East End X Yuri

East End × Yuri (pronounced “East End Plus Yuri”) was a short lived collaboration between the Japanese hip hop group East End and the singer Yuri Ichii, ex-member from J-pop girl group Tokyo Performance Doll.

East End members are:

Gaku and Yoggy were friends in high school, often entering rap contests when they could. Because they were interested in the same thing, they were acquainted with ROCK-Tee. Later, when entering college, Gaku ran into ROCK-Tee. As a group, East End’s first live performance was an event called “Peace Ball” (in 1990) many acts that are still famous in Japan today were in attendance, including DJ Honda, DJ Krush, Boy-Ken, DJ Yas, and others. East End continued to be strong as an independent act, but with little mainstream attention. Finally in 1994 the group broke strong into the mainstream with their pop-rap single “Da.Yo.Ne.” (with guest artist Yuri, thus “×” meaning “with” in the name East End × Yuri). Sales were slow at first, but in early 1995 East End × Yuri single broke the million sold record, the first in Japanese hip hop history. Essentially a mainstream one hit wonder the group continued to release singles trying to recapture the limelight, but were unable to do so. In 2003, after a short break, they released a full album with many “forefathers” of Japanese hip hop and got some media attention, but failed to break into the mainstream once again.

East End, as a group, were at first skeptical about collaborating with Yuri, an "idol" pop star with her former band Tokyo Performance Doll. Yuri, being a woman, posed a possible threat to their careers since women do not frequent the hip hop scene in Japan. Female singers are more commonly associated with pop songs and “cute” acts/groups. The fact that Yuri was a woman, however, posed to be very beneficial for the group in the end. She gave them a second chance in the recording industry after their first album did not sell as much as the producers wanted. Having a pop star on their side then allowed them to get back in the game of recording, when they might not have had this chance without her. Also, her “cute” element made them appealing to a bigger audience. As Yuri said, she does not sing about sex and drug because it “doesn’t fit her”. This greater appeal gave East End x Yuri a bigger audience, spanning pop and hip hop fans in Japan.

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