My focus was on the group “Dry & Heavy,” a Japanese reggae and dub band from the 90s to early 2000s. They were influenced by the 1970s Jamaican dub sound, pioneered by King Tubby, Lee “Scratch” Perry, and others. Though this genre is always associated with Jamaica, the emergence of this six-piece Japanese group demonstrates that this experimental musical form transcends borders.

I wanted to incorporate the Hebrew alphabet into my typeface because Rastafarianism has a connection to Jerusalem, which they refer to as Zion—a symbol of the promised land and a place of liberation from oppression. It also resembles the Japanese writing system Katakana, which uses more angular forms. The challenge lies in integrating these elements while preserving the familiar English letter forms.