The Hip Hop World Is Flat
Over the last few years, we've continuously heard people say over and over "the world is flat" (largely attributed to Thomas Friedman's best selling book called...The World Is Flat). I spent last week in Japan seeing what the country was all about and experiencing first hand how our American culture, specifically hip hop, has become universal in this flat world of the twenty-first century.
Throughout the country, I could see strong American influences from the food (McDonald's and Starbucks at every corner) to fashion (more NYC-based stores than maybe even NYC). But the trip's most surreal moment came during a 7:30 AM sushi breakfast in the Tsukiji Fish Market. No one could speak English, all of the employees were well above 30, and on this random side street restaurant, they were listening to R. Kelly's "I'm a Flirt". They couldn't understand what I was trying to order so I'm sure they had no clue what he was singing about; nonetheless, it spoke volumes about our impact on people we rarely think about. When we begin to think everyone in the U.S. has possibly stopped listening to music, don't forget about the guy in the sushi shop 8,000 miles away.
Downtown Shinjuku
The trendy Harajuku shopping district (a Rodeo Drive clone)
Takeshita Street in Harajuku
Some shopping at Tokyo's Original Fake
Some NYC-based stores (in Tokyo)
A random snowcone maker outside of Tokyo wearing a G-Unit shirt
- MM
