« The Rise of Social Class in Japan, Pt. I | Main | Buzz Clip »
January 18, 2006
Solid Gold
 | I've got one question for you: which of the following three is more fly? (a) Mickey "scratching" a record |
If you answered "(d) all of the above," the new Japanese hip hop vs. Disney compilation Breaks & Beats Disney is for you. A lot of (misinformed!) people accuse Japanese hip hop of not keeping it real, but thanks to generous financial backing from the Walt Disney Corporation, Japanese hip hop giants like MURO, DJ Hasebe, and Zeebra have been able to take hip hop out of its original staid street setting to the new, unexplored territory of gift shops and five year-olds' birthday parties. But just because the album's cover is printed on shiny gold foil doesn't mean that they've sold out - honestly, is there a real difference between doing a hard-hitting street remix of "Mary Poppins" and replacing the word "Tennessee" with "Hennessy" in a new version of that old Arrested Development song? The world has waited too long to hear a "back-in-the-dayz" electro remix of the "Main Street Electrical Parade" and finally someone was willing to get into the dirt and pull this magic out of the garden. (And the CD comes with a free gold sticker of goofy with a ghetto blaster.)
I know what you're thinking: "Disco Duck" was a harbinger for the end of disco. Well, I've got news for you: Rick Dees is barely involved with this project and I've been told Dimitri from Paris is preparing remixes of Mickey Mouse Disco. And if Japan still leads the world in cutting-edge underground culture, we'll soon hear 50 Cent and the Bucket Hat Guy that's Not Tony Yayo dropping rhymes over Mulan grooves on mixtapes from the Pelham Parkway to Pacific Palisades.
Posted by marxy at January 18, 2006 1:48 PM
Comments
WHO HAS THIS ALBUM!!!!!!! WHO CAN SEND ME A RIP OF THIS ALBUM!!!!!! (and also) ??????????
Posted by: channing at January 18, 2006 2:41 PM
The Ghost of Internet Past will deliver this album to your inbox in due time.
Posted by: marxy at January 18, 2006 2:48 PM
Oh man, I actually tried out to do some illustration work for this stuff. I felt very conflicted about my life and career when writing things like 'Mousamixa'and trying to draw more 'funky and modern.'
Posted by: DB at January 18, 2006 3:22 PM
hahaha
"urban" is the "new" "extreme" or something.
Hey DB you draw real nice.
Posted by: Rory P. Wavekrest at January 18, 2006 6:09 PM
I assume you already knew about the おしゃれシャンソン album (if not, they've got it here.)
Posted by: Jrim at January 18, 2006 6:37 PM
Readymade remixing Disney is no different than them venerating the Association. Cheese is their forte.
Posted by: marxy at January 18, 2006 6:54 PM
This is the best thing in the world. EVER. It's time to dust off that WB "Taz" w/ backwards baseball cap shirt and bust off a groove... it's all comming back like goatees and wu wear.
I rhymed in that sentence up there.
Posted by: Michael McCarthy at January 18, 2006 9:58 PM
i'm hoping the ghost of internet past will deliver something to MY inbox soon too...
Posted by: r. at January 19, 2006 12:22 AM
lets not forget that jay-z once wrote rhymes for bugs bunny.
Posted by: alex at January 19, 2006 3:29 AM
I like the alliteration, but isn't Pelham Parkway a relatively suburbanish part of el Bronx?
Don't forget that Disney owns ESPN and is the main broadcaster of NBA; hip-hop is a main cog in their business...
Posted by: Sameer at January 19, 2006 4:31 AM
Isn't there a similar Disney punk album?
(Way back when, there was an American Disney covers record... Tom Waits did a mean "Hi Ho Hi Ho It's Off to Work We Go.")
Posted by: amida at January 19, 2006 11:44 AM
Not to change the topic, but do you have any take on the brewing LiveDoor scandle? Is this hidebound, stodgy corporate Japan exacting its revenge on Horie, or did LiveDoor actually commit some serious crimes?
Posted by: JBD at January 19, 2006 6:29 PM
livedoor was bending the law as far as it could for a long long time. the actual infraction looks like pretty legit charge.
As far as I can tell from here it's gonna be about culpability/deniability for Horiemon... and how the authorities punish the company.
Posted by: nate at January 19, 2006 6:39 PM
Livedoor seems to be yet another real life example of Japanese cultural values failing to entirely adapt to modern economic demands.
In Japan, these "Enrons" seem to happen every year. ダイエー/UFJ, anyone?
Posted by: check at January 20, 2006 2:57 AM
Disney has been made attempts to be hip before, such as when Konami released a (pretty fun to play) Disney version of Dance Dance Revolution including a few hardcore techno remixes of various Disney songs.
Take a look:
http://www.toysnjoys.com/importpsx/ddr_disney.jpg
Posted by: Adamu at January 22, 2006 5:43 AM
http://s46.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1X5F5EBXWI1XH10PVPGVZVR3I9
B&B Disney with a bonus track courtesy of moi. This album would be more at risk of killing hiphop if it were more of a hiphop album. Regardless, I'm playing Indian Village Cruise at every party I ever attend ever.
Posted by: channing at January 24, 2006 11:09 AM