Oshi no Rap

This image is the cover of volume one of the manga Oshi no Ko. Hoshino Ruby aims to become an idol like her mother, supported by her twin brother, Marin.

In Japan, the word “idol” refers to performers who are carefully produced and shaped into an idealized form. This kind of production is often dismissed as artificial or fake. Vocaloid rap was criticized for similar reasons. Because it used synthetic voices and heavy processing, many people said it was not real rap.

In Japan, people often divide the country into eastern Japan and western Japan, much like the East Coast and West Coast divide in American hip hop. But I did not choose where I was born. I did not choose my body or my voice. Authenticity is often treated as a moral choice, even though many of its conditions are assigned before we speak our first word.

And that is why the word “idol” matters to me. Both exist in the space where people try to draw a line between real and fake. I choose to stand on the side that refuses that line.

That is why the word “idol” does not deny authenticity, even while embracing transformation. The idols I once loved were the ones who taught me that.

If you are interested in the Oshi no Ko anime, I strongly recommend watching the Japanese version. On January 6, 2026, I will release a new Anime Hop track titled Oshi no Rap.

Whether it is my natural, unaltered self, or a version of myself that exists only as a digitally processed image, both are equally real. Whether I was born in the east or the west, I am still me.

I think the people who support Anime Hop now share the same sensibility as the very small group of people who supported me when I Am Not Shinzo Abe went out of print. I will not change the core of Anime Hop, which is the rap itself and the skin color in the cover art. However, in the renewed version of Anime Hop, I have adjusted all the backtracks to follow a musical style similar to First Train. Please look forward to the continuation next year.

The new Anime Hop single “Oshi no Rap” releases on January 6, 2026.

Ten years ago, I saw music fans and hip hop critics who mocked Vocaloid rap, saying it wasn’t “real rap.” In that moment, I made up my mind to someday create a kind of fake rap that would make those people furious.

At one point, I considered inviting a real rapper, but I gave up on the idea because it went against my belief in not following the rules of real rap. However, about a year and a half ago, after meeting a kind Korean Xinlisupreme fan, I decided to create rap performed by anime superheroes, and I reached out to various voice actors to record spoken lines.

I took inspiration from anime audio dramas I heard as a kid and built rap from short phrases. The essence of anime is stylization. Just as a thumbs up is instantly recognized around the world as meaning “Good!”, I inserted the phrase “Yo YoYo Hey men!” between spoken lines as a symbolic verbal gesture for rap. By doing so, I made sure the lines that followed were recognized as rap. That is, I turned rap into anime through stylization. This is not about following the rules of “real rap.” It’s just to be free.

My first crush was a Black anime character. This may not be outright racism, but Black characters are still very rare in Japanese anime, and the single cover of Anime Hop was created with the hope that this will change. I also believe that a hip hop mindset that looks down on or labels white, Asian, or Vocaloid rappers as fake is wrong. That belief is why I chose to create a new form of hip hop myself.

Rules don’t make rap.
This is Anime Hop.

The word “idol” does not deny authenticity, even while embracing transformation. The idols I once loved taught me that.

*The album Anime Hop will not be released as a traditional full album but instead as a playlist-style album that brings together all the singles from the Anime Hop series into one Spotify artist playlist.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2v8KT87PvquJuViqJeljng

Posted on Dec 29 2025