Its no secret that we here over at Senpai Social Club love hip-hop/rap music. Much of our inspiration for the kinds of styles and looks we want to create, other than from anime, derive from other counter cultures such as hip-hop.
Of course if Im speaking for just myself, then I can say that I absolutely love hip-hop/rap music, and its probably a good 80% of what I listen to. That being said, through my enjoyment of hip-hop over the years, I couldn’t help but notice the increase in rappers being more open and inclusive with their love of anime within their music. Granted that number is still relatively small, but its there and its growing.
Rapper Logic has shown his love for Cowboy Bebop through his tour performances and interviews. Kanye West is a huge Akira fan. Brandun Deshay constantly uses references to anime such as the Bakemonogatari series within his music, cover art, and music videos. Lil Uzi Vert recently pulled a lot of inspiration from school slice of life anime in his music video for “P’s and Q’s”. Ugly God hasn’t been shy about his indulgence in hentai in a few interviews as well as the “Water” music video.
These are just a few of the recent instances that have occurred where I’ve seen anime creep into the hip-hop scene. Two different cultures that you wouldn’t have ever thought would mesh together 10 years ago but are now starting to slowly commingle. Hip-Hop used to be about being the coolest of the cool and showing off why you were. Anime has always been a niche nerd/geek interest. In the era of people like 50 Cent, T.I., Camron, and Jay-Z, none of that would fly.
So why the shift in attitudes? Well I think theres a lot of things that opened the doorway for anime to creep into the hip-hop scene, but I think one of the biggest contributing factors is simply, the internet. Thanks to the explosion of the internet, digital music, and the increase of music sharing sites that occurred from the 2000s and up, people are able to discover more music on their own instead of whats simply placed in front of them by major record labels. This helped open up the door for rappers like Lil B aka the based god. Current hip-hop owes a lot to Lil B. We at Senpai Social Club owe a little something to Lil B as well. Ever had to yell “WONTON SOUP” for us at a convention to get a button? Thank you based god. Lil B paved the way for internet rap by essentially becoming the first rapping meme. Songs like “Wonton Soup” and “I Cook” with off-beat flows and rhyming words that didn’t even rhyme, they highlighted the weirdo that is Lil B, and no label would ever in their right minds put out those songs, but luckily YouTube has no such standards and his music was set free onto the masses.
As the internet typically does to weird things we don't quite understand but are intrigued by, Lil B garnered a cult following. It was suddenly becoming cool to go against the typical “try hard to look cool” attitude that inhabited hip-hop, and instead was being replaced by sentiments of being yourself, being weird, and not giving a fuck. So while someone may be looked down upon or called lame by older hip-hop heads for liking anime, in the current new wave of hip-hop where being yourself and not giving a fuck reigns supreme, anime has a place to be accepted as just another part of what makes these rappers more unique, creative, or authentic to us. Its amazing for me to think that rappers like Lil Uzi Vert and Ugly God probably have more in common with the people attending anime conventions than they do the people who go to clubs to dance to their music, and I love that. Its a sign of anime and nerd culture in general growing in popularity and the new wave of internet hip-hop will help to facilitate that growing popularity.
But then again Im just a anime nerd who listens to rap, so what do I know?
I’m currently typing this while on Crunchyroll blasting Lil Yacthy.
- Daniel