LAMP EYE Release “UP HILL BATTLE,” Their First New Single in Years

LAMP EYE, the duo of RINO and DJ YAS, drop “UP HILL BATTLE” on June 26 via OTOTOY in high resolution. It’s their first new single in a while, and it’s clear from the first second: heavy boom bap, a driving bassline, and RINO’s voice doing exactly what it’s always done.

For anyone unfamiliar: LAMP EYE formed in 1993 at a Roppongi club called Droopy Drawers, with RINO, GAMA, and DJ YAS. In 1996, the group released “証言” (Shōgen / Testimony), a seven-MC posse cut featuring ZEEBRA, DEV LARGE, TWIGY, YOU THE ROCK★, and G.K. MARYAN, built on a single loop by DJ YAS sampled from the Deadly Affair soundtrack. The track is widely regarded as one of the founding moments of hardcore Japanese rap. Thirty years later, it still circulates.

“UP HILL BATTLE” doesn’t reach for that kind of status. The single isn’t announcing a comeback or a concept. It’s RINO over a DJ YAS beat, heavy and clean, no decoration. The title says what it is: a battle uphill, something you go into without any guarantee of coming out on top. DJ YAS stays in the boom bap register, which he’s always defended. No pivot toward the trap, no adjustment for current commercial tastes. That’s a consistent choice across thirty years of discography, and it speaks directly to the listener who came up on “証言” or the late-90s 12-inches. The single is available in high resolution on OTOTOY alongside standard streaming platforms.