Hip-Hop: Bringing Anime Into The Mainstream

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

Collector’s Remorse (or how to come to terms with becoming what you hate the most) (or I’m a piece of shit and I know it)

I spent the first two years of my anime watching life perfectly content with enjoying shows and leaving it at that. I was happy with streaming shows off of apps and websites. I never felt like I was missing out on anything as an anime fan as a result of it. I was aware of all the other aspects that came with anime fandom. The anime DVD collections, the manga collections, the figures, body pillows, for whatever reason collecting Japanese snack foods is a thing, and so on and so on. I wanted nothing to do with it. I was perfectly content with just being a fan of the medium and not delving any deeper than that. That all changed in 2013 when for my birthday my friend bought me my first anime blu-ray/dvd box set. It was for the series Shakugan no Shana, a show we had both enjoyed a lot. It was a cool present, and I thought it was the perfect excuse to re-watch the show. During that time of re-watching the show, I figured I might as well finish off the series and buy the remaining seasons as well. That’s where what would become my rapid descent into full on weebness began.

After finishing off buying all the boxsets for Shakugan no Shana, it quickly became “well I might as well buy other shows that I enjoy as well”. The pace at which I started buying anime DVDs and blu-rays was both astonishing and excessively depressing. Money that could have gone to other things such as food to sustain a healthy college student or gas to put into my car started going towards buying anime. I made a list of all the shows I wanted to buy, and of course that list never shrunk. As a matter of fact, even though I was buying a lot of anime at a rapid pace, the list still managed to grow. I sit here now both contempt and ashamed of how big my anime collection is. Its something I never wanted to get involved in from the start, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me happy in the nerdiest of ways.

Once I saw that the purchasing of anime wasn’t going to slow down, I figured I’d draw the line there. Just anime DVDs and blu-rays. Nothing else. I wasn’t too worried about keeping that stance. I had tried getting into manga before and it just wasn’t for me, and I just wasn't interested in any of the other things we as anime fans were expected to have, such as body pillows, doujinshi, replica swords, and all the other random cool weird shit you find at conventions. That stuff I know just isn’t for me nor do I want to spend my money on it, even at the height of my weebness. That being said, I told myself that figures were included in that grouping. I was determined that I would never buy figures because I just felt like I wouldn’t get anything out of it. I never really cared much for the idea of owning stuff purely for the purpose of display. 

Well, Fanime 2016 came and went, and low and behold among many of the other stupid things I bought at Fanime, among those was a Shakugan no Shana figure I bought on an impulse when I suddenly decided out of the blue I wanted a figure. How fitting that the show that jumpstarted my anime collection also possibly jumpstarts my anime figure habit. I’m mad at myself for once again showing no self control and crossing a line I had deliberately set for myself not to cross. I am truly a piece of shit in that sense, and I admit it. That being said, I can’t help but think how fucking cool I think this $25 plastic figure of Shana from Shakugan no Shana is, and I’ve come to accept and embrace that I am just a huge nerd who is a sucker for the things that I love. Embrace the things that make you you, even your shitty weeb trash parts.

I am currently typing this while filling out an Amazon pre-order for the Parasyte Vol. 2 Premium Edition boxset.

- Daniel

Anime Aesthetic: Otakus on the Runway

It wasn’t too long ago that I was standing in my local Urban Outfitters looking to buy a button up shirt for a party. Walking around browsing it was hard not to notice the abundance of t-shirts displayed around the store that utilized Japanese kanji in its design. If I had to quantify it, I’d roughly estimate that about 65% of the t-shirts they were displaying followed this design pattern. That’s not a significant number by any means, but it was still well over half of the shirts up for sale.

Not too long before that H&M incorporated anime and otaku inspired clothing in their Spring collection. More recently, famed streetwear brand Supreme released a collaboration collection with Toshio Maeda, a prolific manga artist and pioneer in the hentai genre. The collection features imagery of his work plastered on various articles of clothing such as t-shirts and jackets (I’m not familiar with any of his work, but I’ll let you know as soon as clothing with Bible Black imagery on it surfaces).

So what does this all mean exactly? Well, not much to be honest. But being that we here at Senpai Social Club make anime themed and inspired clothing, it is of interest to me. Especially if this trend becomes bigger than it already is now. There is the fear of being just another drop in the tentacle and ramen filled ocean of anime inspired clothing. 

Senpai Social Club "WAIFU Team" Shirt

It seems lately that the fashion trend of utilizing Japanese and Anime culture in design choices has been growing rapidly. This is not too surprising seeing as how Anime in itself is becoming more mainstream. This trend will only help to increase anime’s popularity even more, which I am all for. The problem that I do have with this trend though lies with the consumers themselves. It seems to me that being weird and standing out is what people are obsessed with these days. Everybody wants to be different. Its only natural to want to distinguish yourself as an individual. Anime inspired clothing is just niche enough to facilitate this need to wear something different but mainstream enough that people outside of the culture still have somewhat of an understanding of it. But it wasn’t so long ago that people who showed their love for anime were stigmatized for it. Matter of fact, this is still the case to this day.

If you like anime, you are considered geeky, nerdy, or dorky for the most part by the general populace. Now the look that comes from anime and otaku culture is being marketed to the general populace through mainstream clothing stores. People who have no grasp of what anime is, but like the look of it, are sure to buy these clothes. These are probably the same people that in the past would have made fun of somebody for being out in public in cosplay or for wearing their favorite shirt that they bought at their local con that features a picture of their “waifu for laifu” on it. Now I’m not so caught up in my own entitlement that I think that only people who watch anime should be allowed to wear anime inspired clothing, but I do find it bothersome that people who look down on anime fans for their interest can buy anime inspired clothing to capitalize on fashion trends just so they can feel cool or hip.

I love anime and the culture that surrounds it, and to see people reduce it to nothing more than just a means to distinguish yourself through style and then turn right around and laugh at a cosplayer who is standing in line at a Starbucks is disheartening. While I’m sure that this is something that is inevitable, I am optimistic. I love the idea of being able to buy anime inspired clothing that is more fashion conscious by just going to my local mall instead of having to search the farthest recesses of the internet for them. I love the possibility of people liking the art style in these anime inspired clothing and then being inspired themselves to go and watch anime. I love that the mainstream culture is starting to pay more attention to the cool things that anime brings.

All in all, I see the anime inspired clothing fashion trend as a good thing for the anime community. I would hope that this trend helps to alleviate the stigma that all anime fans are weirdos, dorks, or losers. I mean sure, we could be those things, but we’re also cool in our own way, and maybe the things that you think are lame can actually be cool to you too if you just gave it a chance. This is at least my hope, but hey, what do I know? I’m just a nerd with a laptop.

I’m currently typing this while I should be typing an essay for my Coms 100A class.

-Daniel