Shinobi Onibocho during the Krondor Krew set at Nerdapalooza 2009
The Ninja Rapper of Rhymetorrents[]
Shinobi Onibocho is one half of the ninja-themed hip hop duo Krondor Krew. As an artist, Shinobi is characterized by his onstage persona which is an amalgamation of varying anime and videogame characters. His headband and sash are reminiscent of the Shinobi videogame for the video game entertainment system and his large prop sword is a clone of the protagonist's Buster Sword of Final Fantasy VII fame. Shinobi also wears a custom made shinobifuku costume, accented with gothic belt buckles and other such eccentrecies typical of the cyber fetish or bondage cultures. His performances often contain spirited lyrics about combat, bloodshed and ninja tactics, while referencing his inherent love for videogames, mecha, anime and the Dungeons & Dragons game.
Official Story[]
A character rapper cannot consider himself a complete package without first establishing an official story. With that in mind, Shinobi's story was constructed to give him the ability to exist within the contstraints of any fantasy setting. Like the rapper Kool Keith carefully constructed a set of specific aliases, Kyle Bunnell made certain that his alter ego would be able to add relevance on any track he appeared upon. This persistent deliberation stems from the artist's love for canonical character storylines, and Shinobi Onibocho could theoretically appear in any storyline through the use of his supposed mystical techniques outlined in this official story which blends fact and fiction:
Shinobi, as envisioned by his alter ego and creator, Kyle Bunnell
"The origins of Onibocho are uncertain. Many historians speculate that he is a descendant of the mythical Tengu people, however, his correlation to the bird-demon people of Japanese legend is most likely a dramatization of his prowess as a Ninja master. It is known that tales of Onibocho first sprang from the Iga mountain regions during the 14th century, where it was said that his skills were instrumental during the Onin War (1467AD-1477AD) Working through a tightly knit society of Ninja spread throughout the Warring States, Onibocho was able to articulate coups involving hundreds of secret agents planted within official positions.
While strategy was his first passion, tales of Onibocho’s prowess as an expert infiltrator and deadly skirmisher vastly outweigh the stories of his tactical genius. Onibocho’s personal services were made available for the price of 500 ryo($470,000.00 , current value), and he rarely turned a client down regardless of their affiliation. One such a story recounts his services being purchased by a group of peasants who urged Onibocho to defend them from the bullying Yamashiro-ikki forces that were attempting to annex their lands. Alone in the province, Onibocho waged a one-man guerrilla assault on the Ikki until they had suffered such severe losses that they were forced to withdraw from the territory.
Tokugawa Ieyasu employed Onibocho to distress the forces of Oda Nobunaga, a maneuver which raised the ire of the aspiring samurai lord. Onibocho stole Nobunaga’s personal battle standard and delivered it to Ieyasu to be displayed from the opposing general’s fortress ramparts. This particular action contributed to Nobunaga’s eventual attack against the Iga region in 1581AD, in which Onibocho’s ninja clan was wiped out after a desperate struggle. Surviving the hellish assault, Onibocho wandered for many years perfecting a new from of ninjutsu, and inscribing it onto a series of scrolls which he hid in the Iga and Koga mountains.
These techniques are said to outline the use of shadow clones, planar travel, time distortion and long term hibernation. His undocumented sword style has been referred to as “sechster angriff” by the descendants of the Schattensoldat clan created by he and fellow ninja Masurao, who also survived the Nobunaga massacre. By the 1600’s, Onibocho’s namesake had spread across the planet. Whether or not the stories are false, or that if many Ninja took the Onibocho name in his line is unknown. Onibocho may have used any one of his secret techniques to prolong his life or to travel within the fabric of space and time itself, securing his legend as one of the deadliest Ninja in history."
While this story fails to address specifically how Shinobi obtained a sword from a video game universe, or recieved the Brand of the Sacrafice from the manga Berserk, it lays down the foundation of his origins and lends to the believabiltiy of the scenarios outlined in Krondor Krew's album 6th Rotation of the House of the Chaos Star.
Musical Career[]
His discography as a solo artist is as of yet unreleased, but his works in progress and collaborations exist on his personal website. Shinobi has garnered respect amongst his peers by writing holistic responses to other rappers on rhymetorrents and also by lending his artistic talent throughout numerous threads contained on the site. He is often found performing freestyles at live shows or in the official rhymetorrents stickam chatroom. Before being signed to EMPulse records, Shinobi visited Rocket Propelled Geek's Studio 6 and recorded a verse for a coordinated east coast posse track. Impressed by his musical talent and by Krondor Krew as a whole, HT and Spork wrote up contracts shortly afterwards and had both of the ninjas signed to their label.
List of Artists Collaborated with:
Brandishing his signature weapons, Face Buster and Onibocho
- Kabuto The Python
- Conyeezy
- MC 8BIT (or Victor Tango)
- Fatty Goodness
- King Pheenix
- Chibi Ma
- BType (or MisterB)
- Epic 1
- Emergency Pizza Party (freestyle verses during live shows)
- Magitek
- MCRT
- Zealous1
- Manna
- Magnum The Ape
The Unending Carnage[]
This album represents a dark and horrifying tale as told through the eyes of Shinobi Onibocho. The fictional beast which functions as the antagonist of this story themed album is known loosely as the unending carnage: a beast which is apparently enticed to eat the planet earth when it is drawn towards the aromatic and delicious confrontation taking place there.
The album opens up with the discovery of the unending carnage, and ends with the climactic struggle between Shinobi and the hellish creature. The album has an eerie and open ended final line which could either mean Shinobi's victory or death at the hands of the unending carnage.
Musically, the album takes pains to blend the elements of death metal, classical piano and hip hop while featuring highly visceral storytelling. This album is complete but set to be released in late 2009 or early 2010 and will feature a small poster and story book containing the set directions and liner notes of the album in a visual 'playbill' format.
the_shinobi_mc[]
The pending album artwork for: the_shinobi_MC
Considerably different from The Unending Carnage, this album focuses on a more traditional nerdcore hip hop approach. The album will not feature a single linear story line but will contain videogame themes and samples from numerous Playstation Era (1998 and beyond) videogames. The aim of this album is to put Shinobi into a plethora of situations One of the songs puts Shinobi in the Cockpit of an Einhander and another inside the chozo armor of Samus Aran. Shinobi also explores the realms of various anime worlds such as Claymore. The_shinobi_mc will be released on rhymetorrents before 2010 and will feature Shinobi's signature beats as well as the musical talents of:
- Untested Methods
- Krhym3.574r.0n3
Trivia[]
Below is a list of trivia regarding Shinobi Onibocho:
- The name Onibocho comes from the manga Lone Wolf & Cub and loosely translates to "Demon Kitchen Knife." It is the name of the sword wielded by Kubikiri Asa, a samurai executioner from the graphic novels.
- Kyle Bunnell cannot read or write japanese, and is only a white belt in Karate.
- Sechster Angriff is a martial arts style which exists within the Battle Angel Alita books. Shinobi professes to have created this combat method.
- Shinobi Onibocho once wore Vash the Stampede's coat from the anime Trigun at live performances. He also wore a Naruto headband, but decided against it to disassociate himself from Naruto fans.