ARTIST OF THE MONTH

© Culture-Universal 2005
Written by Jesse Viinikainen
[Bracketed words] contain Sound Samples, be sure to check them out.

King Giddra, the legendary space monster featured in the old school Godzilla movies was far away from being all that controversial or revolutionary as some might say about the Japanese hip-hop group by the same name. KG or King Giddra (K-Dub Shine, Zeebra & DJ Oasis) became the pioneers of political rap in Japan with their attacks against the Japanese society and government, taking the game to a new level during the golden age of Japanese hip-hop. Going back to the year 1993 when the trio officially formed and the time when Microphone Pager had first started "infecting" the youth with the real Japanese mentality came along a young hip-hop head by the name of K-Dub Shine. Coming from a poor family, K-Dub eventually got sent to America in the hopes for a better future and went to study in Florida and Oakland.

Going back even more in time and to the year 1988 when Chuck D and Flava Flav asked people to fight the power, K-Dub Shine inspired by their political approach (as well as the philosophies of KRS-ONE) started writing his lyrics in Japanese at school breaks and eventually met Zeebra (a B-Boy/part time DJ) who had instead been writing his own in english during his tennis lesson breaks. In the early 1990's when Dub moved from Florida to study in Oakland they became friends with local acts The Coup & The Hieroglyphics and re-united with their old friend DJ Oasis (a Beatmaker/DJ), sharing the common interest in the boom that had surfaced in Japan in the form of breakdancing in 1983 and finally evolving to rap music in 1986. Back to the year 1993 and to Zeebra who first decided to write his rhymes in english decided to drop it and became aware of his roots by the guidance of Dub and his studies of black culture in America. Zeebra and DJ Oasis who both had been polishing their skills together and recording them on tapes finally joined K-Dub Shine later on the same year when Dub introduced them to the concept behind Saga Of KG which would 2 years later be known as King Giddra.

Laying down their first recordings as Saga Of KG on the mixtapes of Hieroglyphics and The Coup as well as selling their own tapes in the streets, KG finally surfaced to Japan after their graduation in the early 1994 with big determination about forming a real hip-hop culture to their own neighbourhood of Shibuya, Tokyo. Seeing a rap scene without many people representing their own country and seeing many mc's falling into the category of copycats, K-Dub and Zeebra started performing at clubs as freestylers and grabbed the mic on the many open mic nights at the legendary Club Cave in Shibuya. All the effort finally bore fruit in the summer of 1994 when the group was interviewed by YO! MTV RAPS on the international hip-hop report as representatives of Japan along with the fellow group Shakkazombie.

The homecoming during 1994 and their appearance on various compilations as the Saga Of KG (such as [ Mikakunin Hikoubuttai Sekkinchuu Original Mix ]) had a huge impact on the yet young hip-hop scene with their powerful social commentary and evolved lyricism that asked people to take pride in being Japanese instead of trying to emulate the western parts of the world. In fact their appearances on stage and the few appearances that they made on compilations made them so popular that P-Vine records awarded them with a record deal in the early 1995 and the trio changed their name to King Giddra upon signing the deal. Hammering people's brain with more intellectual approach instead of the violent direction hip-hop was taking (mostly thanks to N.W.A.'s success in America), KG shocked the youth with their debut single [ Yukuefumei ] and officially became the kings of the underground scene with their legendary first album Sora Kara No Chikara (released in December of 1995). While Microphone Pager started the social awareness in Japanese hip-hop music, King Giddra took it to another level and elevated that awareness that became almost a standard for all hip-hop releases and artists in the future years.

