J-URBAN THREAD

[Pretsy 1343]

~J-URBAN THREAD~

 

So WTF is "J-urban music"?

 

J-urban is basically an umbrella term for Japanese r'n'b, hip hop, soul, reggae, rap and related genres.

And as most already realized already, we never really managed to think of a thread that would cover this separate "scene" or "department" of the J-music - not to mention that I can already see a few

users who would be really glad to contribute at least a bit - or get familiar with a vast variety of major AND even indie urban artists.

 

The idea of this thread is contributing-wise free-for-all as with those J-pop/J-indie threads - but make sure to post commentaries as well rather than spam one hell of a  crazy series of YT embeds  (I'd really recommend to spoiler such links while posting, mmkay?)

 

So let's "get on"

 

Examples:

 

Anything related to Exile and their umbrella groups in the "softer" department:

 

m-flo (before they went EDM)

 

May J

 

Ken Hirai (kinda?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9hGuIWNDhI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id6mzv0uY7Y

 

MISIA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYd_oZTcIlU

 

And so on

 

Feel free to contribute/talk about your current and new favs!

 

 

You know the drill already so go go go!

[CAT5 9075]

Good idea, prz! Lots of cool stuff has come out of the "J-urban" sphere (aka Japanese ppl making traditionally "black" genres), so I'm glad to see that we have a place to discuss this area of music now!

I tend to shy away from the mainstream side of things, and not only because I've hipster-ish tendencies. I just think a good bit of it tends feel caricature-ish - like the Japanese's understanding of the music is blatantly shallow, and comes off as a cheap imitation as opposed to a reinterpretation or an assimilation of the style. Granted, there's a lot of great mainstream J-urban (and crap indie stuff) - I just feel like there's a greater level of understanding and music done in earnest coming out of the indie/underground world.

 

misia, m-flo

Never really tried misia, but vocally she reminds me of Bird - but better. Still need to try that one m-flo album you recommended.

 

Ken Hirai (kinda?)

I never really tried Ken Hirai's music either, but that 2nd song definitely sounds like he belongs in this thread. @herpes might know better?

 

May J

ahaha, this beat is a blantant ripoff of Mary J. Blige's "Real Love" smh

This kind of thing tends to happen quite often in Japan. Do you think they consider this a kind of homage to the originals or are the producers just being lazy and sneaky lol? I'm inclined to believe the latter, but I'm open to believing the beat culture over there might be different.

As for some of the artists I enjoy? Here are a few:

GAGLE

 

These guys have been around since 1996 and i'd consider them a must-hear for anyone digging into J-hip hop. Their sound is very traditional/boom-bap type hip-hop. MC Hunger is imo, one of the best Japanese rappers to ever do it. Firstly, he understands how to flow properly over a beat (which seems to be a big problem for Japanese rappers), his lyrics are thoughtful, and his delivery is always compelling, without being abrasive - you can tell he means what he raps. DJ mitsu the beats is an excellent producer too - one of the finest I've heard out of Japan.

Ovall

Since this band has relations to GAGLE, and even released a collab album with them in 2012, i figured I'd talk about them next. From left to right in the pic, the band is mabanua (drums, and sometimes vocals), Shingo Sekiguchi (guitar), and Shingo Suzuki (bass/keyboard). They describe themselves as a "spiritual jazz/hip-hop " band and for me they're like an unheralded supergroup. All 3 of these guys are producers, with mabanua and shingo suzuki being especially into beatmaking. Mabanua has produced for and worked with a ton of artists, both abroad and in Japan - from yoko kanno, CHARA, daoko, izumi makura, ohashitrio, nakano pierre of ling tosite sigure, and more. He also has his own solo albums, which are in a similar vein to ovall's music. Sekiguchi and Suzuki both have their own music projects as well. Ovall is super smooth overall, with instrumental tracks, mabanua singing on a few tracks, and guest vocalists/rappers on others. In the spoiler are the trailers for 2 of their albums:

 

Hanah Spring (Hanah)

