Grime Finds A Home In Nagoya

Nagoya Grime Duo Munny Muthaz

 Maybe because Nagoya is a bit more into keeping it real than Tokyo and even Osaka, the UK grown Grime scene is taking Nagoya by storm.  Tokyo and Osaka not as much, but Grime is catching on there as well.

Grime has never been something that exported from the UK particularly well. Rooms full of young men shouting at each other isn’t exactly marketable, and Americans and Europeans don’t tend to understand crucial phrases like “E3”, “move to you” and “your mum’s got athlete’s foot.”

However, that’s not to say the genre doesn’t have its overseas fans. In Japan, for example, DJs and MCs have taken parts the British sound – the bass hooks, bloopy synths and aggy, rapid-fire bars – and put their own spin on it, AKA MCing in Japanese rather than a dodgy faux London accent.

The scene in Japan is very much still developing, although there's recently been a large increase in the number of DJs who play the danceable grime you might hear on Rinse or on the Butterz label. In terms of producers, there's a deejay called DJ Prettybwoy, who's been following UK garage and grime for over ten years. He's also had releases on Big Dada, remixed many of my tracks and has a very unique production style. Another DJ crew is Double Clapperz, who recently had one of their songs played on Rinse FM.

There's Duff and Kitakanto Skillz, Dekishi and Soaku Beats, Beyond, Onnen, Catarrh Nisin, Rittzzz, Taquilacci, F-lager, MC Snow and MC Marimo Head.

Dekishi and Soaku Beats’ "Makenai (Never Lose)" was released in 2012 and has been played on Japanese rap radio stations. Kitakanto Skills, led by Duff, also released a compilation album called Grime City. I have no idea where the Japanese grime scene will go from here, but there are a large number of people who are active in the scene and have the enthusiasm to make things happen. If these producers, DJs and MCS can link up, I'm sure the scene can become something really great.

In 2004, there was a special article on Dizzee Rascal, and that got me into grime. This was pretty much straight after I got into hip-hop – I'd read about US rap, so I was interested in the idea of UK rap. BMR Magazine mainly focused on R&B, soul and funk, so the only real way to learn about grime in Japan was via the internet. I didn’t have an internet connection at home at the time, so I'd use a PC at school. I Googled "grime" and "Dizzee Rascal", which brought up Juno Records. This was the beginning for me.

Grime is the product of a number of different genres, such as garage and dubstep, and was intertwined with them. I learned this through Juno Records and a couple of bass music bloggers. Having been accustomed to US rap I was blown away by the UK sound – the unique flow of the rappers and the rough beats and bass. I had no idea what the lyrics meant, but the raw energy really appealed to me. It wasn’t long before I realised that this was the sound I'd been looking for.

Most grime nights are fairly small, DIY events, although extremely good. There's an organiser called Eri who runs a crew called Goodweather. They have booked Champion, Swindle and Logan Sama to perform in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. P Money and Royal T also played at a festival called Outlook Japan 2014, for which we are very much indebted to Eri. Another DJ and blogger, Chelsea JP, organised an event called the Wardub Japan Cup, which was inspired by Lord of the Beats. Prettybwoy has been running a UK garage and grime night called Golly Gosh for many years, and a number of young Japanese and British artists – the Void crew – have recently started a new night called Swims.

Japanese radio culture is nowhere near as developed as the UK. There are a few major radio stations that play J-pop, rock and a bit of party rap, and that’s it. However, there are a number of internet radio stations that run grime specials. There's a famous Ustream channel, Dommune, that featured Visionist and Logan Sama. More recently, Glacial Sound performed on Block FM, another internet radio show. I think there's a growing demand for this sort of radio show, but this is very much a developing scene.

The reality is quite different in Japan. While there are rappers from poor backgrounds, there are plenty of MCs with money, as well as students. I myself am working. However, it's certainly very much an inner-city scene. Japan has its own developed rap scene, which definitely pays less attention to class and background than the UK or the US. I think there are probably many reasons for this, but one of the major reasons is that rap is originally an imported sound, so it would be hard to claim any sort of legitimacy or realness.

There are tracks that deal with criminal activities, but the majority of lyrics are personal boasts, attacks on MCS or political content. Most rappers aren't from a genuine "ghetto" background, so people tend to rap about the things they're interested in.

Vice