The Next Wave of Tokyo’s Underground Artists
Tokyo’s underground music scene is undergoing a quiet revolution focused around a commitment to oneself and the highlighting of life's imperfections. Figures like Lazydoll, Yoyou, Tarozan, and Number Collector are forging their own lanes through the genres of pluggnb, digicore, alternative hip-hop, and more. Their raw, boundary-pushing, and futuristic styles set them apart in an increasingly oversaturated scene. Welcome to the next wave:
Lazydoll
Lazydoll was first drawn to music through YouTube game commentary videos that featured EDM and dubstep as background tracks. The “lazy” in his name comes from constantly skipping school—an early sign of his need for rebellion. Influenced by artists like Blxty and Mental, Lazydoll blends hyperpop, hip-hop, indie, and experimental sounds into a style that resists categorization. If an attempt were to be made, Lazydoll would be best described as a pluggnb, cloud rap, and digicore-fusion artist and producer, set apart by his refusal to chase trends; his music thrives on his emotional honesty and originality.
Yoyou
Known by the nickname “Scum Muse,” Yoyou embraces the discarded and neglected, both in life and in sound. She began making music in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown, celebrating her release from prison with an enduring burst of creative energy. Her style fuses elements of alternative hip-hop, experimental electronics, and J-synth textures, creating tracks that feel intimate, chaotic, and emotionally unfiltered. Influenced by her friends, as well as cloud rap pioneers like Lil B and Drain Gang, Yoyou’s music doesn’t aim for perfection, it captures the feeling of feeling in its entirety. Her ‘I to I’ music video perfectly captures the self-made, organic nature of everything she outputs.
Tarozan
Meet Tarozan, a Finnish-Japanese artist based in Harajuku, blending J-pop, pluggnb, and hyperpop into his #PINK universe (his favourite colour is pink and claims to have ‘pink killer shine’). Starting out on SoundCloud, he’s now an emerging figure in Tokyo’s online underground, with collaborations with Lazydoll, Asstoro, and other creatives shaping the scene. Inspired by J-POP icons like Ayumi Hamasaki and Juliet, his work isn’t just about music, it really is a #PINK lifestyle. Through his platform KiraTV, he self-produces and drops his mixing tracks, curates J-pop-inspired aesthetics, and hosts live shows with other rising talents like kegøn Number Collector.
Number Collector
Another standout in Tokyo’s underground scene is Yokohama rapper Number Collector, who began experimenting with rap in high school alongside his senior classmate. His debut album ‘Collector’, released in October of 2024, marked a breakthrough moment not just for himself, but for the broader scene of experimental rap in Japan. Blending seemingly mutually exclusive styles like jerk, hoodtrap, and glo, to internet-born genres hyperpop and glitchcore, he’s become known for his impulsive creative process, and has steadily grown a cult following, linking up with key asian underground names like Jackzebra and kegøn. He became involved with tmjclub, a loose collective of artists hosting the likes of Lazydoll and okudakun, through home-based recording sessions marked by spontaneity and a shared vision of the future of music. His hazy, lo-fi visual aesthetic is deeply inspired by Drain Gang, xaviersobased, and phreshboyswag, exemplified in his music videos and cover art (See music video ‘Asobi Mind Gang’), which contribute to his rapid creation of a singular identity in a crowded scene.
text by Jincheng Zhou
