King Giddra

King Giddra is a Japanese hip hop group that started in 1993. They were signed to the indie label P-Vine Records. After a 6 year hiatus, they would go on to sign with DefSTAR RECORDS, a sublabel under Sony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ) for their second album release. ["http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.cultureuniversal.com/jk/kinggiddra.htm&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=2&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DKing%2BGiddra%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG" ]

The group is made of up 3 members: K DUB SHINE [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itwxw_4w6Yo Youtube - Save The Children - K Dub Shine ] ] (MC/concept leader of the group), ZEEBRA [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPyJyEDrwxs&feature=related YouTube - Broadcast Yourself ] ] (MC), and DJ OASIS(DJ). The group is named after the 3-headed monster from the Godzilla movies, King Ghidorah. Zeebra has said that they chose the name after realizing that Godzilla is a character that represents international Japan. In the film, "King Giddra is the bad guy, but as a public enemy, he is doing an extremely positive thing." They say that as an enemy of the public, they are an enemy of the system that oppresses them, like how Godzilla was the oppressive system and King Ghidorah was the enemy. [ [http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Foreign-Languages-and-Literatures/21F-039Spring2003/5A50CBF2-66ED-4A37-B5A4-FEFA2648991D/0/condry_jhhintro.pdf] . "Introduction Japanese Hip Hop by Ian Condry" ]

Although all 3 were born in Tokyo, Japan, each member has spent some time living and growing up in the US. K DUB, did a homestay in Florida before moving to Oakland, California where he would meet future members of the group, ZEEBRA and DJ OASIS. According to the group's appearance on the Japanese music variety show, "HEY!HEY!HEY! MUSIC CHAMP", DJ OASIS and ZEEBRA have known each other since grade school.

Their style is influenced by the American rap group Public Enemy, [ http://www.jstor.org/view/00411191/dm994485/99p0110e/0 ] which is evidenced by their political views on the state of Japanese society in the lyrics of their songs, such as "Bullet of Truth." The song's opening lyrics are "Facing us is an illusion... the noise of a completely corrupt society/ Giddra lights a fire in the war of ideas in a 20-faced disguise forcing a new association of thoughts." [Condry, Ian. "Bullet of Truth" (Shinjitsu no Dangan) by King Giddra". http://web.mit.edu/condry/www/jhh/mov/KG-Shinjitsu-small.mov. Accessed 4-3-08.] The lyrics are indicative of a broader theme in hip hop of being critical of the greater majority in one's society. The line referencing a "new association of thoughts" promotes the efficacy of hip hop to go beyond complaining about problems and actually change the way people think. "This song is a throwback to the socially conscious lyrics of Hip Hop's beginning in the inner-cities of America." [http://hiphopcommentary.blogspot.com/2004_03_21_archive.html#107864645010386998. Accessed 4-3-08. ] In this song, King Giddra questions the education system that "crushes the dreams of children" as well as the media overload, especially in terms of advertising, sex and violence, which becomes a kind of mind control [http://web.mit.edu/condry/www/jhh/ Japanese Hip-Hop, by Ian Condry (MIT) ] ] . Their debut album (The Power from the Sky) is also inspired by Public Enemy, from their song "Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos". The title song, uses a sample from that PE song. By using American samples and rapping about Japanese issues, King Giddra mixes local and global perspectives of the world into their hip hop.

As the popularity of hip hop in Japan increased in the 1990s, mainstream J-Pop began to produce J-Rap, which was just party rap with no real political message. Those in the hip hop culture of Japan noticed the success of J-Rap and wondered if rap in Japan should discuss socio-political issues or if it should remain mainstream with lighter lyrics. King Giddra chose to make Japanese hip hop more political and about social issues that those in Japan faced. This also helped to create a Japanese style of rap that was not just an imitation of American rap because King Giddra discussed issues specific to Japan. For example, in their 1995 song, "Bullet of Truth", the group discusses how the education system "crushes the dreams of children" by making them think they will have a successful job after graduation, when in reality, unemployment is very common among young Japanese adults. They also criticize the media by saying that it's advertising is overpowering and becomes a sort of mind control. Japanese society is condemned for it's "heartless commercialism" and "despoiled environment". ["http://web.mit.edu/condry/www/jhh/#artists"]
The group's debut album would help them launch solo careers with major labels. K DUB signed with Japanese music label juggernaut, avex, under their "cutting edge" imprint, releasing his solo album (Present Time) in 1997. ZEEBRA signed with Pony Canyon and released his debut album "The Rhyme Animal", a moniker inspired by Chuck D of Public Enemy, the following year in 1998. Both artists would go on to sign their own artists under their group. K DUB SHINE already had his Atomic Bomb Crew (which was responsible for developing King Giddra), and ZEEBRA with UBG (Urbarian Gym) a wordplay in Japanese of (Tokai no Yabanjin/Barbarians of the City). Urbarian plays off the word "urban" and "barbarian". Gym plays off the Japanese pronunciation of (jin) from which means "people".

