Yuki Chiba (千葉雄喜, Chiba Yūki, born April 22, 1990), formerly known by his stage name KOHH, is a Japanese rapper, singer, and songwriter.
Early life
Chiba was born in Oji, Kita, Tokyo, Japan. He was raised by a single mother along with his younger brother, fellow rapper known as Lil KOHH. His Korean father, whose Korean surname (고/Koh) became the basis of Chiba's stage name, died by suicide after jumping off an apartment building while high on drugs. Chiba's mother struggled with an addiction to methamphetamine. Chiba grew up around violence and drugs along with his crew of local friends, sharing the same experience.[1][3]
Career
Chiba in 2016
Chiba started producing and recording music at the age of 18 with while making various mixtapes, until he met producer 318 and started releasing material under the label GUNSMITH PRODUCTION. He saw an early underground success within the sub-urban Japanese scene when he produced Lil KOHH's song "Young Forever." The accompanying music video went viral in Japan.
In 2014, Chiba released his major 2nd studio album titled MONOCHROME. The album was a fair success among the urban acts and its lead track "I don't mind if I'm poor" (Japanese: 貧乏なんて気にしない, Hepburn: Binbō nante Kinishinai) had a big reception on YouTube.
In 2015, KOHH along with Japanese artist Loota collaborated with Keith Ape's track "잊지마" (It G Ma) which became a major hit single in Japan and South Korea apart from gaining international media attention.[4] Back in Japan, KOHH resumed his work and continued working on his new album DIRT after releasing his delayed 1st album 梔子 (Gardenia).
DIRT was released on October 28. The album was also released internationally via iTunes in October 23. Chiba was featured along with OG Maco on the track "BUCHIAGARI" by Japanese DJ RYOW.
In 2016, KOHH collaborated with Frank Ocean on the single "Nikes", available on the physical album copy of Blonde. Chiba was featured in a new song from Japanese American superstar Hikaru Utada, titled "Bōkyaku", from her 6th Japanese album Fantôme.
In 2018, Chiba was featured in an exclusive bonus track "Runway", in the Japanese iTunes version of Mariah Carey's Caution album.
Chiba's fifth studio album Untitled was released by Nippon Columbia on February 2, 2019.[5][6][7]
In 2021, Chiba retired the moniker KOHH, choosing to go by his birth name Yuki Chiba. He would later state in 2024, that he would no longer be performing any songs from the era as well. Chiba took a three-year career break before returning on February 12, 2024. He uploaded an official music video called "Team Tomodachi" (チーム友達), which went viral.[8] Team Tomodachi has had multiple remixes with other artists such as Duke Deuce, ¥ellow Bucks, Jin Dogg, Bun B, Watson, and many more.[9]
Chiba was featured on American rapper Megan Thee Stallion's 2024 track "Mamushi" from her album Megan.[10] The song went viral on social media and became Chiba's first-ever entry into the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 68.[11][12] He made his US TV debut at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards when he performed the song alongside Megan Thee Stallion.[13]
In November 2024, American artist Will Smith released his own remix of "Team Tomodachi", marking one of the highest-profile Western collaborations on the track. Smith announced the remix to his 70 million Instagram followers, later sharing a video teaser that amassed over 3.5 million views.[14][15][16]
Reception
Chiba has been mentioned several times as a major influential force to the Japanese hip hop scene in recent years. Chiba has occasionally criticized how small the hip hop scene is in Japan and has tackled major mainstream TVs for its negligence of noticing hip hop. Chiba has also being praised for his smart use of topics like drug use and violence within the Japanese society which are considered controversial in the country.[17] After being featured in "잊지마" (It G Ma), KOHH received an even bigger praise from international audiences who recognized his use of the phrase 'Arigatō' (Thank you) in his verse as the trademark of the hit song and praised the artist whose performance was the one that left the biggest impression on the track.[18]M-flo's Taku Takahashi has appointed Chiba as one of the main acts in the Japanese hip hop renaissance.[19]
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