BES and KINGSHOWZAN on HOT JOINT: The Local Connections Behind Their Joint EP
When he was around 20, KINGSHOWZAN received a copy of SCARS’ THE ALBUM at HOT JOINT, a clothing store in Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture. About two decades later, the Japanese rapper named a joint EP with SCARS member BES after that same shop. The four tracks on HOT JOINT, released September 23, 2026, also bring in TIP and DJ MINE from the scene in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture. All four were produced by Koshiba Yuujirou (小柴雄二郎).
The shop is gone, but the relationships continue. In this interview, KINGSHOWZAN (金勝山) explains how he prepared to record with a rapper whose music had deeply influenced him, what he wants to give back to younger artists, and why he feels his writing is sharper at 40. BES talks about what he hears in his collaborator and what he wants from making music together.
Interview: Rei Kamiya, HIPHOPCs. This is an English translation of the Japanese interview published October 17, 2026, with the introduction and reference material edited for this edition. Ages and relative dates refer to the original interview.
Meeting BES, and recording together in 2022
Rei: Tell us about the first day you met in person. Do you remember your first impressions of each other?
KINGSHOWZAN: I think it was 2012. I was putting on an event at a club called Lagoon in Kumagaya, and BES ended up performing at short notice. That was when we first met. He came with people from SCARS, including A-THUG and STICKY, and DJ MUNARI came through too. I remember it being one of those legendary nights.
My first impression of BES was the impact of seeing him perform up close. “SHOW TIME FOR LIFE” came on, but STICKY stopped it before BES’ verse. I still remember the surprised look on BES’ face. It’s my favorite song, so I really wanted to hear it.
BES: I thought he was a good-looking guy.
Rei: KINGSHOWZAN, you’ve said that the copy of SCARS’ THE ALBUM you received at HOT JOINT around age 20, and an interview with BES about REBUILD, had a huge influence on you. When you actually got to make a song with him, did you think back to your younger self?
KINGSHOWZAN: I remember the impact his music had on me back then. Our first collaboration was “Never go away,” four years ago, so I’ll talk about that. I recorded my part at home 1,000 times.
I was going to work with that BES. It was a challenge that would put my actual ability to the test. I spent a long time preparing before the recording session. Just going with the vibe, or winging it on the day? No way.
I wanted to get it absolutely right, so I put everything into that verse and drilled it until it was second nature before stepping into the booth. In the end, I got to ride the same wave that had hit me so hard all those years ago.
Rei: BES, what drew you to KINGSHOWZAN’s rapping when you first heard it?
BES: I thought there was a lot of humanity in him.
Rei: You’ve made songs with so many rappers. What does someone need to make you think, “I want to make a record with this person”?
BES: Making money while having fun. How can I put it? Making a song is a struggle—that comes with the territory. I guess I’m talking about what comes after that.
Making HOT JOINT, and watching BES work
Rei: This time, you made a four-track joint EP, rather than one song with a guest verse. Did you plan an EP from the beginning, or did the songs accumulate as you worked?
KINGSHOWZAN: I approached BES with the intention of making an EP from the start. Over the past two years, I’ve released 10 EPs and singles in total. I wanted a joint EP with BES to be the culmination of that.
BES is a legend in Japanese rap. I had to step up a level or two to make it work. I pictured myself as a sword and threw myself into the fire, then into the water.
BES: He approached me about doing something like a joint EP.
Rei: How did you work? Did one of you write a verse first and the other respond, or were you creating in the same room? Tell us what the studio sessions were like too.
KINGSHOWZAN: I sent BES my finished verses first, then he wrote his. I was responsible for choosing the beats, themes, structures and titles. From there, all we needed was for BES to come through with incredible verses, and it would be perfect. That was how we went about it.
It was the same process with “Never go away.” But that time, BES had already finished recording by the time I got to the studio, so this was my first time watching him record.
He gets it done in about three takes.
