I brought back 4 Japanese CDs from Tokyo (Shing02, Dabo, Hifana (pronounced High-Fa-Na), and Shuren The Fire ), and the only one worth mentioning is Hifana, and when I say "worth mentioning", I really mean "Holy crap, check these guys out NOW!!!". ^^ They are doing what I really wanted to do. DJs that really perform with every possible tools you can imagine. Much respect to all the DJs of Hifana! Thanks to them my love for breakbeats have been rekindled! I'm also waiting for the realease of Kaminari Kazoku hoping that they'll sound different from the rest of the either American mainstream style Hip hop or the absurdly abstract and underground sound that seem to dominate the trip-hop inspired urban music scene of Japan. Of course, I'm not saying that the other CDs don't warrant a listen. They all have their style, and I've only given them a harsh one fast listen-thru. So all I'm saying is that Hifana was the only group that passed that harsh test. ;) Dabo, actually, gets some props for his rhyme delivery, but I really haven't paid that much attention to the lyrics the first time around. ^^; The other MCs really didn't click with me and neither did their beats... :(

Now as for the 11 LPs I've brought back, I'm quite happy with them. I'm going to have to see how much money it'd cost me to sample from them. ;)