It seems like Rebbok has been trying to get more an more affiliated with artists to reach a young and trendy clientele. After they presented US-producer and rapper Swizz Beatz as global Creative Director earlier this year, they have now chosen the infamous VERBAL as Asia's Creative Director for their Reebok Classics line. While I have been following VERBAL's career for quite some time, I am pretty sure that some of you haven't heard of him before. That's why I will give you some insights on who he is and what he does after the jump!

Born in Toyko, Verbal moved to New York at the age of 14 and got highly inspired by the rising Hip Hop culture in the US. When his parents moved back to Japan a couple years later he brought back those cultural influences and formed his first rap/rock group "N.M.D.". While the group actually got offers from some major music labels, VERBAL saw performing more as a hobby than a career and turned all of them down.


Teriyaki Boyz - HeartBreaker von bunharper

When he returned to the US for college, he even decided to become a pastor after a harsh break up with his then girlfriend. Thankfully he changed his mind and decided to pursue a career as a musician in Japan by creating the J-Pop duo "m-flo" which released a couple of pretty successful songs.

In 2005 VERBAL joined the rapgroup "Teriyaki Boyz" which was founded by "A Bathing Ape"'s Nigo and was dressed in BAPE gear from head to toe. Serving as the posterboys for the upcoming BAPE-Hype the band released two albums, that featured big names from Kanye West, Pharrell Williams and the Beastie Boys to Daft Punk, Mark Ronson and Dj Premier. The band was able to gain major success with their single "Tokyo Drift" which served as the theme song for the third movie of the Fast and the Furious-series.

His solo effort "Visionair" kind of fell under the radar when it's release date was overshadowed by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami drama last year.

Even though VERBAL's songs have been quite popular in Japan, he never focused solely on music. Being fascinated by youth and fashion culture he has always had great interest in art, fashion and collecting. Therefore his design endeavors "Ambush" in partnership with his girlfriend Yoon have been quite successful not only in Japan, but especially in the US and even in Europe. You can spot their famous "Pow" chains on necks all over the music industry.

I think it's great that VERBAL was hired by Reebok to give the brand a new direction because he has a great understanding of youth culture and consumerism in general. I mean just look at the pictures the Selby took of his appartement for the 2010 Louis Vuitton campaign! It is basically every collectors wet dream and goes in line with the houses of Pharrell Williams, Nigo or Kanye West. I am excited for what's to come from this partnership even though we will never be able to purchase the items in Europe.


May J. - HERE WE GO feat.VERBAL ( m-flo ) - MyVideo

Pictures from: Highsnobiety, the Selby