Yo, Yo, Yo
It’s been a while since the Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” in 1978 and Grandmaster Flash’s “The Message” in 1982 — but hip-hop has finally made it big in Japan. The other day one of my students started to flash gangsta gestures in class, back at the university festival there were breakdance performances, and not too long ago I received an essay from another of my students who violently attacked what he sees as the derivative and entirely un-original work of the Japanese rap/hip-hop scene.
On the BBC today, there’s an article titled Japan grows its own hip-hop, which denies this charge:
Mr Tamura believes the secret behind its success lies in Japanese hip-hop artists starting to do their own thing rather than copying their US counterparts.
“I think the secret behind the popularity is that Japanese hip-hop lyrics matured. Before they used to copy American gangster rap singing about guns and violence, which there isn’t too much of in Japan,” he said.
“Now they’ve realised it strikes more of a chord with listeners singing about reality. A lot of it is peaceful, about everyday life — poetic even. I think people started to relate to what was being sung. I don’t think it will be long before a Japanese hip-hop artist becomes famous around the world,” he said.
For a bit of historical perspective and an entirely unsympathetic view of the rap and hip-hop phenomenon in the United States, read John H. McWhorter’s How Hip-Hop Holds Blacks Back.
Comments
Maurice :: December 18, 2003
I think german rap music progressed the same way some years ago. That isn’t to say that the underground attitude has entirely gone away, I guess it’s part of the hip hop-culture. But the whole gangster aspect isn’t as prominent as in america. I’d say groups like Kick the Can Crew (japanese) and Beginner (german) have more in common with each other than with an american artist like say Dr. Dre or Snoop Dog.
What I don’t really see happening is “a Japanese hip-hop artist becoming famous around the world”. At least not if the international music market stays as anglo-centric (is that a word?) as it is now.
Moin Maurice. Anglocentric is a word.
Eminem isn’t a band — it’s a guy. I’m not familiar with his work but I know plenty of people who dislike him for being a whiner and a poseur. If you were “shocked”, that was probably the calculation.
I haven’t been paying attention for a decade or two, so today I tried to get an education from my students on the difference between rap and hip-hop. There were conflicting accounts, namely:
- It’s about tempo. Hip-hop moves at about the speed of rythm-n-blues and soul while rap is much faster.
- Rap is more combative/aggressive and uses more cuss words than hip-hop.
- Hip-hop is sung whereas rap is spoken.
- Hip-hop is more rythmical than rap.
- Rap and hip-hop aren’t two different genres at all: rap is what a hip-hop singer does.
In addition, Ayumi-san has a theory that involves melo (メロ) and sabi (サビ) and that went straight over my head, except that, as far as I understood it, サビ is the chorus, and hip-hop has a chorus that is more melodious than the rap chorus. Yet this probably isn’t accurate: A “chorus” typically consists of twenty-four or thirty-two bars, yet melo and sabi seem to be shorter than that, maybe an eight-bar sequence?
Ayumi-san?
pketh :: December 19, 2003
violence, and guns like a staple of rap and espiecially nowadays with the addition of ‘hoes’ (women), ‘bling’ (money , and fancy cars … and despite all the crap - occasionally some good stuff still comes through. 8mile was a surprisingly good movie btw.
i would be really interested to hear the lyrics are to other types of rap. I think that they would illustrate what local conditions are like and the everyday things that people feel are important enough to rap about.
graham :: December 20, 2003
tawawa goes gangsta? :)
I remember in the mid eighties listening to Run DMC, Public Enemy and others, and some British rappers like Derek B., and I have to say that it has sadly declined a great deal in recent years.
In the wake of gangsta rap as a music form, a fashion/culture whipped up by record companies and the media, and the sensational deaths of rappers such as Notorious B.I.G and Tupac (who it seems chose to record, but not release hours of material before his death — which the record commpany must be loving him for), there are few truly good rappers left.
At the moment, pretty much the only rap I listen to is Eminem and my old stuff. I quite like the Kid Rock stuff, which is becoming increasingly a fusion of rock/rap and country music. I should also say that I thought Eminem’s film “8 Mile” was actually a good film, and an interesting social commentary.
Yes, I know they’re both white, but as John Lee Hooker said, “it ain’t about skin colour, it’s about havin’ the blues” [said about claims that Eric Clapton was the world’s best blues artist].
Are they shocking? People balk at Eminem’s lyrics, and his stage stunts — but it’s just that, part of a marketing engine. Either way, heavy metal bands Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden were considered much worse over 20 years ago - I think society is becoming increasingly (and more hypocritically) puritanical.
In Japan, I actually think there are some decent bands, and good rappers. I’ve always been surprised here — school music tuition is pretty good, the live bars are great venues, and the PA systems all seem to be great, and the amateur music seems good, yet the pro market is drowing in cloned, sugary happy tunes from people you won’t see in 6 months, and where the producer’s name gets more credit than the singer. For variety, I think Dragon Ash deserve a good career, they’ve produced songs in a lot of decent genres.
I need to STRONGLY disagree with something said here: rap and hip-hop are two COMPLETELY different genres at this point in time. It is true that they started off ath the same time with the same people in the same way. However, in the late 80’s-90s, Hip-hop diverged sharply from rap, storming the american airwaves. SO you can easily say that the music being pumped in the streets of America is rap music.
also, hip-hop embodies more than just the music, or they way its performed: it has to do with a feeling. for example, like rap is filled with all this stuff about getting the newest clothes, getting hos and cars, and killin ppl, being “in the club” or w/e. The “gangster” music being portrayed today is all rap. hip-hop has a more musical feel to it: which is true. but hip-hop embodies more than just the club scene, or life on the streets: it embodies expression through rhythm, it expresses the feeling of beats moving through you, the music just making you want to move; to use it. Hip-hop is alive in breakdancing and lots of other forms of dancing (not like the ‘dancing’ in the club scene, or in rap videos). However, hip-hop is often confused with rap, which gives it, and the people associated with it take the “bad rap” that rap music gets from concerned parents and others who find offense in rap music. most established breakdancers find that rap is a farce, and that it damages the style that hip-hop was created to establish.
As far as Japanese hip-hop, I find that groups like KICK THE CAN CREW and RIP SLYME capture the feeling best found in the music of the 1980’s, identifying most strongly with people like Slick Rick, Flava Flav, and MC Lyte. Their music delivers a feeling like the feeling that I remember growing up in the ’80s. and I think that the Japanese gangster rap really has no base for its style: no one can identify with it really.
Torment :: March 12, 2005
hey people how’s everybody doing? you should check out www.cultureuniversal.com it’s a really nice website about japanese hip-hop aswell as european and they got a very nice article there and lots of info about artists too!
Commenting on this entry is closed.
I like hip hop. I think Japanese rap is not like the real rap in America. I like some Japanese rap groups such as Rip Slime, Kick the Can Crew and Mahha25. But I think they are hip hop, because I feel so when I listen to American hip hop.
I like EMINEM, the rap group one of whom is the hero of the movie, “8mile”. I was shocked when I listened to their music.