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Rhyming in Japan, take two
Tewes arrived back in Japan in March 2008 and within three days he made his first connection with Tokyo's underground hip-hop scene.
A rapper by the name of Gami was performing at a nearby club called Gas Panic. Gami was a member of the rap super-group Mousouzoku, Japan's answer to the Wu-Tang Clan.
Tewes dropped by the club early just to see if he could meet the well-known rapper. He asked the doorman where he could find Gami, and he was taken to a VIP table in the back of the club. The two struck up a conversation, and Tewes suggested the two freestyle sometime.
"I asked him, 'Yo, can I kick a freestyle with you sometime?' and he said 'Yeah, I'll do it during my show!' Tewes says.
True to his word, in the middle of his show in front of a packed audience of Japanese hip-hop lovers. Gami pulled Tewes on stage and the two began freestyling back and forth.
Gami says that while it was still unusual to see Americans rap in Japanese, he has been seeing more Americans trying it out. As for Tewes, Gami says he's impressed with Tewes's ability to freestyle in Japanese, and he wants to catch Tewes' next live show.
Hip-hop 101
As Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five were bringing hip-hop to the masses in the U.S. in the early 80s, Japan was following suit with its own lineup of artists who were trying to make this American-born sound their own. Hip-hop in Japan took off during these early days when Americans brought their sounds to American naval bases in Japanese cities such as Yokohama, says Ian Condy, author of Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization.
Condry, associate professor of Japanese culture studies at MIT, says among the most prominent Japanese hip-hop groups in the underground, the group Soul Scream is most respected for representing socially conscious Japanese hip-hop.
Tewes had the opportunity to record a track with E.G.G. Man, one-third of Soul Scream. The group is noted for its strong presence in revitalizing Japanese hip-hop in the underground scene for the past decade, starting in 1995.
Recording a track
Through the shows Tewes attended and the people he met during his stay in Tokyo, he was able to contact the manager of E.G.G. Man.Tewes asked if he could schedule a time to meet with him and conduct an interview that he could later put online.
When Tewes visited the rapper's studio,
he said it didn't feel any different than hanging out with a friend and recording a track together. It wasn't until they mastered the song and played it in the studio that Tewes felt a chill over his body because he heard his voice alongside a legend in the Japanese hip-hop game.
"It's like coming to America as a rapper from a different country and not even starting at the bottom and instead recording with Nas," Tewes says. "It was surreal."
E. G.G. Man says his first impression of Tewes was that he was a big guy who spoke Japanese well. After the two chatted for a couple hours and he had heard Tewes flow in Japanese, E.G.G. Man suggested they record a track together for an upcoming compilation album he was producing. On that same day, the two got together and wrote a song about each other's hometowns and how hip-hop can cross borders.
"He has a very appealing voice and good flow and, most importantly, he has a great sense of music." E.G.G. Man says.
When asked to describe his own rhyming style, E.G.G. Man has difficulty.
"That's tough I'm like a plane leaving New York and arriving in Japan on Japan Airline flight 141," he says. "I'm like a car with a Ford engine tuned to a Lexus engine and thrown into a Toyota body."
E. G.G. Man says he sees many Japanese artists rapping in English, but not the other way around.To him, it doesn't matter whether it's in Japanese or English, as long as the artist puts "soul into a song."
The longer the nail...
Many underground Japanese hip-hop artists use their music to speak out on social issues and taboos that confront Japanese people on a daily basis. Confrontational Japanese rapper Hannya talked with Tewes backstage after a show in April about the "walking on eggshell" nature of addressing social problems in Japan's polite society.
With a reputation in Japan on par with that of Talib Kweli in the States, Hannya has sold 5 million copies of his most recent album, a huge number relative to Japan's size. Hannya raps in a brash style that's a mix of Eminem and OI' Dirty Bastard.
Among the questions that Tewes asked Hannya was about the traditional Japanese saying. "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down," referring to the cultural inclination of Japanese to choose conformity over unconventional attitudes and behavior. Hannya's initial response was to laugh at the mention of this old phrase, but he replied that he didn't care what others thought about his lyrics as long as he could still voice his opinions. From the imperial system to racial relations with Koreans, Hannya continues to challenge his fans by rapping about some of the biggest taboos in Japanese society.
September 11,2008
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