Synopsis

Toshi Kubota performs "Funk It Up" in a colorful, surreal music video that blends live-action performance with playful visual effects. He sings and dances with his band in a stark room, appears between shifting walls, and performs amid a sea of white balloons. Black-and-white images, eccentric characters, grocery-store scenes, and cartoon inserts featuring creatures such as a fire-breathing dragon and a ray-gun-wielding panda give the video a collage-like, offbeat energy.

Factoids & Trivia

• "Funk It Up" was released in 1995 as part of Kubota's English-language album "Sunshine, Moonlight," marking his first international single release outside Japan.

• The song is an English re-recording of "D.J. Fonk," which had appeared on Kubota's 1993 album "Bumpin' Voyage."

• Kubota co-wrote the track and co-produced it with Kim Burse and Camus Mare Celli.

• The recording features background vocals from several contributors, including Nile Rodgers.

• The video was created for Kubota's American album campaign and uses deliberately exaggerated imagery rather than a conventional narrative.

• The single reached No. 91 on Japan's Oricon weekly singles chart in 1995.

• "Funk It Up" received a nomination for International Viewer's Choice at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards Japan.

• The video was later made available in full through Kubota's official YouTube channel as part of his 40th-anniversary campaign.