, known professionally as , is a
Japanese hip hop
Japanese hip hop is hip hop music from Japan. It is said to have begun when Hiroshi Fujiwara returned to Japan and started playing hip hop records in the early 1980s. Japanese hip hop tends to be most directly influenced by old school hip ho ...
recording artist and DJ who made his first appearance in 1995. Zeebra is a former member of the hip-hop group
King Giddra, which also included DJ Oasis and
K Dub Shine, and the older brother of fellow hip hop recording artist SPHERE of INFLUENCE. He went on to pursue a solo career shortly after in 1997, and signed with the Future Shock record label.
Zeebra is one of the most popular rappers in Japan, and his popularity is not specific to either gender. He appears not only in hip-hop magazines, but also in fashion and
street culture Street culture may refer to:
* Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities
* Street market
* Children's street culture
* Street carnival
* Block party
* Street identity
* Street food
* Café culture
* Several youth subculture or countercul ...
magazines. He often features in and produces other rappers' songs, and appears in their
videos
Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) sy ...
. He has also performed live with various rappers from
America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...
.
In 1998 Zeebra undertook his first solo tour. He became recognized as an individual rapper for the first time, making hip-hop more familiar to Japanese listeners. In the same year he started the first hip-hop TV program in Japan, titled ''Beats to the Rhyme''. One of Zeebra's songs was used in a
Nike promotion video for
NBA Japan games. The following year Zeebra released the single "Mr. Dynamite", the first hip-hop single to break into the top 50 on the Japanese pop charts. In June 2000, he released his new album ''Based on a True Story'', which sold 250,000 copies. At the end of that year Zeebra started his first Japan tour, the first hip-hop event to sell out. In 2001 Zeebra released the single "Never Enuff", the
theme song
Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at s ...
for a Japanese movie called ''
Brother
A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-famil ...
'', directed by
Takeshi Kitano
is a Japanese comedian, television presenter, actor, filmmaker, and author. While he is known primarily as a comedian and TV host in his native Japan, he is better known abroad for his work as a filmmaker and actor as well as TV host. With th ...
and starring
Claude Maki. In 2002 he temporarily rejoined King Giddra, but has been doing solo work since 2003 and has released many songs. At present, he is producing songs not only for rap artists, but also for pop stars like
Namie Amuro
Namie Amuro ( ; ja, 安室奈美恵, Amuro Namie, label=none; born September 20, 1977) is a Japanese former recording artist, producer, songwriter, dancer, model, actress and entrepreneur who was active between 1992 and 2018. A leading figure of ...
.
Early life
Zeebra was born and raised in Tokyo. During his childhood, he lived in the United States for a brief time while trying to become a professional tennis player.
He is the grandson of businessman
Hideki Yokoi
is a common masculine Japanese given name.
Possible writings
Hideki can be written using different kanji characters and can mean:
*秀樹, "excellence", "timber trees"
*英樹, "superior", "timber trees"
*英機, "superior", "chance"
*秀喜, " ...
, former president of the Hotel New Japan. The hotel's flagship property in central Tokyo caught fire in 1982, disgracing Hideki Yokoi and causing Zeebra to be bullied by his classmates. Zeebra eventually dropped out of high school during his first year.
He married around the age of 20 and fathered two sons, Kento and Ren Yokoi, before divorcing his first wife. Ren is a DJ who plays a mixture of House and Techno, where he is also a main MC for Tokyo Scene; Tokyo’s radio show by Inter FM 89.7. He kept custody of both sons, and later remarried to Miwa Nakabayashi, to whom he fathered two daughters, Kanon and Rima Nakabayashi of
NiziU. In November 2020, Zeebra and Nakabayashi announced their divorce.
Pioneer of Japanese Hip Hop
Zeebra began his hip hop career in 1993, joining the rap group King Giddra.
