Twenty years after hip-hop first took root in Japan, the nation’s rappers were ready to switch things up. As genre-blurring KICK THE CAN CREW were aligning tight lyrical flows with cool, earworm choruses, pioneering rappers like ZEEBRA were reinventing the formula to reach new heights. Meanwhile, m-flo combined rap couplets with lush R&B rhythms. With electronic flourishes and lilting melodies interwoven with classic boom-bap beats, the 2000s comprised an era of sonic dynamism and creative daring like no other.