Inside VERBAL’s Creative Empire: AMBUSH®, SŌMATŌ, and the Music That Started It All

At Coral Capital’s Tokyo HQ, artist–entrepreneur VERBAL (m-flo rapper and producer, AMBUSH® Co-Founder, and SŌMATŌ founder) sits down with James Riney and Tiffany Kayo to unpack how Japan’s next cultural wave is being built at the intersection of streetwear, music, and frontier tech. They explore why a Tokyo mindset still captivates tastemakers from Pharrell to Prada, and what has to change for Japan’s creators to capture Silicon-Valley-level scale. The conversation dives into: • Streetwear’s original “soft-power” playbook — how Nigo, Pharrell, and a Harajuku network turned Japanese design into hip-hop currency and seeded brands like AMBUSH®. • Two SKUs and a Paris runway — why VERBAL and Yoon Ahn sold a majority stake in AMBUSH®, what they learned inside New Guards Group / Farfetch, and why they just bought it all back. • Misunderstood luxury — the cold-chain, labeling, and pricing gaps keeping nihon-shu under-valued abroad, and how SŌMATŌ plans to rebrand the category for Michelin tables. • AI, Web3, and VTubers — a realist’s take on Suno-generated melodies, token-gated superfans, and the virtual-idol economy Japan is quietly leading. • Lessons from K-Pop’s public-private machine — what Japan can borrow (and what it shouldn’t) to export its own IP at scale. Connect with James: X: https://x.com/james_riney LinkedIn:   / jamesriney   Connect with Tiffany: X: https://x.com/tiffanykayo LinkedIn:   / tiffanykayo   (00:00) Trailer (01:05) Why Japan Hasn’t Matched Wine’s Global Prestige (Yet) (05:41) Export Hurdles: Cold-Chain, Labels, Craft (08:33) Skrillex and fashion fans don't know I do music (11:30) Ambush Timeline: 2008 Launch to 2023 MBO (17:15) Going independent (19:39) Japan fashion and US hip hop culture (23:03) Knowing Pharrell Williams (25:41) Japan provides authenticity (27:51) What can Japan learn from BTS and K-pop (30:14) VTubers (32:25) What would you change about Japan? (36:10) Artificial intelligence (44:17) The Art of Synergistic Collaborations (47:23) Fashion and space (49:28) Tech, brand, place, creator, pop culture (52:40) Outro