Megan Thee Stallion is back this summer with the June 28 release of her self-titled MEGAN album, and she’s hyping up some lesser-known artists along the way. Most notably, the song “Mamushi” has blown up online, introducing many to a new artist: Yuki Chiba. So, who is Yuki Chiba? And why is the internet so obsessed with him?
Chiba and Meg’s song, “Mamushi,” pulls its title from the name of a species of pit viper found in Japan, (so, yes, the snake theme we’ve seen in the singles “Hiss,” “BOA,” “Rattle,” and “Cobra” is under no circumstances not a pattern) and features lyrics in both English and Japanese.
The Japan-based Yuki Chiba is featured throughout the track rapping mostly in Japanese with a bit of English, which highlights the collaborative nature of this crossover as opposed to a simple feature. And while Yuki Chiba’s Spotify page is currently quite sparse, the artist has actually been around for a while now.
If you’re looking to learn more about the Japanese rapper and rising star, look no further. I scoured the internet to find some of the key information about the internet’s new favorite artist — and to say that he’s pretty cool would be an understatement. So, here’s what you need to know about Yuki Chiba.
Where is Yuki Chiba from?
Chiba was born in Oji, Kita, Tokoyo in 1990 and grew up through a tough childhood to start a musical career at 18. His success started after producing LIL KOHH’s (his younger brother) “Young Forever,” which became a hit in Japan. During his start as an artist in the early 2010s, Yuki Chiba went by the stage name KOHH and became fairly popular as the face of the Japanese hip-hop scene.
Does Yuki Chiba have other music?
His previous studio albums, Monocrome, Kuchinashi, Dirt II, Untitled, worst, and The Lost Tapes can all be found under his old stage name, along with his features with big U.S. artists such as Frank Ocean on the single “Nikes” off of his album Blonde (Note: the version of “Nikes” featuring Chiba is only available in a special CD edition of Blonde). He retired from the stage name KOHH and went to using his legal name after an extended hiatus from around 2020 to recently. He has since stated that he will no longer be performing songs from his KOHH era.
Yuki Chiba returned to music earlier this year, releasing “Team Tomodachi” in February, and now being featured on Megan’s album. There’s certainly more to come in the rebirth of an artist who was big on the other side of the world — so hip-hop fans, keep a lookout!