Let’s get high.

I was surfing around online and i chance upon this American hip hoper that does Enka, he’s none other than Jero (ジェロ). Prima facie, he’s like part of 50 cents crew, or maybe featuring T-pain doing the Shawty got low low low low low low low.

Jerome White, Jr. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on September 4, 1981) is an American-born Japanese enka singer. His maternal grandmother was Japanese. He is the first black enka singer in Japanese music history.

Jero majored in information science at University of Pittsburgh and graduated in 2003, and moved to Japan in the same year. Two months after arriving in Japan, he entered the NHK Nodo Jiman competition broadcast on TV.

His first single, Umiyuki (海雪, Umiyuki literally The Ocean Snow), was released in Japan on February 20, 2008. It entered the Oricon charts at number 4.

African-American people and the cultures are extremely popular among young Japanese, so many are hoping that he will be able to spark interest in enka in the younger generation. He held a concert on Feb 20 in Shibuya, a popular hangout for young people, and was received with wild cheers.

Via Wikipedia

You might be pondering what type of genre that Enka belongs to.

Modern enka (演歌 — from 演 en performance, entertainment, and 歌 ka song) came into being in the postwar years of the Shōwa period. It was the first style to synthesize the Japanese pentatonic scale with Western harmonies. Enka lyrics, as in Portuguese Fado, usually are about the themes of love and loss, loneliness, enduring hardships, and persevering in the face of difficulties, even suicide or death. Enka suggests a more traditional, idealized, or romanticized aspect of Japanese culture and attitudes, comparable to American country and western music.

Via Wikipedia

Hope the song was enjoyable although it was kinda off balance, well, at least it mangaes to bridge cultures and generations together.

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