Japanese Hip Hop - Venues and Events

Venues and Events

Genba, also known as the actual site, is the place and space for established and future underground hip-hop artists to gain and maintain recognition. It is here in these venues and night clubs that the artist performs and networks with people from the music industry, the audience, and the media. If the artist is a crowd favorite, the audience cheers or dances and this in a way decides the fate.

Without such genba acknowledgments, artists would disappear from the scene. Conversely, the business success of some rappers is not rejected but seen with a touch of envy, especially if they manage to go frequently to nightclubs like Zeebra to sustain their networks and keep up to date on the latest trends.

Before the turn of the new millennium, genba served as a places where Japanese hip hop colture was created and born. In the city of Tokyo, between the youth shopping districts of Shibuya and Harajuku, there was created a genba – a fathering point for youthful fans and performers. Traffic was stopped, and people and artists were able to perform and express themselves outside in this very public arena. This area became known as "Hokouten," short for hokousha tengoku, which means "pedestrian paradise."

Thumpin' Camp has been one of the most memorable and largest hip hop events that occurred in Japan. July 7, 1996 is an unforgettable day for many rappers, as well as the fans; about four thousand people attended the show. Males were more attracted to this hip hop scene than females; thus, about 80% of the audience was male adolescents. Over thirty rappers, DJs, and break-dancers from the underground scene performed in the show. This event touched many young individuals who were passionate about hip hop. The Thumpin’Camp show left a remarkable memory in the hip hop history in Japan.

Japan boasts a variety of clubs, which, although they are "open to all races...the kind of music played depends on the race of the next largest racial group." That group, of course, being next largest to the Japanese, who can be found at each of the different clubs. The clubs that only play hip hop and reggae are attended mostly by black people. Interestingly, in the clubs frequented by Japanese people and those that white people attend, there is an even proportion of race and gender. In these clubs, you will generally find equal amounts of Japanese men and women, and a fairly even proportion of racially different men and women. However, in the hip hop clubs, "almost all the men are black, and almost all the women are Japanese". Often in the hip hop clubs, Japanese women darken their skin and wear extensions and cornrows to attain a "natural" black look.

As aforementioned, genba is agreeably one of the most prominent and core place for hip hop in Japan, there is however a visible shift and spread/increase of Japanese hip hop venues. Among these are clubs, crowds on streets and many more. According to Ian Condry, in his book he outlines the idea and fact that, clubs have become one of the most convenient and top promoting places for Japanese hip hop. Great Djs and turntable-lists use clubs to as venues to not promote other rappers, by that spreading the hip-hop culture, bring and promote new songs and their own hip hop work. Referring to some sources such as, the above named source is a Japanese hip hop forum that also focuses on clubs in Japan. The above source also services proof of Dj and upcoming artists naming places, clubs, Street gatherings of where they are going to be so as to promote their work or any artist they are interested in. The above all in all justifies the view that Japanese Hip hop venues are not just genba but have rather taken and shift or taking a shift into a variety of places such as the ones named above.