Few pieces of anime music are as instantly recognizable as the opening of Samurai Champloo, and Crunchyroll News has published a new interview with the artist behind that voice: Shing02.

The conversation, framed as a look at "the poetic pulse" of the rapper's career, traces his path from the track that introduced him to a generation of anime fans to his present-day work on the world stage. Shing02 reflects on his music and more throughout the piece, which Crunchyroll published Wednesday.

Samurai Champloo's opening occupies rare territory in the medium — a theme so tied to its series that it has outlived the show's original broadcast by decades, pulling new listeners toward both the anime and the artists who made it. For many Western fans, it was a first point of contact with Japanese hip-hop, and Shing02's name has been attached to that legacy ever since.

The full interview is live now on Crunchyroll News for readers who want the artist's own account of the journey from that iconic opening to everything that followed.