Japanese Hip Hop - Language

Language

Initially language was a barrier for hip-hop in Japan. Rappers initially only rapped in English because it was believed that the differences between English and Japanese would make it impossible to rap in Japanese. Unlike English, the Japanese language ends phrases in auxiliary verbs. Whereas English ends in verbs or nouns, which are extremely common, Japanese rappers were limited by the small number of grammatically correct possibilities for ending a phrase. Japanese also lacks the stresses on certain syllables that provide flow to English rapping. Even traditional Japanese poetry was based on the numbers of syllables present, unlike English poetry, which was based on the stresses in a line. Most Japanese lyrical music was also formulated using textual repetition, not relying on the flow of the words.

Japanese also has many ways of indicating class distinctions. English was seen as more direct, one far more suited to the tough quality present in hip-hop. Eventually, artists began translating music from English to Japanese and performing those direct translations, often leaving the bridge of the song in English to keep the catchiness of the rhymes and flow intact. Slowly, with the increase in popularity of rap in Japan, more rappers began using Japanese. Rappers added stressed syllables to their music, altering the natural flow of the language to fit into traditional hip-hop. American injections were also used in raps to help the flow of the music and often homonyms were placed in raps, which appealed both to the global English-speaking audience and to Japanese speakers, who often would understand the double meanings intended. Japanese was found to allow subtle put downs in raps, which appealed to many audiences.

Rhymes were also added to Japanese hip-hop by altering the basic structure of the language by eliminating the final auxiliary verbs in raps and instead placing key words at the end of lines. Additionally, to make Japanese work in a rhyming setting, the rappers change the language by using slang, derogatory terms, regional variations, gendered variations, and bilingual puns so that "more hip-hop" means the creation of "more Japanese." Rappers are able to express themselves using mature lyrics and "create" new language that does not inhibit their rhyming. As such, Japanese hip-hop music is often praised for its mature and culturally relevant lyrics.

English phrases were also put at the end of lines where a Japanese word could not be found to fit. This made rhyming in Japanese far easier, both in basic language and in regard to themes like the concept of social responsibility versus emotional needs.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s it was thought "rap" needed definition before rhyme. Rappers like mc Bell and Cake-K explain that rap is talking with rhythm and melody. Mc Bell argues that rap cannot exist without rhyme: "you need words ending with the same sound...three rhymes in a measure is called three-link rhyming." English is perceived as cool so that Japanese rappers usually add typical phrases such as 'check it out!', 'say ho!', 'awww shit!', and 'Goddamn!' According to Shuhei Hosokawa, those phrases are incidentally added and "the phonetic quality of black verbal expression is sometimes adopted" as well. He also notes that in Japanese Hip-Hop, the "semantics matter, yet so do phonetics...meaningful wording" is important, as is "playful rhyming".