is a German rapper of
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
descent known as Blumio. His 2005 single "Meine Lieblingsrapper" debuted at number 2 on the German ''
Urban TRL'' charts.
Early life and career
Kuniyoshi was born 1985 in
Hilden
Hilden () is a town in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is situated in the Mettmann (district), District of Mettmann, west of Solingen and east of Düsseldorf on the right side of the Rhine. It is a middle sized industrial town ...
, a town located near
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
, home to
the largest Japanese community in Germany.
Inspired by the American rapper
Ice-T
Tracy Lauren Marrow (born February 16, 1958), known professionally as Ice-T (or Ice T), is an American rapper and actor. He is active in both hip hop music, hip hop and heavy metal music, heavy metal. Ice-T began his career as an underground r ...
, Blumio began, at the age of 14, to write his own rap lyrics.
In 2002, he applied for an MC contest with a cassette. After an Internet vote, Blumio won the contest, beating many contestants, among them Berlin rapper Taichi. Following that, Blumio drew the attention of music producer Don Tone. Don Tone invited him to his studio in Düsseldorf, where Blumio came in contact with several notable German rappers, including
Eko Fresh
Ekrem Bora (born 3 September 1983), better known by his stage name Eko Fresh, is a German rapper of Turkish descent.ALEMEKO FRESH-EK IS BACKRetrieved 5 September 2010 Eko Fresh auf Twitter: "@xRay_RU halber Kurde halber Türke aber eigentlich ja ...
and the
Aggro Berlin
Aggro Berlin was a German hip-hop independent record label based in Berlin that existed from 1 January 2001 until 1 April 2009. Three artists ( Sido, Tony D and Kitty Kat) were signed with the label at the time of its closure.
"Aggro" is Ger ...
rappers.
In 2005, Blumio made his breakthrough with his single "Meine Lieblingsrapper", in which he imitates notable German rappers, such as
Massiv,
Jan Delay
Jan Phillip Eißfeldt (born 25 August 1976), known professionally as Jan Delay, is a German rapper and singer whose stylistic range includes mainly hip hop, reggae, dub and funk. An accomplished solo artist, he became known to the public as ...
and
Azad. Rapper
Sido, who had not been imitated by Blumio, provided additional vocals for the song.
In December 2008, Blumio released the album "Rush Hour" in collaboration with the "BTM-Squad" member Habesha. The work was the first release on Blumio's label "Japsensoul". His second LP, "Yellow Album" appeared in June 2009. This was followed in September 2010 by his third album, "Tokio Bordell". The singles "Eberhard" and "Die Welt ist schwul" were taken from it.
In 2016, Blumio moved to Tokyo, Japan, where he currently resides. His first Japanese single "UNIQLO" was released on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
on 3 August 2017.
Discography
Albums
* 2004: ''I Love Deutschrap'' (Mix CD)
* 2008: ''Rush Hour'' (with Habesha)
* 2009: ''Yellow Album''
* 2010: ''Tokio Bordell''
* 2011: ''Yellow Album Reloaded''
* 2012: ''Drei''
* 2015: ''Blumiologie''
* 2018: ''Demo''
Singles
*2007: ''Meine Lieblingsrapper'' (Maxi Single)
*2009: ''Rosenkrieg'' (featuring Zemine)
*2009: ''Antigewaltsong''
*2009: ''Hey Mr. Nazi''
*2009: ''H.D.G.D.L''
*2009: ''Intro''
*2010: ''Lass mal über Haie Reden''
*2011: ''Wir träumen gemeinsam von besseren Tagen'' (E-Single)
Videos
* 2009: ''Antigewaltsong''
* 2009: ''Rosenkrieg''
* 2009: Hey Mr. Nazi
* 2009: ''H.D.G.D.L.''
* 2010: ''Lass mal über Haie reden''
* 2010: ''Ich mag dich irgendwie''
* 2012: ''Der letze Samurai''
* 2012: ''Wir träumen gemeinsam von besseren Tagen''
* 2017: ''UNIQLO''
References
External links
Official website*
MTV biography
{{Authority control
German male rappers
German people of Japanese descent
Living people
Musical groups from Düsseldorf
1985 births