Continuing the collaborative trend, this woman has worked with Ovall as well. She originally appeared on a major label under the sole name "Hanah", creating *mostly* mundane pop-r&b, but she has now resurfaced as "Hanah Spring" on an indie label called pirates records. I'm not sure what happened (perhaps the label dropped her), but whatever it is, I'm glad a change was made. Her music under "Hanah Spring" is much more viable. She's taken on a more organic, slightly jazz-tinged approach and has actually managed to make some legit "neo-soul" music, which is difficult to come by in Japan. She's spent some time in the U.S. and has opened for acts touring Japan like Erykah Badu, The Roots, Brian McKnight, and Musiq Soulchild - so that may or may not have influenced her style. Her voice is fantastic, although I prefer it when she sings in Japanese, as i'm quite picky about Engrish.

I will stop at 3 because this post is getting too big, but I will be back to add more artists and discuss further!

[violetchain 912]

They might be a bit too pop for this thread, but I love Shounannokaze. They're goofy, yes, but their voices all have so much personality and their lives look like so much fun.

 

I can't listen to Suirenka without smiling.

[Pretsy 1343]

^Shounan no Kaze is like one of the most known J-urban acts though (well at least in the mid-00s)? So they ain't "too pop" to begin with

 

Nice contributions, folks! Didn't notice that Blige ripoff earlier btw, cat...

[Amoz 34]

I'll definitely need to check GAGLE and Ovall.
 
I'm not too good with writing "reviews", but I'll try to write something about my favorite J-hip hop artist:
 
THA BLUE HERB

TBH comes from Sapporo and was formed in 1997. Consisting of 3 members: Boss The MC aka ILL-BOSSTINO (MC), DJ ONO (Trackmaker, used to be live DJ) and DJ DYE (live DJ, joined in 1999). ILL-BOSSTINO's lyrics are poetic and powerful with strong message performed with good flow and presence. He also has other projects which are more club oriented (HERBEST MOON (dub, house), JAPANESE SYNCHRO SYSTEM (techno, house)). DJ ONO is an excellent track maker with often quite metallic, machine like sound. He has also released solo works.
 

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNQgrD8PGFI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOou5MLKfYA

(NUCLEAR, DAMN is the right title)

Edited June 9, 2017 by Amoz

[CAT5 9075]

THA BLUE HERB

Are there any albums from them that you find particularly recommendable?

-

On a different note, EMI MARIA just dropped an album called "Euphoria". I've liked a few of her songs in the past, but she never managed to convince me entirely. This new stuff sounds promising though - especially if you're into atmospheric pop-r&b ala Jhené Aiko. It's a sound that I haven't heard in Japan's pop/r&b realm to a great extent, but i'm glad someone finally caught the memo.

Her braids in this video is a good look. The song is a bit disjointed, and i don't really care for the clubby mid-section around 1:51, but overall I appreciate that she's trying something a bit different. I've heard far too much J-r&b that was just staunchly formulaic, so this is nice to hear.

[Amoz 34]

Are there any albums from them that you find particularly recommendable?

 

Well, they only have 4 albums and a soundtrack, so could just go for all. I can't really name my favorite, but the first album STILLING, STILL DREAMING has more of a raw sound and the latest TOTAL has a more polished feel. All of them can be found on jpopsuki, if you want mp3 just say and I'll upload there.

 

Which reminds me that I should actually check few albums from GAGLE and Ovall.

[CAT5 9075]

Whether you love to hate him or hate to love him, KOHH seems to be a person of interest smh. Here's a pv from his upcoming mixtape:

I will say one thing, though - he seems to be one of the few Japanese rappers out that have that whole new-school "swag rap" style down.

[indigo 389]

I'm digging the new Emi Maria album! I need more stuff like this.

