Kick the Can Crew

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Kick the Can Crew is a mainstream pop and hip hop group from Tokyo, Japan, consisting of members Kreva, MCU, and Little.

Formed in 1998, the group enjoyed popularity for their top singles "Good Music" and "Sayonara Sayonara". Warner/east west released their albums Vitalizer, Young Kings, a self titled album, Magic Number, and a greatest hits CD.

Kick the Can Crew have made frequent appearances on Japan's music television station, Space Shower TV, since their debut.

Kreva, the main contributor to the band, won Japan's MC Battle three consecutive years, and has gone on to collaborate with several other groups, mainly Japanese ones, such as Hirai Ken.

In July of 2004, Kick the Can Crew stared appearing on a Canadian children's television channel.

Their work has garnered attention from American fans of anime.

[edit] Discography and chart history

All positions are on peaks on the weekly Oricon charts. [1]

(2004) Good Music (Warner Music Japan) #11, 8 weeks
(2003) Magic Number (Warner Music Japan) #2, 18 weeks
(2003) Best Album 2001-2003 (Warner Music Japan) #1, 13 weeks
(2002) Vitalizer (Warner Music Japan) #3, 16 weeks

This three-piece hip hop crew does in an attention-grabbing video for their debut major release, Vitalizer. Not only that, but as they rap, a woman approaches and proceeds to rain a stream of piss down on them. This mildly shocking video was not the only thing that caught attention. Tokyo-based Kick The Can Crew, as heard on Vitalizer, have some of the supplest rhymes around, and a diverse collection of beats and samples that keeps things moving nicely along through the 14 songs on the album. Kicking off with the funky guitar pattern of "The Theme of 'Kick'," Vitalizer travels through the mellow, bedroom vibes of "Oneway" and on to the nostalgic funk samples of "Watchaname?" with stops at gangsta, electric and even bossa nova along the way. While it's hard for a non-native speaker to fathom exactly what they're going on about, one gets the feeling their lyrics would strike a chord with any Tokyo teenager living in a cramped six-mat room at their folks' place in the suburbs. And well they should, for the trio of Kreva, MCU and Little (Japan's "littlest rapper") still live out in the Tokyo suburbs, hitting the downtown clubs on weekends to perform their music to packed hip hop spots like Bed in Ikebukuro and Izm in Shinjuku.

Formed in 1998, Kick The Can Crew quickly gained street cred among Japan's B-boy tribes, with Kreva taking top prize at Japan's MC Battle three years running. A number of singles and songs written for film and television followed, leading to the band's signing with Warner/east west for Vitalizer. Vitalizer is available on east west japan. Kick The Can Crew play Shibuya AX Mar 16 and Shibuya Kokkaido May 3. They also can be experienced live the first Saturday of every month at Ikebukuro Bed, every third Saturday at Shibuya Family, and every third Thursday at Shinjuku Izm.