Hideki Naganuma
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Hideki Naganuma
長沼 英樹
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|---|---|
| Also known as | skankfunk, Funky Uncle |
| Born |
May 16, 1972 Hokkaidō, Japan |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | |
| Instrument(s) | Keyboards, synthesizers, turntables |
| Years active | 1993–present |
Hideki Naganuma (born May 16, 1972) is a Japanese composer and DJ who primarily does work for video games. Naganuma is best known for his score for the game Jet Set Radio and its sequel Jet Set Radio Future.
Early life
Naganuma started his musical career by playing the electronic organ, aged five, under the influence of his older sister. When he was fourteen, he became interested in western music and composed his own songs. He then decided to have a job in the music business. During 1993 to 1997, he worked as both a DJ and bartender. He was also aiming to become a singer-songwriter in the J-pop industry, although he dropped this plan.
Career
1998–2008: Work with Sega
Naganuma sent demo tapes to Sega in 1998. His application was accepted, with voice editing for Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Itsuka Kakumei Sareru Monogatari and composition for Hip Jog Jog being among his first works with the company, the latter of which he worked with senior composer Kenichi Tokoi.
In 2000, he served as the lead composer for Jet Set Radio, serving as his breakthrough work. He took inspiration from big beat music for the game. He would go on to compose for its sequel Jet Set Radio Future in 2002, along with Ollie King in 2003, also developed by Smilebit. In 2005, he composed a large portion of Sonic Rush's soundtrack, of which he was later nominated at the Golden Joystick Awards for Soundtrack of the Year. The following year, he was responsible for music supervision and composing two tracks for the anime adaption of Air Gear, itself being influenced by Jet Set Radio. For contractual reasons, he used the "skankfunk" alias as he was still employed at Sega at the time, while Air Gear had nothing to do with Sega. He also created a remix of "Fuusen Gum" for the anime Gintama, but similarly was not credited at the time.
During his later years with Sega, Naganuma was part of Yakuza's team, where his role was mostly limited to voice editing and producing sound effects. The boss of its team did not allow him to work on the soundtrack of Sonic Rush Adventure. Following his work on Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan! in 2008, he left Sega to become a freelance composer. He has continued to work on Sega games under his "skankfunk" alias, including Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku Shinshō and Super Monkey Ball 3D.
2008–present: Freelance work
During the earlier years following his departure from Sega, Naganuma contributed a handful of tracks to various Sega games such as Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku Shinshō and Super Monkey Ball 3D, under the skankfunk alias. In 2012, he contributed the track "Luv Can Save U" for the 20th installment of Konami's arcade rhythm game Beatmania IIDX, and for the 21st installment an extended mix of the aforementioned track. In 2014, Naganuma contributed to the charity CD Game Music Prayer II for relief of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake with an original track titled "Aria di Maria".
By the late 2010s, he became popular on the social network platform Twitter, where he frequently interacts with fans and posts internet memes and shitposts related to Jet Set Radio and other media, such as Family Guy, Among Us, Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger, and Big Chungus.
As a result of his online popularity and musical success, he has contributed tracks to a number of indie games inspired by Jet Set Radio. In 2017, Naganuma contributed two new original songs for the game Hover. In 2018, Naganuma released the track "Ain't Nothin' Like a Funky Beat" as a part of the Lethal League Blaze soundtrack, which featured other notable composers such as Frank Klepacki, Pixelord, Bignic, and Klaus Veen. He was set to compose for Streets of Rage 4, but due to schedule complications and copyright ownership issues, he withdrew from the project in 2020.
Naganuma admitted that since leaving Sega, he has made attempts to work for Nintendo, after the topic was brought up by fans of the Splatoon franchise that he should have worked on the latest games' soundtrack, who drew parallels between it and his previous works. He composed for indie game Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, which was released on August 18, 2023. He has also expressed a desire to create an original album and clarified he is not active in the gaming industry.
Musical style
Naganuma's early sound is often labelled as an energetic, rhythm-heavy blend of hip hop, electronic, dance, funk, jazz, and rock. His music was produced to match the visual style of the games he was working on as closely as possible, and experimented with voices, cutting and rearranging samples to the point that they become nonsensical. Since the release of Jet Set Radio, Naganuma's sound has incorporated many elements of breakbeat, gabber, and EDM.