Shortly after conquering the underground with their unquestionable classic, the trio joined Muro, ECD, Buddha Brand among others at the most legendary hip-hop event to date, Thumpin Camp in 1996 (also out on DVD) and were undeniably the most popular act at the show. Inheriting the title Kings Of The Underground from their predecessor Microphone Pager in only 2 years of activity, K-Dub Shine, Zeebra & DJ Oasis put out Kage (mini album/vhs tape) containing remixes and live performances in the later half of 1996 but unfortunately disbanded due to each members solo projects following the release. Following year in 1997 both K-Dub and Zeebra went solo with Genzai Jikogu (K-Dub Shine) and Rhyme Animal (Zeebra) which are both considered to be Japan's alltime classics. DJ Oasis continuing to produce for K-Dub Shine also returned to studio as solo after a 2 year break before launching his profilic career as one of the top producers in Japanese hip-hop.

Expanding their fame as solo artists from 1997 until the year 2000, their success brought back the rumors of their re-union which actually happened in some form when K-Dub and Zeebra featured on DJ Oasis's debut album Tokyo Sabaku on the single [ Armageddon ] (released on January of 2001). The single's lyrics let the media and the fans know of their re-union plans and while not many people actually believed in their comeback the announcement of their major debut on Defstar records in April of 2002 finally made people rejoice of the comeback of the "Kings". King Giddra also celebrated their comeback, the major deal and their 2 new singles [ Unstoppable ] & [ F.F.B. (Fast Food Bitch) ] with a re-union party on April 5th in 2002. [ Unstoppable ] worked as a wake-up call that brought the group back on the map after their 6 year absence from the scene and made it clear that the hype was still circling them when it climbed to number 6 on the national oricon charts (Japanese counterpart for the billboard). While Unstoppable was more of a ego boost for the group the second single [ F.F.B. ] (Fast Food Bitch, released on the same day) continued the line-up of controversial releases by the group and reached the spot 5 on the charts completing the overall extraordinary result for a hip-hop group. However [ Fast Food Bitch ] was quickly drawn off the markets and banned in Japan when the homosexual community made an appeal, convinced that the single was an attempt of discrimination.

Defstar records, the new home for KG of course benefited because of the controversy caused by the single and announced the release of King Giddra's sophomore album "Saishu Heiki" that finally ended the long wait of the fans in October of 2002. A month before the release the trio put out 2 singles on the same day [ Generation Next ] and another controversial release [ 911 ] which both were released on September 11th, the day of the terrorist attacks in America. The track [ 911 ] took a political stance and worked as criticism related to the terrorist attacks in New York and came as a testament of the groups ability to stay true to their political roots as well as their brave approach in critisizing the American government. Saishu Heiki as well as the 2 singles entered the charts on the top and continued the group's legacy to hip-hop with it's political, socially aware and mass media / anti pop approach that also went against the new generation of pop rap groups in Japan such as Kick the Can Crew, Rip Slyme & Dragon Ash.

The motive of the groups comeback however was quickly questioned by the fans as well as the media and it became clear that that re-union mostly happened to show that they can. Just like the space monster before, King Giddra's tale ended not long after their comeback when K-Dub Shine, Zeebra and DJ Oasis announced their final tour soon after the album's release in the late 2002. Even though the comeback was short the fans were treated with more goodies in the next year when Defstar Records put out a DVD release of their last performance which was followed by Saishu Heiki Remixes, an album containing remix work by some of Japan's top producers including Muro, DJ Yutaka, DJ Celory, DJ Yakko and DJ Watarai.

Editors Note:

Undoubtedly icons in their home country of Japan, K-Dub Shine, Zeebra & DJ Oasis came a long way from being ordinary hip-hop fans to changing the face of the game as one of the most controversial groups ever. Even though the trio have put the group aside and are now concentrating on solo careers only, it is evident that their legacy can still be seen everywhere on today's hip-hop lyricism in Japan. K-Dub Shine the spiritual leader of the group has still continued on the groups tracks during his solo career and is considered to be a hip-hop activist in Japan. True to their roots until the end, KG or King Giddra was a force of politics through hip-hop music and one of the unquestionable geniuses of our time. Even with only few years of activity in the game they remain as one of the most important figures in the history books of Japanese hip-hop music and culture.