Reviews
"From New York to Rio, from Nairobi to Tokyo, hip-hop, more than any other musical genre or youth culture, has permeated nations, cultures, and languages worldwide. Essential to the contributions by anthropologists and hip-hop scholars on the globalization of hip-hop is Ian Condry's Hip-hop Japan: rap and the paths of cultural globalization . In this depiction of how Japanese youth nationalize the American hip-hop import, Condry questions disciplinary dichotomies such as global/local within a unique contemporary ethnographic approach that seeks to place 'performance' as a key factor in the construction of culture.... Condry's presentation of genba globalization is the strong point of his ethnography and offers an enlightening analysis of the anthropology of performance." - Melisa Riviere, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute , 2012"I found Hip-Hop Japan fascinating. Ian Condry writes with both authority and intimacy. Taking on the movement of musicians, CDs, soundtracks, graffiti, breakdancing, fashion, racialized culture, style, musical genre, lyrics, and history from the United States to Japan, he offers a groundbreaking transcultural study of popular culture explored through an ethnography of the local."--Anne Allison, author of Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination "Ian Condry's book moves masterfully between ground-level observation of the Japanese hip-hop scene and sharp insight into the global flows of cultural influence. His analysis of the urban spaces in which Japanese hip-hop culture unfolds is fascinating and smart. So, too, is the book's careful mapping of hip-hop's place within the complex history of Japanese popular music since World War II. Condry is one of the handful of writers breathing new life into popular music ethnography with lively, evocative writing and a firm grasp of contemporary cultural theory."--Will Straw, author of Cyanide and Sin: Visualizing Crime in 50's America " . . . Ian Condry's years of contact with the main players in Japanese hiphop allow him to create a keenly observed oral history of rap in Japan from its very earliest days, and the story is longer and more complex than might be expected. . . . Hip Hop Japan is initially academic in focus, but Condry has done his research in clubs and the studios, and as a result it's of considerably wider interest."-- The Wire , December 2006"What comes over most clearly is Condry's clear enthusiasm for his subject and dedication to his cause. He foregrounds his study with a detailed history of post-war Japanese pop from jazz via Beatles copycat bands through to the birth of hip-hop in the early 1980s. . . The result is comprehensive and highly readable."--Times Higher Education Supplement, Ian Condry's years of contact with the main players in Japanese hiphop allow him to create a keenly observed oral history of rap in Japan from its very earliest days, and the story is longer and more complex than might be expected. . . . Hip Hop Japan is initially academic in focus, but Condry has done his research in clubs and the studios, and as a result it's of considerably wider interest., ," . . Ian Condry's years of contact with the main players in Japanese hiphop allow him to create a keenly observed oral history of rap in Japan from its very earliest days, and the story is longer and more complex than might be expected. . . . "Hip Hop Japan" is initially academic in focus, but Condry has done his research in clubs and the studios, and as a result it's of considerably wider interest." --"The Wire", “Ian Condry’s book moves masterfully between ground-level observation of the Japanese hip-hop scene and sharp insight into the global flows of cultural influence. His analysis of the urban spaces in which Japanese hip-hop culture unfolds is fascinating and smart. So, too, is the book’s careful mapping of hip-hop’s place within the complex history of Japanese popular music since World War II. Condry is one of the handful of writers breathing new life into popular music ethnography with lively, evocative writing and a firm grasp of contemporary cultural theory.�-Will Straw, author of Cyanide and Sin: Visualizing Crime in 50s America, "[A] well-research study of race, gender, prosody and praxis in Japanese hip-hop. . . . [T]he author's resistance to pleonasm and his love for his subject matter make the book as useful for a general audience as for the academy." --Brian Howe, "Paste", "[A] book engaging enough to appeal to hip-hoppers, anthropologists and even to the common reader. That is no small achievement." --David Cozy, "Asahi-Shimbun", "I found Hip-Hop Japan fascinating. Ian Condry writes with both authority and intimacy. Taking on the movement of musicians, CDs, soundtracks, graffiti, breakdancing, fashion, racialized culture, style, musical genre, lyrics, and history from the United States to Japan, he offers a groundbreaking transcultural study of popular culture explored through an ethnography of the local."