His voice is so loud, his rapping is so good, the way he layers his vocals is perfect. He was even more BES than I’d imagined.
It was craftsmanship. Watching the monitor, I thought, “This is what a rapper is.” Between takes, he was relaxed and telling funny stories the whole time. A total professional, with no weak spots. Everything was a lesson.
The engineer, I-DeA, came from Tottori. I remember getting excited, thinking we were going to make something incredible. You even get the back-and-forth between the golden duo of BES and I-DeA as a bonus. There were so many rewarding moments while we were making it.
BES: I added my verses afterward.
Rei: When you first heard each other’s verses, was there a moment when you thought, “I can’t let him beat me”?
KINGSHOWZAN: I never felt that way about BES’ verses. I’m confident I gave everything I had.
If anything, it was more like, “If hearing my verse draws an incredible verse out of BES, I win.” So maybe I did feel I couldn’t lose when it came to writing the song.
I was excited to hear what kind of incredible verse he would record. If we’re talking wins and losses, it was a landslide victory. BES’ verses are so good.
BES: I wasn’t looking at it that way. I pictured us bringing out each other’s strengths.
Rei: Koshiba Yuujirou produced all four tracks. Why did you work with one producer across the project, and what did you discuss about the beats?
KINGSHOWZAN: Everything I’ve released in these two years has been one project, one producer. As the culmination of that series, I asked Koshiba to produce the whole thing.
I told him I wanted four tracks: one that would show off our flows, one with an I REP feel, one with a “my life” feel, and one about the future of the hood. He played me about 15 to 20 beats, and I chose from those.
Rei: BES, how does it feel to make music with the next generation, who grew up listening to SCARS and SWANKY SWIPE?
BES: I’m just happy! That’s really it.
Rei: KINGSHOWZAN, after actually working with someone you used to listen to as a fan, what surprised you most about BES?
KINGSHOWZAN: How approachable and funny he is. I think he’s a genius at making fun of himself. He’ll say something that, coming from BES, you can only laugh at.
Then, on the other hand, he’s a professional who gets serious when it matters. That ability to switch on and off made me glad I’d asked him. It hit me in a different way from the image of BES I’d had as a 20-year-old listener.
KINGSHOWZAN breaks down the four tracks
Rei: “GOOD DAY,” “Myself,” “GUESS WHO’S BACK” and “HOT JOINT.” What is the story behind each of these four songs?
GOOD DAY
KINGSHOWZAN: I made “GOOD DAY” imagining a song that would put you in a good mood when you listened to it in the car on your way to work in the morning. I wanted it to be positive.
There are three younger guys from my hometown who run a restaurant in Higashichichibu, Saitama. I pictured them going to work. They’re always smiling. They’re three people who make you feel good.
They sell food at my events, and I perform at their place. We’re still close. I drop the boss’s name in my verse.
If someone hears it and thinks, “All right, I’ll give it my best again today,” that’s everything I wanted.
Myself
KINGSHOWZAN: “Myself” is about not being misled by other people’s empty displays and lies. Listen to the voice inside you.
Gold chains, luxury cars, big houses, money, power, other people’s approval: those things matter, and they’re fun. I think capitalism and materialism are part of what makes hip-hop exciting.
But I think this era of empty videos made only to get attention on social media, and treating shallow posts as a perfectly good way to make money, is coming to an end.
I think people and things without substance will fall away. Lately, I’ve been hearing similar things in different fields.
You don’t need to associate with self-proclaimed artists who embarrass themselves on social media and let money control their hearts. We’re not ugly people who lie to ourselves.
I made this song more than a year ago. I wanted it to be a guide for keeping your dignity, refusing to be misled, and walking straight through these chaotic, crazy times.
GUESS WHO’S BACK feat. DJ MINE
KINGSHOWZAN: “GUESS WHO’S BACK” is a song about pushing myself forward. It lifted me into the next phase.
I’m done being a wannabe.
