Zeebra

I've got real respect for Zeebra, because he's one of those guys who helped prove Japanese could actually slap on the mic back when plenty of people doubted it. A Roppongi kid born in '71 building a foundation for Japanese hip-hop, then refusing to coast on legend status the way he easily could have. What gets me is the weight in his voice; he raps like every line costs him something, and that gravity is exactly why he keeps getting pulled into singing, songwriting, even hosting gigs. The name alone is unforgettable, but he never let it outshine the work. Honestly, the fact that rapping in Japanese feels totally normal now is partly because elders like him bothered to pave the road. I find that quietly admirable.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Zeebra is a Japanese rapper, singer, and songwriter born on April 2, 1971, in Roppongi, Tokyo. He is widely recognized as one of the pioneering figures of Japanese-language hip-hop and has been active as a performer, lyricist, composer, and television/radio host. His work helped lay the foundation for Japanese rap as a mainstream genre, and he has continued to release music and appear as a host throughout his career.

Name (English)

Zeebra

Name (Japanese)

Zeebra

Reading

じぶら

Born

April 2, 1971 (age 55)

Origin

Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan

Occupation

Rapper / Singer / Songwriter / Composer / Host / MC

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aries / Boar

Works summary

Appearances

221 (1974–2026)

By year (titles with a known year)

1974: 1, 1995: 1, 1996: 7, 1997: 4, 1998: 4, 1999: 13, 2000: 13, 2001: 11, 2002: 9, 2003: 25, 2004: 13, 2005: 11, 2006: 16, 2007: 7, 2008: 11, 2009: 17, 2010: 16, 2011: 4, 2012: 5, 2013: 4, 2014: 2, 2015: 3, 2017: 3, 2018: 1, 2019: 2, 2020: 2, 2021: 1, 2023: 1, 2026: 1, year unknown: 13

Filmography / notable works

• Official sitehttp://www.zeebra.jp/
• Xhttps://x.com/zeebrathedaddy
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeebra
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q184370

Tags

• From Tokyo
• Host
• Singer
• Composer

Last updated

October 18, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. Works and profile fields sourced from Wikipedia reflect content as of 2026-08-26. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.