packed venue for the upcoming opening act: OMA.

When OMA came out, the group immediately endeared themselves to the locals, shouting “what’s up Sacramento!” One of the members, guitarist Chris Larcombe, embraced Sacramento even further by wearing a Sacramento Kings shirt.

The Manchester-based (United Kingdom), dream-pop, lo-fi, hip-hop cover band proceeded to play hits from the 90s and 2000s. Since the venue’s patrons, from a casual glance, was most likely around 25-40 years-old, these jams instantly resonated with the audience. OMA sampled songs from popular hip-hop songs, R&B classics, and dance pop bangers.

After about an hour of nearly non-stop 90s and 2000s nostalgia bangers, it was time for the main act: Shing02.

Shing02 brings Nujabes’ legacy with the Luv Sic Hexalogy

When Shing02 came out 15 minutes later, the crowd went wild, ready to hear some bangin’ hip-hop tracks or to simply relive some anime theme songs nostalgia.

“What’s up Sacramento!!!” proclaimed an excited Shing02. He thanked the crowd for selling out that night, and said that he wanted to give some good vibes through hip-hop tonight.

And to do that, he would be performing his iconic Luv(Sic) Hexalogy.

During one of the Luv(Sic) songs, Shing02 invited a father and his young daughter up on stage. “We have a special guest,” said the rapper, as Shing02 gestured to OMA and Spin Master A-1 to “keeping playing the music.” Shing02 then went to the back and whispered to the father what they were going to do.

The young girl, understandably nervous at first, soon spit some sick bars. With all eyes on her, she proceeded to rap a few verses of one of the Luv Sic songs to the massive cheering of the audience. This moment was both one of the most memorable and loudest from all the cheering. It was a definite feel good moment and furthered Shing02’s point of hip-hop uniting everyone, no matter their race or upbringing.

Throughout the concert, the constant themes of hip-hop uniting everyone and remembering Nujabes’ legacy were apparent. The famed rapper would perform the Luv Sic Hexalogy, a planned six track song list that began back in 2001 between Shing02 and Nujabes and took a pause in 2010 with Nujabes tragic passing (RIP).

At the time, only three songs – Luv(Sic) Parts 1 to 3 – were completed, but Shing02 wanted to complete the series. After working with other Japanese musicians, the hip-hop artist finally finished the Hexalogy series in 2015, releasing it on December 9 that same year.

An interesting theme of the Luv series was Luv(Sic) Part 5, which departed from the more uplifting, positive messages of the earlier tracks. Originally, Nujabes did not want Part 5 to be dark, believing it was too dark, too depressing.

Yet, Shing02 insisted that Luv(Sic) Part 5’s more dark themes were needed. His believed this even more with Nujabes 2010 passing. From there, Shing02 would complete the song, eulogized both his longtime collaborator, Nujabes, and deceased beatboxer Jeff Resurreccion. With Spin Master A-1 laying down the cuts, the song represented both a homage and a spiritual journey on the passing of two important people in Shing02’s life.

After the more somber, darker mood of Luv(Sic) Par5 5 came the final song: the Grand Finale. Shing02 explained during the concert that the song was originally named “Grand Finale,” but many fans also refer to the song as “Luv(Sic) Part 6.” The Grand Finale was intended as a comeback song, since it was expected that listeners could feel dejected after Luv(Sic) Part 5 and needed a pick-me-up. A bounce back song.

That uplifting song would come in the Grand Finale.

Assisted by Japanese musician Uyama Hiroto, he and Shing02 preserved many elements of Nujabes’ beats. Both kept the Nujabes spirit and vibe within the song, adhering to Nujabes’ wishes of having an uplifting song to end the series.

But the song not only represented a feel-good, positive vibe for the listeners. The song also gave Shing02 a sense of peace. A final closure. A kept promise from Shing02 to Nujabes in finally completing the six-song Hexalogy series.

After performing the six song Luv(Sic) series, Shing02 would play “Southside.” One noticeable feature when he sung “Southside” is he changed the lyrics to fit the Sacramento audience. Lyrics such as “West Sac, South Sac, East Sac” got a rousing response from the audience, depending on where fans lived. This clever approach to lyricism by catering to the audience was very much appreciated to the locals.

The famed rapper would end it on the iconic Samurai Champloo opener “Battlecry” before going backstage to prepare for the encore performance.

The encore performance featured local hip-hop artists from Sacramento. As these artists performed in front of their home crowd, Shing02 ceded the stage to the local artists. Featuring these local artists was a great way to showcase both homegrown, Sacramento artists, as well as paying homage to Sacramento.

My reunion with Shing02

Not many people know this about my career, but I actually covered Shing02 for about 11 years. I first covered him back in 2013 when I lived in Seoul. I met him three more times in 2014 and 2016 in Korea.

After I moved back to the US in 2022, I never thought I would see Shing02 perform again, as his concerts are primarily held in Asia. Yet, when I heard he was performing an Asia tour with OMA and Spin Master A-1 in 2024, I was hoping his tour would swing by to the US. And as luck would have it, Shing02 would soon tour the US, in my hometown of Sacramento, no less.

When I talked to his tour manager weeks before the concert, I actually sent him pictures of Shing02 when I covered him as a beat writer working in Korean media. So when I had the chance to meet the fame rapper after the Sacramento show, it was both humbling and an eight-year reunion since I last saw him in Seoul back in 2016.

When I met him backstage, I said my introductions, said I met him and he did recognize me from the pictures his tour manager sent him. After we took pictures, I didn’t want to take any more of his time and said, “thank you so much Shing02! I know you’re busy, so I don’t want to take up any more of your time,” and proceeded to leave.

But to my surprise, he said, “let’s talk for a bit and catch up” gesturing me to sit down.

We talked for a good 10 minutes about his career, my 12 year Korea arc, my life now as a K-pop business liaison and content creator, and wanting to promote him further in the US. In between catching up, his staff came backstage and I had the honor of meeting them, including Spin Master A-1. Our conversation was more reminiscent of two friends talking than one of a famed artist and fan meeting.

As 10 minutes soon passed, I got up to leave. He said, “Jason, it’s great seeing you again man and let’s meet up again when I’m in town” before giving a bro handshake.

After this concert, I’m sure of two things: that I’ll be at the next Shing02 concert in my area and I’m sure it’ll be a serious banger.

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Special Thanks

A special thanks goes to Harlow’s and Shing02’s tour management, Real Good Touring for inviting us to cover the concert.

Artist’s Socials

OMA’s Instagram: @oma.uk

Shing02’s Instagram: @shing02gram

Spin Master A-1: @a1championsound