For a long time, I romanticized the image of myself struggling toward my dreams and ideals, while my actual life wasn’t moving forward at all. I made a song that asks me, “How long are you going to keep doing that?”
I wrote “Never go away” and quit the company I was working for. I wrote “GUESS WHO’S BACK” after deciding to change how I made money and make my living through music.
The lyrics you write become reality.
For the hook, I asked DJ MINE, someone I look up to in the Kumagaya scene, to do the scratches.
I give him a simple idea of what I want, but every single time, he comes back with something beyond what I expected.
I feel we’ve built real trust between us, so I call on him at those crucial moments.
HOT JOINT feat. TIP
KINGSHOWZAN: “HOT JOINT” is a song about the future of the hood.
TIP and I had been talking about making a song together for several years, but we hadn’t found the right beat. As the EP took shape, I heard this beat and thought, “This is the one.” That was when I asked him.
HOT JOINT was the name of a clothing shop in Kiryu. It was a local hub where people who loved hip-hop gathered.
The head of my current label later became the shop’s owner. TIP was the person who brought us together in the first place.
I’m from Saitama, but I lived in Kiryu in my twenties. I left in my late twenties, then came back to make music. I wanted to contribute something to this town, so I wrote my lyrics for the hip-hop scene in Kiryu and Gunma.
TIP has always been at the forefront of the Kumagaya scene. I felt there was a message only he could deliver, and I asked him to put that on the track.
BES’ hook connects Kumagaya and Kiryu. I hope it reaches everyone across the country who is rooted in their own local scene and protecting its culture.
The music video overseen by YOUNG CHILD is seriously dope too.
A message to younger rappers: “Hurry up and succeed”
Rei: You describe “HOT JOINT” as a song dedicated to the hood. What does giving back to the hood mean to you now, in concrete terms?
KINGSHOWZAN: On this project, giving back to the hood means sending a message to the young artists there.
I turned 40 this year. I’ve been rapping for more than 25 years. There are so many moments when I think, “If only I’d done this then,” or, “If only I hadn’t run away at that point.”
After rapping for this long, I still don’t earn enough from it to make a living. That’s strange. I think something went seriously wrong. It’s taken me time, but I’m absolutely going to succeed financially.
From my experience, I think younger artists can succeed much sooner. I won’t give them unnecessary advice, but I can give them a proper push at a turning point, or turn my experience into songs and tell them, “Hurry up and succeed.” That’s how I understand giving back to the hood.
Rei: HOT JOINT itself closed after a fire. But the culture that existed there has survived through people. Making this project, what did you feel remains of hip-hop after a physical place is gone?
KINGSHOWZAN: I think it’s the connections between the people who shared that time in that place.
Back then, I was learning what it meant to be cool from the people around me. I was living and feeling hip-hop every day.
Now, Kiryu has a bar called GOOD LIFE CAFE and a clothing shop called MOES. What I used to feel at HOT JOINT is being carried on at other cultural spots.
I think passing that sense of what’s cool on to the next person is the hip-hop that takes root in a place and stays there.
BES: A good song is a good song. It’s about how people feel when they hear it, I guess.
“I’m sharper now”
Rei: You’ve lived through things you hadn’t experienced when you were younger, and you’re still holding the mic. Has the meaning of writing the truth in your raps changed since your twenties?
KINGSHOWZAN: It has. I can write more honestly now, and I’m sharper too.
I used to be more tense. I feel like I was trapped by ideas about how things had to be, or what was uncool.
I didn’t have confidence then. Now I do. That lets me relax and be myself, but my convictions are as sharp as ever.
It’s different from mellowing with age. Compared with when I was younger, the hesitation and fear have gone. With the rough edges gone, I’m easier to grip, and I pierce sharply. I think I’ve become a much deadlier weapon.
Rei: Japanese hip-hop is a bigger market than it used to be. At the same time, your music remains strongly rooted in local things: your hometowns, friends and lived experiences. With hip-hop growing, what do you refuse to lose?