--Anne Allison, author of Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination, "What comes over most clearly is Condry's clear enthusiasm for his subject and dedication to his cause. He foregrounds his study with a detailed history of post-war Japanese pop from jazz via Beatles copycat bands through to the birth of hip-hop in the early 1980s. . . The result is comprehensive and highly readable." --Rupa Huq, "Times Higher Education Supplement", “I found Hip-Hop Japan fascinating. Ian Condry writes with both authority and intimacy. Taking on the movement of musicians, CDs, soundtracks, graffiti, breakdancing, fashion, racialized culture, style, musical genre, lyrics, and history from the United States to Japan, he offers a groundbreaking transcultural study of popular culture explored through an ethnography of the local.�-Anne Allison, author of Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination, "Ian Condry's wonderful "Hip-Hop Japan," . . is as intellectually engaging about cultural globalization as it is an impressive introduction to Japan's vibrant rap scene." --David Leheny, "The Daily Yomiuri", "I found Hip-Hop Japan fascinating. Ian Condry writes with both authority and intimacy. Taking on the movement of musicians, CDs, soundtracks, graffiti, breakdancing, fashion, racialized culture, style, musical genre, lyrics, and history from the United States to Japan, he offers a groundbreaking transcultural study of popular culture explored through an ethnography of the local."-Anne Allison, author of Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination, "Anyone that's interested in--or just plain baffled by--Japanese pop culture will be happy to have Condry's book demystify one of the country's most complex subcultures." --Max Herman, "XLR8R", ""Hip-Hop Japan" is . . . . an informative book that empowers English-language readers to judge the merits of Japanese hip-hop from a standpoint of greater knowledge." --Paul Jackson, "The Daily Yomiuri", "Ian Condry's book moves masterfully between ground-level observation of the Japanese hip-hop scene and sharp insight into the global flows of cultural influence. His analysis of the urban spaces in which Japanese hip-hop culture unfolds is fascinating and smart. So, too, is the book's careful mapping of hip-hop's place within the complex history of Japanese popular music since World War II. Condry is one of the handful of writers breathing new life into popular music ethnography with lively, evocative writing and a firm grasp of contemporary cultural theory."-Will Straw, author of Cyanide and Sin: Visualizing Crime in 50s America, "Ian Condry's book moves masterfully between ground-level observation of the Japanese hip-hop scene and sharp insight into the global flows of cultural influence. His analysis of the urban spaces in which Japanese hip-hop culture unfolds is fascinating and smart. So, too, is the book's careful mapping of hip-hop's place within the complex history of Japanese popular music since World War II. Condry is one of the handful of writers breathing new life into popular music ethnography with lively, evocative writing and a firm grasp of contemporary cultural theory."--Will Straw, author of Cyanide and Sin: Visualizing Crime in 50s America, "I found Hip-Hop Japan fascinating. Ian Condry writes with both authority and intimacy. Taking on the movement of musicians, CDs, soundtracks, graffiti, breakdancing, fashion, racialized culture, style, musical genre, lyrics, and history from the United States to Japan, he offers a groundbreaking transcultural study of popular culture explored through an ethnography of the local."-Anne Allison, author of Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination"Ian Condry's book moves masterfully between ground-level observation of the Japanese hip-hop scene and sharp insight into the global flows of cultural influence. His analysis of the urban spaces in which Japanese hip-hop culture unfolds is fascinating and smart. So, too, is the book's careful mapping of hip-hop's place within the complex history of Japanese popular music since World War II. Condry is one of the handful of writers breathing new life into popular music ethnography with lively, evocative writing and a firm grasp of contemporary cultural theory."-Will Straw, author of Cyanide and Sin: Visualizing Crime in 50's America" . . . Ian Condry's years of contact with the main players in Japanese hiphop allowhim to create a keenly observed oral history of rap in Japan from its very earliestdays, and the story is longer and more complex than might be expected. . . . Hip HopJapan is initially academic in focus, but Condry has done his research in clubs andthe studios, and as a result it's of considerably wider interest."--The Wire, December2006, "[T]he book attractively combines a careful combing through of other material on the topic with a reader-friendly amiability and marked loyalty to the artists interviewed. "Hip-hop Japan "may technically be an academic work in Asian anthropology, but non-academics interested in the subject can approach it and be fairly certain to find plenty of material in its pages to inform and even entertain them." --Bradley Winterton, "The Taipei Times"
