Premier Japanese hip-hop group Rip Slyme got their start in 1994 when Ryo-Z and Ilmari began writing together for fun. After a pair of albums and a string of indie singles of increasingly hit-worthy material (notably, their collaborations with Fantastic Plastic Machine Underline No. 5 and Mata au Himade), they signed to Warner and by 2002, the Tokyo Classic album saw the group become Japan's first million-selling hip-hop group. Four massively popular full-lengths followed over the next few years, right up to 2006's ultra-popular Epoch album and 2007's Funfair. ~ J. Scott McClintock