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Hypnosis Mic and the History of Japanese Hip-Hop




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SHD



Joined: 05 Apr 2015
Posts: 1752
PostPosted: Thu Oct 08, 2020 10:24 am Reply with quote
I don't claim to be an expert on either hip-hop as such, or the history of Japanese hip-hop in particular... but I do really enjoy Japanese hip-hop, have been for decades now. Which is why I never managed to get into Hypnosis Mic, as much as I'm a seiyuu aficionado and I don't mind pretty boys at all, I keep getting secondhand embarrassment listening to all these seiyuu trying and mostly failing to rap, never mind sounding "authentic" in any sense of the word.
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Doomroar



Joined: 24 Jul 2011
Posts: 80
PostPosted: Fri Oct 09, 2020 5:16 am Reply with quote
You can go and watch Tokyo Tribe 2 to cleanse yourself from the mess that is Hypnosis Mic.
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MorwenLaicoriel



Joined: 26 Feb 2006
Posts: 1617
Location: Colorado
PostPosted: Fri Oct 09, 2020 4:55 pm Reply with quote
Thanks so much for the time put into this article! I'm a fan of HypMic, but I'm white from a conservative background so my previous experience with hip-hop is veeeeery limited. This gives me a lot of stuff to dig into and look up! It especially made me realize that one of my favorite songs from the series (Tigridia) is probably trying to emulate chillhop, so now I know I definitely need to check out more Nujabes and people influenced by him.
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CharonCaori



Joined: 16 Nov 2014
Posts: 12
PostPosted: Sun Oct 11, 2020 10:24 pm Reply with quote
HypMic

Last edited by CharonCaori on Thu Apr 08, 2021 1:02 am; edited 1 time in total
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Puniyo



Joined: 08 Oct 2015
Posts: 271
PostPosted: Mon Oct 12, 2020 5:29 am Reply with quote
I don't think Hypmic is really trying to be authentic as much as paying some homage while experimenting with blending genres, and some of the seiyuu are definitely better at rapping than others, but Hypmic is really what introduced me to hip hop and rap music. I always thought it was closed off to me and that the top 10 pop-rap was representative of the whole genre, but I'm so excited to learn more and discover more artists.

Last edited by Puniyo on Mon Oct 12, 2020 5:49 am; edited 1 time in total
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Horsefellow



Joined: 01 Jan 2020
Posts: 262
PostPosted: Mon Oct 12, 2020 5:45 am Reply with quote
Puniyo wrote:
I don't think Hypmic is really trying to be authentic as much as paying some homage while experimenting with blending genres, but Hypmic is really what introduced me to hip hop and rap music. I always thought it was a genre closed off to me and that the top 10 pop-rap was representative of the genre, but I'm so excited to learn more and discover more artists.


The first hip hop songs I liked were from Sonic Adventure. Basically all of Knuckles' themes and stages. I've always been into Japanese rap since then since generally all the usual stuff I dislike in the genre isn't present like glorifying drugs and stuff.
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Puniyo



Joined: 08 Oct 2015
Posts: 271
PostPosted: Mon Oct 12, 2020 7:14 am Reply with quote
Horsefellow wrote:
Puniyo wrote:
I don't think Hypmic is really trying to be authentic as much as paying some homage while experimenting with blending genres, but Hypmic is really what introduced me to hip hop and rap music. I always thought it was a genre closed off to me and that the top 10 pop-rap was representative of the genre, but I'm so excited to learn more and discover more artists.


The first hip hop songs I liked were from Sonic Adventure. Basically all of Knuckles' themes and stages. I've always been into Japanese rap since then since generally all the usual stuff I dislike in the genre isn't present like glorifying drugs and stuff.


Yeah, me too! Because of the prevalence of the aforementioned pop-rap, I thought the rap genre was mainly focused on glorying those things, but when you look past that it's really broad and interesting.
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Takkun4343



Joined: 19 Jul 2007
Posts: 1491
Location: Englewood, Ohio
PostPosted: Mon Oct 12, 2020 7:28 am Reply with quote
While it was [adult swim]'s bump music that introduced/indoctrinated me to hip-hop outside of the stuff you hear on FM radio stations, I'll admit that anime helped shape my unironic enjoyment of the genre to the point where I can say that I actually like listening to it. Good or bad, there's just something about Japanese rap that I enjoy more than its Western equivalents, with a few exceptions (Psyche Origami and Roots Manuva, for two), and it's generally always clicked whenever I listen to it, either as an anisong or by itself. It's even gotten to the point where I've picked up some anime based on their adjacency to J-hip-hop culture, whether it be the more street/gangsta motifs of Tokyo Tribe 2 or the Nujabes-influenced diversity of the artist lineup for W'z, and of course, watching seiyuu try their hand at rapping in Hypnosis Mic. Truly, J-hip-hop is an underrated genre that I enjoy very much.

Now, regarding the racist connotations with J-hip-hop that this article mentioned... when reading it, it felt a little shoehorned-in, but upon further thought, it works as an advisory for readers planning on diving into the subculture beyond surface-level depth. As for the connotations themselves, blackface is obviously bad - not only is it offensive, but it just looks weird even at its most low-effort like the Subaru Kimura tweet linked above - and while I can understand the concerns towards appropriation, I'm not nearly as bothered by burapan, the criminal imagery moreso than the blackface-adjacent fashion stylings. And hey, at least Hypnosis Mic explained away its brushes against burapan by making one of the guys a yakuza.
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