Tigarah

Tigarah (ティガラ, Tigara) (born c. 1986 in Tokyo, Japan), is a Japanese rapper whose music contains elements of Grime, Crunk, Baltimore Club, Miami Base, Ghetto Tech, Glitch Hop, Old school hip-hop and pop. and she raps and sings in English, Japanese and French. She has a growing following in both Japan and the United States. She currently lives in Paris, France and also spent time in Tokyo and Los Angeles, California. Tigarah, by her admission, means "girl like a tiger."

Contents

• The friedia show episode 1 featuring tigarah
• Tigarah EP Revolution
• Tigarah
• The Funkeira goes BANG
• Songs
• References

The same year that she entered Keio University in Tokyo to contemplate a career as an ambassador, Tigarah found Baile Funk through her Brazilian friends in Tokyo and began to rap and record on her own. Soon after she started writing music, she went to Sao Paulo, Brazil to make her music career there. On a trip to Rio de Janeiro, she met MR.D whose Swiss DJ/producer who was based in L.A. Eventually she began to record professionally in the studio with him, spending much of her time in L.A.

After recording her first seven songs with MR.D, Tigarah generated buzz on Myspace. Within months, she received press attention from Blender Magazine(U.S), URB(U.S), "XLR8R",(U.S) "Dazed & Confused"(UK/Japan) and the Los Angeles Times(U.S), BPM(U.S), Rolling Stones(AUS), Folha de S.Paulo(Brazil), Sonic(Sweden, cover), NPR radio(U.S), etc. The head of Universal UK quickly signed her for a multi-album deal for Universal Japan International in 2007.

Tigarah's songs were licensed to TV dramas and programs in the U.S, such as L Word, "Numb3rs", FIFA World Cup, NFL, and video games for EA Sports like Need For Speed: Carbon, FIFA 07 and most recently FIFA 08 and Breakers. She has also been featured on G4TV's FreeStyle 101, freestyling in Japanese. Her music has also been used in commercials for the mobile ring-tone service Mobizzo.

After signing a deal, she worked on her first major release in L.A and Tokyo, releasing her new EP, "TIGARAH!" in April 2009, and her first album, "The Funkeira Goes BANG!" in August 2009 in Japan. She then toured Japan, Brazil and Australia.

The same year, Tim Rice-Oxley from the British rock band Keane contacted Tigarah for help featuring for their EP Night Train. She made a cover of "You've Got to Help Yourself, the 80's international hit of the Japanese legendary band YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra). The EP was released worldwide in May 2010.

To prepare for her 2nd album, Tigarah wanted to find inspiration in a fresh sound and new producers. She spent her time between London and Paris in 2010 to work on her new production, then settled in Paris in 2011.

Tigarah's music is a diverse blend, drawing influences from many kinds of urban/dance music such as Baile Funk, Baltimore Club, Miami Base, Ghetto Tech, UK Grime, Glitch Mob, Old school hip-hop and pop. She is a multilingual writer, using English, Japanese and French.

Tigarah released her mixtape, "TIGARAH Supa Mixtape 'Moshi Moshi Bomb'" in May 2012, and her 2nd album for Japan is due for release in fall 2012. She is also currently working on her third album for U.S distribution, which will be out in 2013.