Japanese Hip Hop

Japanese hip hop is the hip hop culture of Japan, developed from the mid-1980s by DJs, MCs and producers who adapted American models to the Japanese language. Early groups such as *King Giddra* and *Scha Dara Parr* solved the problem of rapping in a language without stress accent by exploiting its mora timing and dense homophones, while producers built tracks from sampled jazz, funk and city pop. The scene grew from Tokyo clubs into a commercial industry through *Rip Slyme* and *Kreva*, and an enduring underground centred on figures such as *Tha Blue Herb* and *DJ Krush*.