Flashback Friday: Kumi Koda - Shake it | Ho'laddin sets the freak free

I'd first heard of Kumi Koda in 2004 when Final Fantasy X-2 was released for the PlayStation 2. That game was a fucking mess, but I liked it. I enjoyed it more than X. They done fucked up with Yuna's character by putting her in booty shorts and giving her guns, but I still went with it and got 100% completion on that shit. Drag me if you must. But "Real emotion" was an anybody song. You could have made any J-Pop star sing it and I wouldn't have liked it any more or any less.

But the point where I really started to get into Kumi Koda was with "Shake it". The music video is masterpiece. A tale of Ho'laddin. A guy who comes across a lamp and releases a Genie by the name of SkanKumi who promises to grant all of his wishes, all of which involve him wanting pussy.

Kumi gave up the typical J-Pop look and sound. Stopped taming the ho within and let that bitch all the way out. Not only was she bussin' it open for a 'hāfu' in a tent, but she was singing pure filth to him.

On the other side of the dark shadows
At the point my glance traces
It's like I've been caught in a trap
I touch your ding dong, baby

Our heaving bodies, swaying
Our arms twine like a snake
I can't let you go, I won't let you go till I come
Give everything to me
I'll take you to a deep place
Bury yourself in my chest
Wriggle, and
Send up a splash

[Translations courtesy of Otenkiame translations]

Namie's "Want me, want me" still beats this in filth factor, because it had a bitch out here dancing in shallow water (Watersports anybody?) and talking about how she wanted a dude to put a condom on, look her right in her eyes and split her open. Plus, NOBODY would have expected Namie to have sung such things. But this filth is just Kumi all over. It's why we like the nasty bitch.

"Shake it" is top to bottom garbage. The song is a mess. The video felt like it was trying to recapture the vibe of Britney's "I'm a slave 4 U" and the sexiness just felt overt and unnecessary. And the less said about that "You can do it" break the better. But even so, I could not get enough of any of it and this is exactly what I liked about Kumi Koda. I can probably count on one hand how may songs of hers I genuinely like. But she was so damn shameless with her rip offs and forced sexiness that I just couldn't help but become low key obsessed. Especially at a time in J-Pop where many female artists were unsure as to whether to cross that line or not. Then came Kumi, popping her pussy all over it. It was refreshing to see a woman in mainstream J-Pop reclaim her body and her sexuality in a way that had oft been reserved for US pop acts and I'll always give Kumi her dues for that. And her music videos were always entertaining.