[Japanese rapper and hip hop artist Zeebra ジブラ – JapanSugoi – Everything Cool about Japan]
/ref> Zeebra, along with his group King Giddra, played an important role in the development of the Japanese hip hop scene. In the mid 1990s, King Giddra, then an underground rap group, began addressing social issues of the time. King Giddra's 1995 album "The Power from the Sky" discussed contemporary issues, particularly the economic recession and the inability of many Japanese college graduates to find employment. Zeebra addressed this issue of working towards a good education and being unable to find employment in his song "Bullet of Truth". Through their music, Zeebra and King Giddra "challenged youth not only to recognize the difficulties faced by Japanese society but also to speak up about them."
King Giddra's popularity grew in Japan. In 1996, he recorded his first solo track "Untouchable" produced by producer DJ Premier
Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), known professionally as DJ Premier (also known as Preemo), is an American record producer and DJ. He is considered one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time. He was half of the hip hop du ...
. By 1997 Zeebra left King Giddra to start a solo career, appearing frequently in trendy hip hop and street culture magazines and TV shows about hip hop.
Discography
Albums
* 998.06.17"The Rhyme Animal"
* 000.06.14"Based on a True Story"
* 002.05.29"The First Struggle"
* 003.09.18"Tokyo's Finest"
*006.02.15
6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number.
In mathematics
Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...
"The New Beginning"
*007.10.17
7.1 surround sound is the common name for an eight-channel surround audio system commonly used in home theatre configurations. It adds two additional speakers to the more conventional six-channel (5.1) audio configuration. As with 5.1 surround s ...
" World of Music"
* 011.12.14"Black World/White Heat"
* 013.11.20"25 to Life"
Singles
* 997.07.25"Mappiruma"
* 998.12.16"The Rhyme Animal Remix E.P.1"
* 999.02.24"The Rhyme Animal Remix E.P.2"
* 000.03.23"Mr. Dynamite"
*001.01.25 1. is the ordinal form of the number one in a number of European languages.
1. may also refer to:
Association football Austria
* 1. FC Vöcklabruck, a defunct Austrian association football club
Czech Republic
* 1. FC Karlovy Vary, a Czech associ ...
"Neva Enuff" feat. Aktion
*001.08.08 1. is the ordinal form of the number one in a number of European languages.
1. may also refer to:
Association football Austria
* 1. FC Vöcklabruck, a defunct Austrian association football club
Czech Republic
* 1. FC Karlovy Vary, a Czech assoc ...
"Baby Girl"
*003.01.22
3 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
3, three, or III may also refer to:
* AD 3, the third year of the AD era
* 3 BC, the third year before the AD era
* March, the third month
Books
* ''Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 n ...
"Big Big Money" feat. Hiro
*003.04.23
3 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
3, three, or III may also refer to:
* AD 3, the third year of the AD era
* 3 BC, the third year before the AD era
* March, the third month
Books
* ''Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 n ...
"Supatech (What's My Name)"
*003.07.30
3 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
3, three, or III may also refer to:
* AD 3, the third year of the AD era
* 3 BC, the third year before the AD era
* March, the third month
Books
* ''Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...
"Perfect Queen"
*005.06.01
5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...
"Street Dreams"
*005.09.21
5 (five) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typ ...
"Oh Yeah"
*006.12.06
Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener (surround channels). Its first application was in movie theaters. Prior to sur ...
"Stop Playin' A Wall"
*007.07.18
7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube.
As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...
"My People" feat. Miliyah Kato
*007.09.19
7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube.
As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...
"Not Your Boyfriend" feat. Jesse (RIZE
Rize (Greek: ρίζα, Laz: რიზინი, Georgian: რიზე,
, Ottoman Turkish: ريزه)
is the capital city of Rize Province in the eastern part of the Black Sea Region of Turkey.
Rize is a typically Turkish provincial capital with ...
)
*008.03.05
8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9.
In mathematics
8 is:
* a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2.
* a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...
"Bushido"
*010.03.17
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...
"Butterfly City" feat. RYO the SKYWALKER, Mummy-D & DOUBLE
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* Th ...
*010.11.17
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...
"Fly Away"
* 011.07.27"Blue" feat. AI
*013
013 is a music venue in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The venue opened in 1998 and replaced the ''Noorderligt'', the ''Bat Cave'' and the ''MuziekKantenWinkel''. 013 is the largest popular music venue in the southern Netherlands.