KINGSHOWZAN: Keeping parties and events going. I want to hold on to that desire and the energy to act on it.
Outside the big cities, there really aren’t that many people going to clubs and events. In Gunma, wherever you hold an event in the prefecture, it’s pretty much the same faces. That’s how small the group of people coming to clubs is.
But I don’t think we need to force that number up. What matters is continuing to do something cool.
The market has grown because people have recognized that hip-hop is cool. Rather than doing something lame for other people’s approval, it’s important to keep confidently doing what we think is good until our moment comes. Especially in an era when everything feels so lightweight, I don’t want to lose that feeling.
Some people use social-media video editing or music editing to make something that looks the part, then tell you how great they are. But people who are cool in the actual scene, people others respect just for being there: that’s hip-hop, now as much as ever.
I want to keep taking action to make that circle bigger, even if it’s only a little at a time.
BES: Big up the 03 area, from my hometown! I don’t want to forget that feeling I had when I started!
Editor’s note: 03 is Tokyo’s telephone area code.
To the 20-year-old at HOT JOINT
Rei: Finally, if you could speak to the 20-year-old KINGSHOWZAN who received that SCARS CD at HOT JOINT, what would you say?
KINGSHOWZAN: “At this rate, it’s going to take you a lot longer than you think. You’re already cool, so you’re fine as you are. Have confidence. Set yourself a clear goal, and get to where I am now in five years.”
Rei: I see. Thank you for your time!
Release details and references
KINGSHOWZAN & BES — HOT JOINT. Released September 23, 2026, through BONSHOTTA BROS. Tracklist: “GOOD DAY”; “Myself”; “GUESS WHO’S BACK feat. DJ MINE”; “HOT JOINT feat. TIP.” Producer: Koshiba Yuujirou (小柴雄二郎). Video directors: YOUNG CHILD (“HOT JOINT feat. TIP”) and ナベプロ (“Myself”). Cover design: 安中屋. Listen · Official release information.
The distributor categorizes the release as an “Album”; we use the artists’ description, “joint EP.” We retain 小柴雄二郎, the spelling used in the Japanese interview and TuneCore Japan’s release notice. KINGSHOWZAN’s official website lists 小柴 雄次郎.
“Never go away Featuring BES” was released July 29, 2022. KINGSHOWZAN’s official discography credits Koshiba Yuujirou as producer, I-Dea for mixing and mastering, and YOUNG CHILD as director. Listen · Watch the video.
The places behind the title: According to the release notes on KINGSHOWZAN’s official website, HOT JOINT housed the club LEVEL-5 downstairs, where a party called GOOD LIFE CAFE took place. BONSHOTTAS later took over the shop and a studio opened on the third floor. The shop and studio closed after a fire, while the GOOD LIFE CAFE name continued at a bar near Kiryu Station.
Earlier connections: TIP, a member of Kumagaya’s MUSASABI, released the EP メビウスの輪 in 2017; DJ MINE contributed scratches to “軍鶏,” as listed by CRIB RECORDS and WENOD RECORDS. TIP’s TuneCore profile also lists his collaboration with A-THUG on “DAY DREAM.” DJ MINE appears on “Monkeys down” from KINGSHOWZAN’s 2021 TRAINING DAYS, according to the official credits.
BES’ discography: SCARS’ THE ALBUM and SWANKY SWIPE’s Bunks Marmalade both came out in 2006. His first solo album, REBUILD, followed in 2008. See Manhattan Recordings’ BES profile.
Artists and contributors
- KINGSHOWZAN: Official website · Instagram · X · TikTok · YouTube · note · Spotify · Apple Music
- BES (SCARS / SWANKY SWIPE): Instagram · TuneCore Japan
- TIP (MUSASABI): Instagram · TuneCore Japan
- DJ MINE: Instagram
- YOUNG CHILD, video director: Instagram
- I-DeA, engineer: Instagram