Swag is the New Past... and Other Thoughts on 2025 in Japan's Rap So Far
Running down the year's great rap at half time, plus a playlist of 35 favorites
This column is part of This Side of Japan issue #95. You can check out the main newsletter here.
Perhaps Yuki Chiba released his sequel a tad too quickly. He dropped another album, Okuman Choja, only a few months after STAR, the rapper’s first LP under his post-KOHH name and the follow-up to the viral hit of “Team Tomodachi.” (Editor’s note: he released two more new albums during the production of this column. The point still stands.) While he puts up videos for songs off the new record seemingly every other week, the songs from STAR are just starting to get big burns on the app responsible for minting “Team Tomodachi” into a sensation: “Shinpin Muji T” and “Omote” continue to rack up engagement on TikTok with folks gassing themselves up through their boastful hooks.
“Bank” by Yuki Chiba
More important are those menacing beats. The not-so-secret sauce behind Chiba’s recent hits are the beats by producer Koshy. His gothic, Memphis-ian tracks pair well with the rapper’s chanted hooks and his tip-toeing flow as much as they do with outfit checks and flexing via hip-hop dance, like, say, the kind of movements inspired by Megan Thee Stallion’s “Mamushi”—another Koshy-produced mega hit. His tag—Koshy, a-tsuuu—has been popularly heard in Japan’s rap for some time, but I’ve come across his lulling yet knocking beats a whole lot lately. I already covered LANA and friends’ rap cypher “OIRAN” here, and Yurufuwa Gang’s NENE has been enjoying a small moment with “BANANA BOAT,” off of last year’s solo effort GEKIATSU. Appropriate for its title, that latter record is all done with the producer.
While Koshy locks into a gritty Three 6 Mafia mode with Chiba for the latter star’s latest, he stretches his legs more with NENE for GEKIATSU. Appropriately so: she’s far more pop and personality-driven as a rapper than the monotonous and laid-back Chiba. Koshy experiments with the drums, cooking in a few club variants like Jersey club and baile funk, but also gets silly with the loops: “Yummy” throws in one obnoxious vocal loop yet it settles as a natural choice for his collaborator.
“KITERU” by NENE
His flashiest attempt yet might be NENE’s new one, “KITERU,” that channels early Soulja Boy singles through its proudly brash swag-rap sound effects. And to use NENE’s words here, swag rap seems here right now. Blinging synth riffs and rolling snares meet marching band brass in beats backing former KANDYTOWN rapper KEIJU’s sixteens, YELLASOMA and friends’ posse cut and MIKADO’s flex against jealous haters. While the sound packs and the “Turn My Swag On” spirit of mid- to late-00s Atlanta rap has been inspiring Japan’s rap for several years now, nostalgia for the city’s mixtape circuit especially stick out these days from having a record like Playboi Carti’s I Am Music stirring up the zeitgeist.
Carrying influence from the Opium guys like Ken Carson, Siero understands that Zaytoven and 808 Mafia play as foundation for the no-fi rage coming out that circle: Blown-out bass lines bombards his remix of “Kidori Aruki” with Hezron over strings fronting the ships of early Young Chop. Perhaps the biggest Opium disciple in Japan, Young Coco goes one step further and recreates his own “evilj0rdan” with “Elevator.” (He seems keen on the new intro.) He gets somewhat of a pass considering he was an early adopter of Whole Lotta Red, the proof in his 2022 album, The Quiet Before the Storm.
The influence behind this new noise fortunately extends beyond the Opium collective. Fronted by rirugiliyangugili, CNG Squad remains the rawest when it comes up to raps over the most fucked-up beats. Some of their affiliates’ portrayal of a digital hell taps into the underworld of Chief Keef as much as Carti, like Neo Iceyyy’s Finally Rich homage as well as the brain-fried trap of wood pure luvheart. Outside of CNG, a great take on Back from the Dead comes from DAFTY RORN, whose haunted-house vibes I already praised in a previous issue.
