Women Rappers & Making Money

Women Rappers & Making Money By: Sarah Caffery, Nicole Cervi, and Macauley Drake

Women rappers in Japan • Male emcees and deejays • “Real” hip-hop • Album making • Japanese groups- male heavy • Gender is key dimension • Is there something about hip-hop ideals as expressed in nightclubs and record companies that hinders women’s participation as rapper? • If so, what does this suggest about the dynamics of hip-hop, gender, and globalization in Japan? Women Rappers

Making it in the music industry • Carving space • Creating a vibe • “Cutismo” • Yuri & Utada Hikaru • Ai, Hime, and Miss Monday Working their way to the top

Yuri &Utada Hikaru vs. Miss Monday &Hime Resisting the Stereotype

Pop idols • “normal girl” • Girl groups members • Tokyo Performance Doll Cutismo in Pop Music

Starting off • East End • Gaku, DJ Yoggy, and DJ Rock-Tee • The beginning of the end • idol=puppet • Denim-ed Soul • “Da.Yo.Ne.” • Denim- ed Soul 2 • “Ne” • Break up Back to East End

Achieving success • Competing • Best Sellers • History • Femininity • Using English • Cult of Cute • Cutismo HamasakiAyumi Women Consumers

1990’s- R&B Boom • Misia, Utada Hikaru, Double, and Sugar Soul • Remixes with Japanese rappers like Zeebra and Rhymemaster • Gender divide • Authentic vs. Fake • First Love, sold 9 million copies • Women regarded as “more Japanese” Japanese R&B Boom

Reputation and money • “Hit-driven” industry • Rock Steady Crew • Japan’s recording industry • Japan’s music industry is unique in 3 ways • Japan has a wide range of national artists • rental CD shops • low rates of online piracy Making Money Japan Style

Consumer driven market • Music is expensive to produce but cheap to reproduce • Data Watch • Decline in sales and million sellers • Umedy • Music business in Japan is not driven by money but rather by culture and artists Making Money cont’d

US vs. Japan

Women Rappers & Making Money