Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization FREE DOWNLOAD
- Paperback: 264 pages
- Publisher: Duke University Press Books (November 1, 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0822338920
- ISBN-13: 978-0822338925
In this lively ethnography Ian Condry interprets Japan’s vibrant hip-hop
scene, explaining how a music and culture that originated halfway
around the world is appropriated and remade in Tokyo clubs and recording
studios. Illuminating different aspects of Japanese hip-hop, Condry
chronicles how self-described “yellow B-Boys” express their devotion to
“black culture,” how they combine the figure of the samurai with
American rapping techniques and gangsta imagery, and how underground
artists compete with pop icons to define “real” Japanese hip-hop. He
discusses how rappers manipulate the Japanese language to achieve rhyme
and rhythmic flow and how Japan’s female rappers struggle to find a
place in a male-dominated genre. Condry pays particular attention to the
messages of emcees, considering how their raps take on subjects
including Japan’s education system, its sex industry, teenage bullying
victims turned schoolyard murderers, and even America’s handling of the
war on terror.Condry attended more than 120 hip-hop
performances in clubs in and around Tokyo, sat in on dozens of studio
recording sessions, and interviewed rappers, music company executives,
music store owners, and journalists. Situating the voices of Japanese
artists in the specific nightclubs where hip-hop is performed—what
musicians and fans call the genba (actual site) of the scene—he
draws attention to the collaborative, improvisatory character of
cultural globalization. He contends that it was the pull of grassroots
connections and individual performers rather than the push of big media
corporations that initially energized and popularized hip-hop in Japan.
Zeebra, DJ Krush, Crazy-A, Rhymester, and a host of other artists
created Japanese rap, one performance at a time.