“VIBES” by Sound’s Deli
When it comes to Japan’s rap scene, though, nostalgia in general will be always in—or the past never grows out of style, to put it more accurately. The mixtape era is just now starting to be absorbed into that collective nostalgia. An obsession for the old school won’t ever die with the boom bap continuously celebrated in the underground and mainstream. RIP SLYME perhaps has been the biggest beneficiary in this respect as the original line-up were welcomed with great cheer as the group returned this year with new music. I remain more excited by acts who put a twist to traditional styles, like Flat Line Classics’s nu-school studies of a classic era. A personal surprise from the true-school camp, though, has been producer STUTS, the MPC scientist who can also put together a hell of a pop tune.
Out of acts who flirts with the boom bap, I often point to Sound’s Deli as a fine example of today’s hip-hop acts creating new with the influence from the old. And this time, their frequent collaborator, producer METS, has swapped trap hi-hats for club thumps; it’s a fresher update to a loop-based style than YDIZZY’s sample drill. (Though, to the latter’s credit, using that sample used in Jadakiss’s “We Gonna Make It” is a sure way to get my attention.) Take one wrong step and the marriage of hard raps and drum patterns culled from New York club and drill will steer an act into being a lesser Creepy Nuts these days. Yet YENTOWN avoids that pitfall in “Baguri,” a rowdy posse cut with an oddball beat that inspires even Awich to warp her voice into a stranger territory.
These modern reboots of old-school inspirations makes me miss JJJ. The rapper suddenly passed away this past April, and his music led the way in forging new styles while embracing hip-hop past. His best album, 2023’s MAKTUB, folded so much outside influence—Afrohouse, garage, UK drill—to lay over his stream-of-consciousness-like raps. He left behind one more new song, another exciting take on UK drill that can only hint at his next path. Other hip-hop acts are just starting to catch up with his ambitions. I can only imagine what his music would have sounded like that’s made in friendly competition with these acts trying to write the future of this scene.
Below is a list of my favorite Japanese rap songs of 2025 so far. Playlist also below:
Benjazzy - “NOTFORSALE”
Bonbero - “Flafla”
CYBER RUI - “SIDE EYE”
DAFTY RORN ft. goku sasaki - “on me”
Flat Line Classics - “New Deal”
FNCY ft. 9m88 - “SATURDAYS VIBRATIONS”
Japanese Ape ft. PM Kenobi - “sync”
JJJ - “dali”
kegon ft. Billionhappy & Effie - “TESLA”
KEIJU - “K2”
LANA ft. Medusa, E.V.P & IFE - “OIRAN”
Loota & MOSS OMEN - “Avalanche”
Manaka - “Agari”
MFS - “Mind”
MIKADO - “ENVY”
MonyHorse ft. Benjazzy - “Matane”
NENE - “KITERU”
Neo Iceyyy - “MiSFiTS”
ONJUICY ft. MORI - “Tanjun Meikai”
Only U & JUMADIBA - “Chrome Hearts”
OZWorld - “UTAGE3.0”
RIP SLYME - “Do-ON”
rirugiliyangugili - “ABEMA”
Sam is Ohm ft. Chinza DOPENESS & Mamiko Suzuki - “TOBIKOMU YORU”
Siero & Hezron - “Kidori Aruki (Remix)”
Sound’s Deli - “VIBES”
STUTS ft. Kohjiya & Hana Hope - “99 Steps”
who28 - “Carchase”
wood pure luvheart ft. rirugiliyangugili - “tanimachi”
YDIZZY ft. Tee Shyne & BLAISE - “O.T.S. (Only The Shibuya)”
YELLASOMA, NeS, YOUNG GAGA GG DIOR & MAGUIRE - “FAMILY BUSINE$$”
YENTOWN ft. kZm, Awich, PETZ, MonyHorse & JNKMN - “Baguri”
Young Coco - “Elevator”
Yuki Chiba - “Kibo”
YZERR ft. LEX & Awich - “KARISUMA”
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