16 Facts About Zeebra

Hideyuki Yokoi, known professionally as Zeebra, is a Japanese hip hop rapper and DJ who made his first appearance in 1995.

Zeebra is a former member of the hip-hop group King Giddra, which included DJ Oasis and K Dub Shine.

Zeebra went on to pursue a solo career shortly after in 1997, and signed with the Future Shock record label.

Zeebra is one of the most popular rappers in Japan, and his popularity is not specific to either gender.

Zeebra appears not only in hip-hop magazines, but in fashion and street culture magazines.

Zeebra became recognized as an individual rapper for the first time, making hip-hop more familiar to Japanese listeners.

One of Zeebra's songs was used in a Nike promotion video for NBA Japan games.

In 2001 Zeebra released the single "Never Enuff", the theme song for a Japanese movie called Brother, directed by Takeshi Kitano and starring Claude Maki and Omar Epps.

Zeebra is the grandson of businessman Hideki Yokoi, former president of the Hotel New Japan.

The hotel's flagship property in central Tokyo caught fire in 1982, disgracing Hideki Yokoi and causing Zeebra to be bullied by his classmates.

Zeebra eventually dropped out of high school during his first year.

Zeebra married around the age of 20 and fathered two sons, Kento and Ren Yokoi, before divorcing his first wife.

Zeebra kept custody of both sons, and later remarried to Miwa Nakabayashi, to whom he fathered two daughters, Kanon and Rima Nakabayashi of NiziU.

Zeebra began his hip hop career in 1993, joining the rap group King Giddra.

Zeebra addressed this issue of working towards a good education and being unable to find employment in his song "Bullet of Truth".

In 2008, after the MTV Video Music Awards Japan Ceremony, an unhappy Zeebra went onto YouTube and published a video criticizing the MTV Japan for not appreciating musicians.