[diamondAss 114]

Whether you love to hate him or hate to love him, KOHH seems to be a person of interest smh. Here's a pv from his upcoming mixtape:

I will say one thing, though - he seems to be one of the few Japanese rappers out that have that whole new-school "swag rap" style down.

some of his stuff is nice, some really ain´t. although i enjoy his vibe alot

 

 

 

i´ll contribute a bit too tho. starting off with Yuya Matsushita:

 

continued by Daichi Miura:

 

and Tofubeats:

(usually i´m not much of a fan of 'T-Pain autotune' but this sounds cool to me)

[Takadanobabaalien 3607]

Will keep an eye on this topic as I'm interested in japanese hiphop as of lately.

[VkBrutaliaN 1890]

nice topic already was thinking of starting a J-hip hop thread myself...

 

anyways this song is just sick!!

 

and also this one here - although its more Reggae

[CAT5 9075]

New Kenichiro Nishihara coming down the pipes for those who enjoy jazzy-hip hop. Mabanua is featured on this track:

[ghost 2687]

I'm sorry.

At first glance I thought this said the J-TURBAN Thread.

Off topic post over.

Noodle out.

[Pretsy 1343]

Not the first place where you'd expect this but

 

 

Not bad, really.

 

edit: oh, Cat posted one KOHH video above already, lol.

[CAT5 9075]

new DOTAMA out on August 8th. I'm sure it'll be dope, especially the tracks produced by Quviokal and Fragment. Also curious to hear what he's done with the mornings.

 

DOTAMA 「ニューアルバム」

2015 8/12 発売

型番 sube-043

販売価格 2,160円(税込)

レーベル 術ノ穴

[Tracklist]

01, HEAD　(pro.Quviokal)

02, 音楽ワルキューレ2　(pro.Fragment)

03, 名曲の作り方　(pro.Kuma the Sureshot)

04, イオンモール feat.カクマクシャカ　(pro.クロダセイイチ)

05, カリカチュア　(pro.SUNNOVA)

06, 誰も知らない　(pro.食品まつり)

07, 自宅ユニバース　(pro.the mornings)

08, 要求　(pro.munnrai)

09, リクルート　(pro.DOTAMA)

10, 栃木のラッパー　(pro.Fragment)

11, こんなぶっ壊れた国で　(pro.Jr,TEA from エンヤサン)

[Jigsaw9 6783]

Never heard of this artist before, but there's a new Pigeondust album out and it's rad as fuq.

 

 

Go listen if you're into instrumental hip-hop. *puts on coolguy sunglasses*

[Pretsy 1343]

Dotama's Fragment-produced song is up!

 

 

Cool~

[indigo 389]

So KOHH's new album DIRT dropped on 23rd. Any thoughts yet?

 

I really like the first track, Be Me, especially the production. The rest is solid too, I would say this is his best album so far. Feels like his music matured a bit too if you can say so, haha. Maybe.

[CAT5 9075]

I've had this track on repeat a lot lately:

KOJOE is best when he's just spitting and not attempting to sing.

[beni 2149]

So KOHH's new album DIRT dropped on 23rd. Any thoughts yet?

 

I really like the first track, Be Me, especially the production. The rest is solid too, I would say this is his best album so far. Feels like his music matured a bit too if you can say so, haha. Maybe.

 

I don't know if I should hate him or love him. XD I want to try that out of his now because of you!

[Amoz 34]

I wanted to post this somewhere and I guess this is the closest to right place.

The soundscape in this is just amazing. In my opinion this fully shows that turntablism is noteworthy form of art.

[beni 2149]

Fangirling hard with GOMESS all of a sudden with "情景 -前篇-".  Haven't been staying up to date with new music recently, but this is standing out as one of my favourites already.

 

 

[CAT5 9075]

On 7/3/2016 at 5:42 PM, beni said:

Fangirling hard with GOMESS all of a sudden with "情景 -前篇-".  Haven't been staying up to date with new music recently, but this is standing out as one of my favourites already.

 

 

This really sounds a bit like a male version of daoko and izumi macra. I think you might also like Paranel...and possibly Lantern Parade too!

[Amoz 34]

Really been loving the new Genius P.J's single. The title track also has Mukaiyama Toshitaka from "nego" on it. I especially like the second track of the single, metastasis.