BENNIE K

Bennie K, otherwise known as rapper CICO and vocalist YUKI formed in the year 1999. CICO, who had been in New Zealand for high school traveled to Los Angeles once she graduated where she met YUKI who was living in California for vocal training. There she met CICO via her homestay family. Their shared love of American hip-hop and participation in a Christmas event encouraged them to start a group; BENNIE K was born.

Their first single, Melody was released in 2001 and was quickly followed by SCHOOL GIRL in May of that year. Although the latter was used as the ending theme to Fuji TV's "Parappa the Rapper" anime they still did not yet enjoy mainstream commercial success. Three additional singles followed before the release of their first album Cube in July 2002. Even before the release of Cube, Bennie K had managed to become popular and they performed with big artists such as SOUL'd OUT at several events including the "Rhyme Night" in the Shibuya Club Quattro. Their involvement at various charity events brought even further attention to the band, this in turn led to popular guest musicians including Diggi-Mo' and Def Tech contributing to their albums and singles. In mid 2003, the single Better Days was used to accompany the movie Hakenkreuz no tsubasa demonstrating their gradual rising success but it was not until the single Sunrise in 2004 that they first made an impact on the Oricon charts. That single reached number ten and sold 116 000 copies. This success is mirrored in the performance of their albums too; 'essence' in 2003 barely made an impact but Synchronicity the following year was in the top ten.

The song that is generally considered their big breakthrough however is Dreamland. In 2005, Coca Cola chose the song for use in their commercials. Suddenly BENNIE K and their sunny brand of female led hip-hop were everywhere. As a result the song reached Number 2 on Oricon with half a million sales. Following this they began a series of collaborations in between releasing their own material, in particular with influential acts such as m-flo, Def Tech and SEAMO and riding on this their 4th album, Japana-rhythm at the end of 2005 earned them their first number 1. Since then their popularity has been assured although they still have not emulated the success of Dreamland. Joy Trip at the end of 2006 was another commercial song and reached a peak of number 5 and more recently the song Monochrome has been used as a theme to a Nittele drama, 'Bonbimen'.