Here are 2 videos about women doing their thing in Japanese hip hop.
Why do I care? Well, you have lots of youtube videos named "the best Korean female rappers" but none about the Japanese ones, except the 2 I posted here. Weird, right? Hm, not really. Korea's idol scene has made rapping mainstream (not hip hop, mind you). Rapping is something that Korean big labels believe give instant hype and coolness to an idol group.
Anyway, the idol scene in Japanese is different, Johnnys (all male groups) rap but rapping is not common and visible in that genre (idol j-pop) for girls. The AKB chicks don't rap... I think...LOL yes, you have some pop artists like Ya-Kyim or Bennie K who rap but there's no "I'm the baddest chick" thing associated with it. It's all light-hearted, and you can't name many groups like them in Japan.
It's a pity that as a female rapper, you only have 2 choices to survive in the long run: be a part of an idol group, which means being on the side, just there for a couple of cheesy lines that you didn't even write yourself and having your image/attitude toned down and controlled by your manager who manufactures the whole group. Or, you can be a solo act, debuting in the underground scene but after 3 albums your label want you to step up the sales games and bring in that money (and I'm not even mentioning the potential obstacles within the macho and male dominated hip hop scene) so you have 2 options: quit or give in to mainstream pop and tone down your flow. Become a people pleaser while recording a couple of decent hip hop tracks once in a while. Sad, yes, that's reality for ya.
I'm also all for diversity of the representation of Japanese female musicians. They're not all super pale, with big eyes, they're not all conventionally "cute" with high pitch voices and singing about romantic love. Nah, they are very diverse and able to surprise you in a good way whether they are rappers or rockers. I wish I were fluent in Japanese to understand the depth of hip hop lyrics from these women (in the videos here)...
I'm trying to understand why Yoon Mi Rae (the Queen of Korean hip hop) has been able to survive musically for so long.
Part of her long success is thanks to her singing skills and debut in a duo unit with a full Korean singer. YMR sings pop ballads and raps (and danced a bit too but no more now), so she gets more feats and options than others. Still, I wonder what she'll release soon...she's been releasing a single a year or so without backing them up with a proper album so yeah...probably a CD with lots of singing and a few rap songs in there, just like she did with her come back album Yoon Mi Rae in 2007 (or 2008?). While her male rapper peers all release full rap CDs, yeah with some mix of pop and electro in it I admit (so not fully hip hop). Still, they rap only, they don't really sing.
Having a kid does make you want to have some stability and good paychecks (and there's nothing wrong with that) so I understand the pop/electro sound of Yoon Mi Rae's latest songs (as well as her very slow activity to take care of her son), her flow still kicks ass and that's what matters. I understand that she might be at a turning point of her career and want to explore more as a singer or in certain genres different besides hip hop. It's legitimate and sometimes necessary to explore to go ahead and grow as an artist. Still, I think she should rap more for her next album and do featurings with singers. I'm sure she has plenty of things to rap about.
