ZZ

In 1998 the rock-rap collective ZZ assembled in Fuji, an industrial center inside Shizuoka Prefecture, before moving to the larger city of Shizuoka and steadily building a following through local club dates. Within two years the group had reached Tokyo’s Shimokitazawa district, a noted stronghold for underground acts, where they shared stages with the rap-metal band Rize. Their pop-oriented approach nevertheless places them closer in spirit to the self-described “mixture hip-hop” of Orange Range than to Rize’s harder-edged alternative metal.

After issuing a mini-album and single on their own in 2000, the five-piece lineup—vocalist Sotaro, guitarist Kohsuke, pianist Erichi, bassist Kyama, and drummer Matsuura—gained wider attention when Rockin’ on Japan, the country’s leading rock monthly, praised their second single, “Brightest,” early in 2001. The follow-up track “Himawari” (Sunflower) climbed to number 75 on the Usen charts and earned rotation on Tokyo’s Bay FM, which later awarded the band its own weekly program, Na Na Na Now Young, beginning in October; by then they had already delivered their debut album, Absolute Beat Complex.

In 2003 ZZ stepped up to the prominent independent label Avex with the single “Rhythmist,” their most successful release to date, which reached the Top Ten on the Usen charts. The track previewed the album Definitive Energy Flow, promoted through the group’s first nationwide tour. After placing several songs as television opening or closing themes, they secured further exposure when “A to Z” became the ending theme for the animated series One Piece, a program later adapted into English, Chinese, and Korean. The band made its first appearances in South Korea in 2004, two years after performing for 8,000 spectators at a festival in Dalian, China.

For the 2004 single “Just Only One,” ZZ teamed with Kaori Ueda, better known as DJ Kaori, a hip-hop DJ who had spun at events for Sean “Diddy” Combs. The song appeared on the group’s second Avex album, Generation Hip Innocence, released in 2005. Following its release, they played their first concerts in the United States at the anime conventions Fanime-Con in San Jose and Dallas’ A-Kon. Their recording of the supporters’ anthem “Samurai Blue,” complete with terrace-style “oh oh” chants and cries of “Nippon! Nippon!,” for Japan’s unsuccessful 2006 World Cup effort did nothing to slow their progress, and they maintained a steady schedule of live performances throughout the year. ZZ also joined the growing number of Japanese acts making the bulk of their catalog available through digital channels.