Since Nameneko Matakichi's Strongest Legend is a manga based on an already existing brand, it received a lot of attention and helped bring Namenayo to a new audience. As the brand reached its 25th anniversary, they knew they needed to do something big to celebrate it. So they gathered some of the most popular Japanese rappers to record what would be known as the Hip Hop in Cat City music album.

The album contains 6 songs, all sung by different artists. The main singer featured is D.O, with a majority of the songs having him as one of the main singers or feature rap verses from him. Some of the other artists featured are K-LOVE and PIT GOb.

The songs capture the delinquent spirit of Namenayo very well. While the album itself seems pretty good, I can't really give my thoughts on it. That's because this music album, made to promote the Namenayo brand's 25th anniversary, has been mostly lost to time.

Lost Album

It's sad, but true. Excluding one track, none of the songs can be found anywhere. You can try searching for them online, but you won't find any uploads on websites like YouTube or NicoNico Douga. The album has just completely vanished.

Hip Hop in Cat City wasn't a promotional item given away in limited quantities; it was a full album that was sold in stores with other albums. Even if that's the case, there aren't many websites or forums discussing the album outside of media news websites announcing the album's release. There might be a possibility that the sites that talked about the album's contents were taken offline and can't be accessed anymore.

At this point, we've hit a standstill. There's still hope, though. Like I said, Hip Hop in Cat City was an album that got a full release in stores. Not only that, but it sold pretty well, which means tons of people have copies of the album and are even willing to sell them.

Copies of the album are sparse, but they do show up sometimes on sites like Mercari and Rakuten. If you search for it in those places, you're guaranteed to find at least a copy or two. But considering this is the Namenayo! 25th Anniversary Hip Hop in Cat City music album, you'll probably be spending around $14.76 to $36.34. So unless you have a lot of money to spend or really want to preserve this long-forgotten album, chances are it might be out of reach for you.

The Surviving Track

Even though the whole album is lost, I did mention that one track was preserved. That's because the first song, Namenayo!, was uploaded to YouTube a year after the album's release. The best part about this upload is that it's actually a music video!

The song is pretty upbeat, with Strong Machine 2 singing and showing off some great dance moves while cool and stylish graphics pop up. Even though this is a song featuring D.O, he's barely in this and only shows up at the start. It really just feels like a Strong Machine 2 song.

To say the song is an earworm would be an understatement. Even after listening to it just once, it's guaranteed to stay in your head for HOURS. You don't know how many times I've sang "Hip, hop, party roll" to myself. With sweet bars, a catchy backing track, and lyrics that capture how unfair life can be as both a child and as an adult, it's just that good of a song.

Ties To The Manga

You may be wondering what the album has to do with the manga. Well, it actually has a lot to do with it. As you've seen on the cover, there's an anniversary logo with Matakichi's head. This is extracted from the artwork on the back of the album.

This art piece was drawn by Seto Kazuyoshi for use in this album. It includes a few of the main characters from the manga posing with anthropomorphic cat versions of the singers from the album, with the cat next to Matakichi being D.O. This artwork is really cool and helps unify the Namenayo brand while tying the album to the manga.

This wasn't the only time these designs for the artists in the album were used. To build up hype for Hip Hop in Cat City, D.O and the others appeared in the 13th chapter of the manga, "Let Your Singing Voice Resound For Your Friends!!", as special characters of the day. In it, the singers interact with Matakichi and Chikuwa.

D.O is also featured on the back cover of volume 3, where he helps fight against some of the antagonists from the volume.

Since he's the main artist in Hip Hop in Cat City, D.O has a few attacks just like the other characters. His special technique is PLAY・DA・GAME. When his strength is combined with Matakichi's, the attack becomes PLAY DA HEATBREAK (PLAY・DA・熱破), which increases in power.