How is it similar and different from American Fashion?
Is Japanese Hip Hop Fashion just copying American fashion? How do Japanese view Hip Hop Fashion? What is Japanese Hip Hop Fashion associated with?
Japan's difference views on fashion.
--Hip hop fashion compare and contrasts
Hip hop fashion complements the expressions and attitudes of hip hop culture in general, by expressing and reflecting sense of cool and confidence.
Why is hip hop fashion so cool and trendy in Japan?
Japanese artists:
倖田來未 - Hot Stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhYx04ZmvA8
ZEEBRA - Jackin' 4 Beats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHlzpqYA5NI&feature=related
American Artists:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hvEsCUj0xQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWg3IMN_rhU
--What is hip hop fashion associated with in Japan
The hip hop culture was not easily absorbed by this relatively conservative society at the time. This was the reason why the initial promoters of the fashion were actually the bad boys of the streets and gang members. Hanging out on the streets with boom boxes dressed up as hip hop hooligans was reminiscent of gang behavior for most parents and concerned individuals at the time.
Now-a-days, Japanese Hip Hop Fashion is widely seen throughout the streets of Japan, as the popularity of hip hop music, dance, and art grew.
Do Japanese Hip Hoppers know the messages? the meaning of hip hop?
This question is always asked when Japanese hip hop is being observed by Americans. I have a couple ideas:
During my study abroad in Japan; making my weekly trips to Harajuku's 竹下通り (Takeshita street), to indulge myself in my interest in Japanese fashion. There are plenty of diverse stores on 竹下通り, including many hip hop clothing stores. I found it interesting that these stores usually had Nigerians dressed up in all kinds of American brands, both East and West gear. Pretty much, seeing a NY hat and a LA jacket on someone doesn’t mean anything to Japanese people, however Americans might find that odd that 2 cities on opposite coasts are being represented together. The first time I saw a Nigerian wear NY and LA brands together, I laughed... alot...
Why would it mean anything to Japanese people? NY and LA are miles and miles away, why would they need to know about American cities when it comes to their fashion? American's may view this as an example of Japanese Hip Hoppers not knowing enough about hip hop, through how they express their fashion.
[Fashion]
Japanese
http://www.cultureuniversal.com/articles_japanese-fashion.htm
American
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT7wq0y3maU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiFg-8o4ed8&feature=related
How we look at society
Gender relations with fashion
[SMST and BOTY]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L_-wkQbVZw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oH7k_fEDIQ
--Are the Japanese copying Americans and trying to be black?
I come to the "trying to be black?" statement I hear oh so often when talking about Japanese hip hop.
[Hip Hop essence]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm9VK16MmGU
Americans have criticized Japanese for copying hip hop fashion and trying to “be black” for a while. I have read many stories of Americans travelling to Japan and asking young Japanese hip hoppers out of the blue whether they have heard of Malcolm X or some other political leader for the African American movement. Then afterward they complain about how Japanese hip hoppers are posers who don't know anything about the history of hip hop, etc.
Yes, I can say that is largely true that the majority of Japanese hip hoppers are into nothing but fashion, style, music, but don't care about lyrics, social, culutural background of hip hop itself. This is mainly because they don't understand what rappers are rapping about in English. Even some of the CDs come with translated lyrics yet it's so hard for many of them to figure out what the lyrics all mean without the background knowledge. It is difficult to try to understand the background of hip hop from a book or from twisted lyrics talking about a part of history.
I have had many encounters in Japan where I thought, being American, would instantly make me more knowledgeable about American hip hop artists... and I was sadly proved wrong more than once.
Just their style, happens to be similar to American hip hop. Obviously it has to come from somewhere, it does come out of the blue, things get borrowed and twisted around to fit the society hip hop resides in. Some Americans will argue and say that hip hop should strictly stay in the black community and only other communities can particapate but can't possess the essence of hip hop. I will not agree or disagree with this statement, but statements like these are the reasons why Japanese hip hop artists have worked hard to make hip hop in Japan become more about Japan as the lyrics become more society related. I believe hip hop artists in Japan are finally getting on their feet.Recent sales of hip hop artists in japan have shown that Japanese artists are starting to outsell American ones.
It is interesting that many American hip hop artists will buy and wear Japanese brand hip hop clothing.
There are always going to be people who love the fashion, the music, etc, of hip-hop culture, but don't get the "message," or even want to hear it, or who even care about "what's really going on" and a whole lot of them are going to be part of the group who are the so-called originators. There are way more young americans who know more about their favorite hip hop artist than they know about any type of history. So if Americans are looking at Japanese as not knowing about the history, I think we need to check back to our own grounds before attacking others.
Well I know this all is not organized but I'm going to try to dig further and hopefully smooth out all the wrinkles...
--I want to explore these ideas further and try to get an better understanding as to why these judgments are being made about people and their choices to wear what they feel is cool and makes them confident when they walk down the street. Hip hop is about confidence and I think embracing that in a sense of fashion is something that the Japanese can relate to (considering other fashion styles in Japan). I would also like to explore why some Japanese only care about the fashion and have primarily no interest in learning about the history of hip hop.