With the success of their respective solo ventures, the group would go on a long hiatus until the eventual release of their second, and possibly last album, (Saishuu Heiki/The Final Weapon). It was released in 2002. Unlike the debut album which saw beatmaking duties split largely between ZEEBRA, and DJ OASIS, "Saishuu Heiki" was mostly produced by DJ OASIS.

The simultaneous release of two of their singles "F.F.B." and "UNSTOPPABLE" saw commercial success with them reaching the 5th and 6th spot on the Oricon charts. They made their first and only appearance as a group to perform in the famously popular Japanese music shows, "HEY!HEY!HEY! MUSIC CHAMP" and "MUSICSTATION". However both singles dealt with controversy. "F.F.B." contained a line that offended people with HIV, while the song (Driveby) offended the gay community accusing it of discrimination. The original "UNSTOPPABLE" single [blue cover] was discontinued and re-released without the song "Driveby" [yellowed cover] . The track was replaced with their song, (Heisei Ishin/Heisei Restoration; a concept borrowed from the "Meiji Restoration". Heisei being the present-day Japanese era). On Sept. 11, 2002, they released their last single for the album "911", exactly one year after the incident. King Giddra's song “911” addressing America's misguided “war on terror," and the complicity of the Japanese media and the national government. The song reflects on ground zero and it's aftermath in two eras: August 1945 and September 11, 2001. Their music video opens with an image of ground zero Hiroshima. The group song video uses images of Hiroshima's ground zero after the bombing as a way of rethinking ground zero New York. According to Ian Condry the image, “at the center of the picture, the government building now known as the Peace Dome figures prominently.” [ Condry, Ian. Hip-hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2006. ] The group lyricist raps about America's hypocrisy in always telling Japan “to follow the path of peace” but then starts bombing Baghdad. In other hand, they see the Japanese government as little more than at fault in doing so because of their complicity. Also the first and third verses of the song appear on their 2002 video Saishu Heiki, of the Ultimate Weapon Defstar Records. .The song is inspiring because it great to see that some rappers from Japanese tackling issues of social opposition and bringing more voices to the call for peace.

The album was released in October and featured "F.F.B." with edited lyrics, and the song (Koukai Shokei/Public Execution) which was a diss track. ZEEBRA airs out KJ from the group Dragon Ash, while K DUB SHINE's verse aims at "sell-out rappers" and calls out Kick The Can Crew, and Rip Slyme through word play of their names, while allowing his point to flow through his verse:
(kiku to kan kuruu, RIRIKU tsurai, herikutsu RAIMU/ listening to it makes me mad as hell, annoying lyrics, pointless rhymes).

The song (Generation Next) is the album version of a song they contributed to the movie (Kyouki no Sakura/Madness in Bloom), directed by Sonoda Kenji, who is the long time music video director of King Giddra, as well as some of their solo work's videos.

Upon the conclusion of the album's tour, the group went their separate ways again, resuming their solo careers. While K DUB's content remained consistent, ZEEBRA's popularity and charisma saw him become more active in the entertainment industry, starring in a short series drama, developing his UBG label, producing for and featuring on high profile jpop artists such as BoA, Namie Amuro, and EXILE, etc. Currently K DUB has released 3 studio albums (Genzai Jikoku, (Ikiru/Live), and (Riyuu/Reason). ZEEBRA has released 5 studio albums (The Rhyme Animal, Based on a True Story, Tokyo's Finest, The New Beginning, and the recently released World of Music). DJ OASIS has released two studio albums ((Toukyou Sabaku/Tokyo Desert), and Waterworld). He's also formed a DJ group called The Axis with long time King Giddra collaborator, UBG's INOVADER to release mixtapes that combine American rap artists, old school and new school, and blending them with their own beats. K DUB SHINE and DJ OASIS also formed a group called Radio Aktive Project (wordplay associated with "RAP" and their label "Atomic Bomb Records") designed to be similar to that of King Giddra, albeit without ZEEBRA.

(The external links are of those associated with King Giddra and are in Japanese only. However, through their MySpace you may be able to communicate with them in English. Of the three, DJ OASIS is the most active on the internet, has been known to respond in MySpace, and is a hardcore video game fan.
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References

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/kdubshineofficial K DUB SHINE's official MySpace]
* [http://www.myspace.com/zeebranihon ZEEBRA's official MySpace]
* [http://ameblo.jp/djoasis/ DJ OASIS's official blog]
* [http://www.myspace.com/djoasis_waterworld DJ OASIS's official MySpace]
* [http://www.myspace.com/djoasisfunkposeidon DJ OASIS official Music MySpace]
* [http://www.youtube.com/user/wanpa1303 DJ OASIS's youtube page]
* [http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/Music/Info/kg/ King Giddra's Sony Music homepage]
* [http://www.atomicbomb.co.jp/index.html Atomic Bomb Records homepage]
* [http://www.zeebra.jp/ ZEEBRA's official homepage]