Formerly known as KOHH, Yuki Chiba had one of the most successful rebrandings of all time. The Japanese rapper and singer needed to make a statement when he came back out under a new alias, so he released the Crunk-ish ‘Team Tomodachi,’ a track where he and his homies got hype outside a convenience store. Soon, ‘Team Tomodachi’ was THE song in Asian Hip Hop, and everyone wanted to make their own remix. In Japan, there were 10 [TEN!] official remixes of the song, and around Asia, dozens of artists and crews chimed in with their own takes. The song got so huge, that even Big Willie himself, Will Smith, made a version.

Yuki made the list because of the ‘Tomodachi’ phenomenon last year, but a bit later in 2024, he was tapped by Megan Thee Stallion to hop on her mega-hit‘Mamushi.’ Instead of languishing as an album cut, the song has a video based on Japanese snake mythology with 79 million views on YouTube, and she brought him out at a concert in London and the MTV Video Music Awards. Since his rebranding, Yuki has been relentless in his release of music, showing his desire to be at the top of the Japanese Hip Hop scene.