---
I'm going to talk a little bit more about hip hop fashion again:
As much as I could say that wearing hip hop fashion is just someone picking out something they think is cool and wearing it daily. From my personal experience, I do wear different types of fashion, for different days, possible different moods have influenced this, but I feel that no matter what I wear, the way I put it together and how I portray myself while I'm in whatever clothes... I do feel I become apart of it and I made my own statement through my fashion
I think within the Japanese society, fashion is very important because the society is very strict with acting a certain way and being polite, etc. So many youths find an almost freedom with their fashion. Their fashion also takes them to their community and others who have the same interests, I think that's important. It also the younger generation to still have that bond with a community through the things they enjoy and I sometimes feel that in america we lack that sense of community with interests.
I want to question, but Mizenko won't let me do it now~! So I'm posting it to the blog.
ReplyDeleteI have two questions, actually. Firstly, do you know anything about Jero? If not, ignore this question because it won't make sense. If so, what do you think about the gap between his genre-very traditional, VERY japanese music-and his image? He dresses in very typically "black" clothes, hip-hop style. There's a huge difference between his "black" image and his "traditional japanese" voice. How do you think this is being exploited?
Secondly, what do you think about the amount of rap that has recently found its way into pop music? A huge amount of "pop" songs have at least a few lines dedicated to a rap portion, no matter how bouncy the song. Why is this western theme so prevalent in SO MANY different genres of japanese pop culture?
also, i love koda kumi ^^ thanks for showing her, it made me happy.
Hi Mai~!!
ReplyDeleteYes I know about Jero and I was going to use him in my project, I just didn't get to him to post anything for today! I would like to use him a bit in my paper, because he is a hip hop artist and an enka singer, sometimes using his hip hop dance with his enka music... so I'll definitely explore that!
I think that is simply the record companies and music producers that have noticed that hip hop music is so popular that basically any pop song can be made cooler with a rap section haha! And it works!
What I have noticed with japanese pop music however, is many japanese rap artists have made songs with a pop artist, where the pop artist sings the chorus... then they make a section version of the song when the pop artist sings most of the song. Most of the times, the pop version is more popular amongst the fans! So I always found that interesting
anyhow back to rap, it is a good question why so much western themes for anything have infiltrated the japanese society, but while the western themes are present they do evolve to fit the society and they accept it as their own...
blah we just go back and forth with america and japan hahaha
my brain hurts!
(me tooooo I love koda kumi, she's so bad ass!)
Hi.
ReplyDeleteSo I think this is a very interesting topic. Kudos. When I was reading this, I kept wondering about how you're defining "western". Like, in your previous comment to Mai, you talked about "western themes" finding their way into Japanese society. But your blog entry seems to set up a paper about American hip hop fashion in comparison to Japanese hip hop fashion. Typically, to me at least, "western" carries more weight than simply "American". You also talk about being "black", a culture that, within American discourse, is commonally thought of as a minority. So... questions.
Exactly how do you define "hip hop" culture in America? Are there criteria that must be met for a group to be a considered hip hop? Or is something hip hop because it defines itself as such? And as for "western themes", do you take the history into account?
I guess, basically what I'm saying is that since hip hop has its roots in black culture, which is a subgroup of American culure, perhaps you should be more specific about the terms you use to discuss this topic.
When looking at hip-hop it's hard because the same way people do not understand hip-hop fashion in Japan, the same holds true in the states. You may find someone wearing NY and LA gear in Japan, at the same time you'll find the same thing in the states as people wear clothing simply to match. you may want to look at rap groups that deviate from main stream rap to better understand rap in the states. also you may to question rap artists that are in the mainstream today. rap artists like Jin had short lifespans in the states, and in his case he began rapping in Cantonese to sell records. you may want to determine what it takes to be a successful rap artist in the states compared to japan. and also what's profitable? Japanese rap might be how it is today because of issues of profitability.
ReplyDelete-Michael Thomas
Hi Wynne,
ReplyDeleteI think you need to define what hip-hop means in America and in Japan. Say where it either originated or where it flourishes in both the United States and Japan. Make sure you don't get too caught up with the music side though. Try describing the demographics for who listens to rap music in both Japan and the US. Look at the background of hip hop in Japan, like when did it really start to get popular in Japan? I think its a good topic and its good that you found a topic that you are so passionate about.
-Christina
This topic will surely be a difficult one in the sense that hip hop for everyone is different.
ReplyDeleteI've always felt that hip hop in general was a way for young people to express themselves in any way shape or form according the four elements of hip hop (b-boy, graffiti, dj-ing, and mc-ing)
I personally know that hip hop in Japan and the aesthetics were largely based on the film "Wild Style" which cause a large underground following of hip hop in Japan especially in the b-boy scene whcih then spawned the large group of people who dance in a more generic hip hop style.
You could maybe explore what that significant film meant to the people who watched it for the first time and how American media has played on the hip hop visual culture throughout the world and what end of that Japan actually got.
I actually read an article on hypebeast about rapper VERBAL from m-flo and Teriyaki Boyz and his experience with both Japanese and American hip hop scene
http://hypebeast.com/2009/04/exchanging-freshness-for-freshness-with-verbal/
(you have to go through the pages to read the article)
good luck with the project!
-jimmy