Awich

Akiko Urasaki is a Japanese hip-hop artist who releases music under the stage name Awich. She was born on December 16, 1986, in Naha, Okinawa, and became an avid fan of American rapper Tupac while still a child. Tupac's lyrics helped Urasaki learn English, and she began writing her own lyrics at 13 years old. Her independent debut record, Asian Wish Child, was released in 2006, and Awich logged several years in America after its release. She became both a wife and a mother while overseas, although her husband's incarceration and subsequent murder rendered her a single mother at a young age. She returned to Japan and resuming her hip-hop career during the 2010s, writing music punctuated by messages of female empowerment. She joined the musical collective Yentown in 2017 and released two albums — 8 (2018) and Peacock (2020) — with Yentown's help. Peacock reached Number 76 on Japan's Hot Albums chart, and its success allowed Awich to sign a new contract with Universal. Now affiliated with a major label, she received commercial acclaim for her 2022 album, Queendom. "Gila Gila," the bilingual album's first single, reached Number 92 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, while Queendom itself peaked at Number 44 on the Japanese Hot Albums chart. As 2022 drew to a close, Awich scored another hit with "Remember / THE FIRST TAKE," a duet with fellow rapper KEIJU.