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Luv(Sic) Hexalogy is an album collaboration created and finalized posthumously by the Japanese producer Nujabes (Seba Jun) who passed away before the completion of the album and Japanese American hip hop artist Shing02 (Shingo Annen). It is a jazz hip hop album that incorporates latin jazz/soul samples and drum beats to create the instrumentals. The scratching was performed by various DJs and the vocals/lyrics were created by Shing02.

Background
Luv(Sic)'s title is a purposely misspelled play on word with the Latin sic, meaning a misspelled quote.

A quote by Shing02 from the journal in the Luv Sic CD."'I first dedicated 'Luv(Sic)' to the goddess of music in the end of 2000, and fifteen years later, we have a six-part series (Hexalogy). There is a certain voice that unites the chapters, a character if you will. - Shing02 I wanted the Luv(Sic) collection to not be a cliche love song, to me it was important to write something personal, that spoke about my own vulnerability and the need to have a lasting relationship with music. - Shing02"From 2001 and until the death of Nujabes in 2010, parts 1-3 had already been released in his other studio albums, but after Seba died unexpectedly, there was public uncertainty that the series be could be finalised. Parts 4 and 5 instrumentals had already been completed before his death, and were released shortly after his passing. Part 6 was released on February 26, 2013, on the third anniversary of Seba's death. According to Shing02's official statement on Facebook, the instrumental what would become Part 6 was found on Nujabes' phone a few weeks after his passing.

There is six individual vinyl pressings of each Luv(Sic) part/song; on December 9 2015 ,the official CD was released by Nujabes’ record label Hydeout Productions which combines the original six Luv(Sic) songs as well as the instrumentals of the song and remixes made by other artists such as the Australian producer Ta-ku, LASTorder, Jumpster and Uyama Hiroto.

Luv(Sic) Part 1
"'I remember using a Roland VS-1640 and an Octava mic for the recording of the vocals at my home studio in El Cerrito. As noted, the song is a simple letter from a 25-year old rapper. A departure from my original style, however a return to poetry that I use to write back in secondary school ... I wasn't set about the delivery as a whole after re-listening to the song,, but it didn't really matter. I was living the moment ..... ' Shing02"Nujabes incorporates a sample from Aki Takase that Nujabes used alongside drum breaks and Basslines to create the instrumental. The intro is a vocal sample of Bill Cosby from Buck,Buck - " I told you this story to tell you this one". There are three verses in this song, and between each verse is a hook of Shing02 alongside a vocal sample of Richard Pryor scratched in. The vinyl pressing of part 1 was originally released in Japan in 2001 with the cover being a photograph by Emuse of Shing02 with a dog in Yakushima.

Samples -


 * New Year's Eve written by Richard Pryor (1978)
 * Minerva's Owl written by Aki Takase (1981)
 * Buck, Buck by written Bill Cosby (1967)

Luv(Sic) Part 2
"Traditionally, in hip hop, series of rap songs are not common" but for Shing02 it felt right to title Part 2 as a sequel as if it were a letter to someone that "he had lost touch with". Luv(Sic) Part 2 was released after the events of 9/11. As Shing02 was set to fly back to California, the terrorist attack occurred and postponed his flight."'Nujabes sent me another track through email. It was a good break from the task at hand and the vibe inspired me to write what I was feeling at that time. the first words came out naturally, 'once again now...' - Shing02"The vinyl pressing of part 2 was originally released in Japan in 2002 with the cover being an artwork created by graffiti artist Syu. Nujabes used the jazz sample from the song Qualquer Dia, pitching it down and increasing the BPM. Alongside drum beats and scratching done by DJ Dai-Nasty in M2R Studio.

Samples -


 * Qualquer Dia written by Ivan Lins and Elis Regina (1977)
 * 頂(pinnacle) written by Shing02 (1999)

Luv(Sic) Part 3
As Luv(Sic) part 2 was completed, Nujabes would message Shing02 for the next installment. Shing02 said the message behind Part 3 would be about the power of music and the need to return to our music roots as individuals to discover this "power". There was issues leading up to the release of the song as a digital leak of the full song was up on Shing02's friends blog, and as a result Nujabes was hesitant to release the song."'I would later convince him, saying that there were so many fans worldwide supporting the series, and that we shouldn't deprive them from more content. In the end he accepted it, and that was us working out our differences'. - Shing02"The vinyl pressing of part 3 was originally released in Japan on March 2015 10 years later than the digital release and 1 month after the CD release. The vinyl cover was also created by Syu who did the cover for part 2. The song contained a instrumental sample loop of Tens (Calmaria) that was sped up and cleaned by removing vinyl distortions and lowering down the high end frequencies. The drums Nujabes' sampled were from the song Dirty Feet, took the drum loop and also increased the speed to match up with the previous instrumental sample. The DJ scratching was performed by Spin Master A-1 at Shing02's studio.

Samples -


 * Tens (Calmaria) written by Nana Caymmi (1975)
 * Dirty Feet written by Daly-Wilson Big Band (1975)

Luv (Sic) Part 4
Shing02 had asked Nujabes in 2008 that the Luv(Sic) series was complete, but under the condition that if he gave him three more instrumental tracks to work with then he could continue the series further. With help from other Japanese musicians such as Uyama Hiroto - after a few years, two of those requested instrumentals would later be part 4 and 5. The vinyl pressing of part 4 was originally released on 7th July 2011. The artwork was completed by artist FJD.

(Since Nujabes had passed away, but the instrumental were already created there is no information regarding the samples)

Samples - Unknown

Luv(Sic) Part 5
The instrumental was originally too dark to be used as stated by Nujabes, but Shing02 wanted a sound that was a serious departure from the other harmonic and peaceful sounds from the previous installments. "When the pieces aligned, there's always will be a sense of serendipity. I'm sure every artists can relate to those moments, moments that remind us why we fell in love with music. - Shing02"The vinyl pressing was released on 26th December 2012 in Japan. With artwork created by FJD. (Since Nujabes had passed away, but the instrumental were already created there is no information regarding the samples)

Samples - Scratch samples from Nujabes vinyl collection

Luv(Sic) Grand Finale
As Shing02 was visiting the store Tribe Records, the owner of the store said to Shing02 that there was a song called Luv(Sic) Grand Finale that was later discovered on Nujabes' phone after his death. "'I was surprised when i listened to it, he played the loop. A simple loop, but I knew right there at that moment that it had to be finished. ' - Shing02"The vinyl pressing was released on 26 Feb 2013 and the artwork was created by FJD. The instrumental was a sample loop of Choro Das Aguas with the DJ scratching being completed by DJ Kou.

Samples -


 * Choro Das Aguas written by Ivan Lins (1977)

Release and reception
Luv Sic has been widely regarded with over 80 million views on streaming platforms. The wide spread critical acclaim has allowed there to be an annual tribute concert held on Nujabes' passing where Nujabes' collaborative artists play live and Shing02 plays Luv Sic in its entirety. On the 25th March 2018 the Luv(Sic) album was released on Spotify alongside all of the remixes and instrumentals found on the CD.