Discography
As video game composer
Sole composer unless noted otherwise.
| Year | Title | Notes | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Hip Jog Jog | ||
| 1999 | Sega Rally 2 | Dreamcast and PC versions of the game. Composer with Tomonori Sawada. | |
| Atsumare! Guru Guru Onsen | Composer with various others. | ||
| Jet Set Radio | Additional tracks by Richard Jacques, Deavid Soul, Toronto, and B.B. Rights. | ||
| 2000 | JRA PAT | Composed the song "Ebb & Flow" which is the only known track. | |
| 2001 | Typing Jet | ||
| 2002 | Jet Set Radio Future | Composer with Richard Jacques, featuring various rock, hip hop, and breakbeat artists. | |
| 2003 | J.League Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou! 3 | ||
| 2004 | Ollie King | ||
| 2005 | Sonic Rush | Additional music by Teruhiko Nakagawa, along with Masayoshi Ishi and Hiroyuki Hamada of T's Music. | |
| 2010 | Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku Shinshō | Credited as skankfunk. Composer and arranger with various others. |
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| 2011 | Super Monkey Ball 3D | ||
| 2012 | Kurohyō 2: Ryū ga Gotoku Ashura Hen | ||
| 2013 | Dead Heat Riders |
As other
These are for media which Naganuma did not serve as main composer, but still contributed original music.
Video games
| Year | Title | Notes | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Sega Rally 2006 | Composed the song "Boosted". | |
| 2012 | Yakuza 5 | Credited as skankfunk. Composed the song "Vendor Pop". |
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| Beatmania IIDX 20: Tricoro | Composed the song "LUV CAN SAVE U". | ||
| 2013 | Beatmania IIDX 21: Spada | Remixed the song "LUV CAN SAVE U" from Beatmania IIDX 20: Tricoro. | |
| 2016 | WAR OF BRAINS | Composed the song "FEEL THE POWER IN YOUR SOUL". | |
| 2017 | Hover | Composed the songs "HEAVEN★UP" and "NEVER 4EVER". | |
| 2018 | Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight | Remixed the song "When the Moon's Reaching Out Stars" originally by Shoji Meguro. | |
| Lethal League Blaze | Composed the song "AIN'T NOTHING LIKE A FUNKY BEAT". | ||
| 2019 | Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD | Composed the song "Freezing Paradise". | |
| 2020 | Warp Drive | Composed the song "PUMPIN' JUMPIN'". | |
| 2023 | Bomb Rush Cyberfunk |
Songs released: "GET 'ENUF", "JACK DA FUNK", and "DA PEOPLE". |
Anime
| Year | Title | Notes | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Air Gear | Credited as skankfunk. Composed the songs "LOVE SENSATION" and "SKY-2-HIGH". |
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| Gintama | Uncredited remix "Fuusen Gum -Gintama mix-". |
Original songs and remixes
| Year | Title | Notes | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | REMIXES_GVR by Guitar Vader | Remix "I Love Love You [Love Love Super Dimension Mix]". | |
| 2003 | Juku Nanka Ikanai from Kagai Jugyo | Arranged "Juku Nanka Ikanai" with music and lyrics by Etsujiro Goto, and vocals by Miki Tanabe. | |
| 2007 | Dance Nochikara SONG-EP by Dengeki Chomoramma Corps | Remix "Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree (skank funky mix)". | |
| 2012 | Yasashii Kimochi by Chara | Remix "Yasashii Kimochi (Gentle Heart) [Girls Be Aggressive Mix]". | |
| 2013 | Juku Nanka Ikanai from Kagai Jugyo | Previously unreleased remix "Juku Nanka Ikanai [Nanka Samba Mix]". | |
| Love Theme from Dogusare Nyanko | Original song "Love Theme". Originally made for an unreleased game titled "Dogusare Nyanko". |
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| 2014 | Game Music Prayer II | Original song "Aria di Maria". Charity album for relief of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. |
Production credits
These are for video games which Naganuma has been credited for roles other than as a composer.
| Year | Title | Notes | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Revolutionary Girl Utena: Story of the Someday Revolution | Voice editing. | |
| Hip Jog Jog | Game sound effects designer. | ||
| 1999 | Jet Set Radio | Game sound effects designer, voice processing, and programming. | |
| 2000 | Daytona USA 2001 | Game sound effects designer. | |
| 2001 | Super Galdelic Hour | Voice processing. | |
| World Advanced Daisenryaku | Music editing. | ||
| 2004 | Ollie King | Game sound effects designer, arranger, and mixing engineer. | |
| 2005 | Yakuza | Special thanks on sound team. | |
| 2006 | Sonic Rush | Game sound effects designer. | |
| Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz | |||
| Yakuza 2 | |||
| 2008 | Yakuza Kenzan | Game sound effects designer and cutscene tracks. |