There are two concer ...
"I Do It"
*013
013 is a music venue in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The venue opened in 1998 and replaced the ''Noorderligt'', the ''Bat Cave'' and the ''MuziekKantenWinkel''. 013 is the largest popular music venue in the southern Netherlands.
There are two concer ...
"Mr. Miyagi"
Compilations
* 008.9.17''The Anthology''
*010 010 may refer to:
* 10 (number)
* 8 (number) in octal numeral notation
* Motorola 68010, a microprocessor released by Motorola in 1982
* 010, the telephone area code of Beijing
* 010, the Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the R ...
"Z – The Best of Zeebra"
*013.12.25
A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...
"100 Feat-Zeebra 25th Anniversary Box"
Awards and nominations
''2002''
* MTV Video Music Awards Japan – Best Video from a Film – Neva Enuff (feat. Aktion)
''2003''
* MTV Video Music Awards Japan – Best Hip Hop Video – F.F.B. (with King Giddra)
''2004''
* MTV Video Music Awards Japan – Best Hip Hop Video – Touch The Sky (Winner)
* MTV Video Music Awards Japan – Best Male Video – Touch The Sky
''2006''
* MTV Video Music Awards Japan – Best Hip Hop Video – Street Dreams
''2008''
* MTV Video Music Awards Japan – Best Hip Hop Video – Not Your Boyfriend (feat. Jesse (RIZE))
Music videos
;1997
*"真っ昼間" (Daytime)
;1998
*"PARTEECHECKA" right Light Mix
Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...
;2000
*"ZEUS 2000" ''(feat. Sugar Soul)''
*"MR.DYNAMITE"
*"Children's Story"
;2001
*"Neva Enuff" ''(feat. AKTION)''
*"Baby Girl"
*"城南ハスラー 2" (Seongnam Hustler 2) ''(feat. DABO, UZI, GKMARYAN)''
;2002
*"UNSTOPPABLE" ''(Zeebra with K Dub Shine & DJ OASIS as 'King Giddra')''
*"FFB" ''(Zeebra with K Dub Shine & DJ OASIS as 'King Giddra')''
*"911" (Remix) ''(Zeebra with K Dub Shine & DJ OASIS as 'King Giddra')''
*"Generation Next" ''(Zeebra with K Dub Shine & DJ OASIS as 'King Giddra')''
;2003
*"Big Big Money" ''(feat. HIRO rom 'Full of Harmony)''
*"Supatech (What's My Name?)"
*"Perfect Queen"
*"Touch The Sky"
*"GOLDENMIC" ''(w/ DJ MASTERKEY)''
;2005
*"Street Dreams"
*"Oh Yeah!"
;2006
*"Do What U Gotta Do" ''(feat. Namie Amuro, AI & Mummy-D rom 'RHYMESTER'''
*"Stop Playin 'A Wall"
;2007
*"My People" ''(feat. Kato Miliyah)''
*"Not your Boyfriend" ''(feat. JESSE rom 'RIZE
Rom, or ROM may refer to:
Biomechanics and medicine
* Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient
* Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac
* ...
"
*"Shinin' Like A Diamond" ''(feat. May J & Sphere of Influence)''
;2008
*"Bushido"
*"Jackin '4 Beats"
;2010
*"Butterfly City" ''(feat. Double, RYO the SKYWALKER & Mummy-D rom 'RHYMESTER'''
*"Fly Away"
;2011
*"Gang On The Backstreet" ''(feat. TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA)''
*"Blue" ''(feat. AI)''
;2012
*"Money In My Pocket" ''(feat. NaNa)''
;2013
*"Moonlight"
*"Young Soldier"
*"Mr. Miyagi"
;2014
*"Hate That Booty" ''(feat. Y's & KOHH)''
*"Diamond In The Sand" ''(feat. May J)''
References
External links
Official Zeebra Myspace
Official Zeebra website
Official Zeebra website by Ariola Japan/Sony Music
Japanese Hip-Hop by Ian Condry (MIT)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeebra
1971 births
Japanese rappers
Living people
Pony Canyon artists
Sony Music Entertainment Japan artists