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Japanese apartment renter gets told he “sucks at rapping,” asked by management to shut up

Casey Baseel Jan 23, 2020
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Diss is backed up by landlord in an example of Japanese renting etiquette.

There are plenty of reasons why Japanese society values politeness so much, and one of those is because housing is so dense in Japanese cities. With land and at a premium, odds are you’re going to be living very close to your neighbors, which makes basic courtesy especially important in order for everyone to get along.

However, sometimes people forget their manners and need a reminder. That’s what happened at the apartment complex shown in this photo from Japanese Twitter user @Revatein_Fire, where one tenant was causing an unusual problem.

こ、これは...🚀💥 pic.twitter.com/7nQD90wNCr

— 偉大なる神D🔥 (@Revatein_Fire) January 17, 2020

The notice opens with:

“To whoever is involved:

We have been receiving complaints such as:
‘Someone has been practicing rapping, but they suck at it and they’re noisy.’
‘The lyrics are vulgar and disgusting.’

We ask all residents to be considerate of each other.”

The paper goes on to explain that the aspiring rapper has been heard practicing on their balcony, both during the day and night, and that many people have been bothered by the noise.

In Japan, it’s not uncommon for rental agreements to specifically prohibit renters from playing musical instruments, because the noise is likely to seep through the walls and be a nuisance to the other people living in the building. It’s unusual, though, and pretty cold for an openly posted request like this to specifically call out the noisy individual for their lack of talent, especially being so harsh as to report that they “suck.”

Online reactions have included:

“Critical complaint.”
“But if he sucks, doesn’t that mean he has to practice even more?”
“Sounds like the rapper is going to have to go to a karaoke box to practice.”
“Whether you’re rapping or playing an instrument, you have to make sure not to bother your neighbors.”
“My theory: The complaints comes from rival rappers, who just want to say ‘Dawg, you can’t rap.’”
“Maybe the building manager is going to get pissed and challenge him to a rap battle.”
“So if he was good at rapping, there’s be no problem?”

There’s actually a bit of truth to the last comment. While being musically talented doesn’t get you a pass for this kind of behavior in Japan, the problem gets magnified if your skills are sub-par. Music that’s poorly performed and loud is a double annoyance, and t only gets worse if the person is practicing the same part of a song repeatedly, since that makes the listening experience not just unpleasant, but repetitive too.

So while we’re generally not in the habit of squashing anyone’s dreams, it’s hard to take the sucky rapper’s side here, especially when Japan offers several one-person karaoke practice spaces, and even some crazy, but useful, gadgets for singing as loud as you want in the privacy of your home without making anyone hear you.

Source: Twitter/@Revatein_Fire via Jin
Top image: Pakutaso
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Follow Casey on Twitter, where he doesn’t miss his neighbor who repeatedly practiced the same bass guitar chord over and over, his neighbor who was a telephone loan shark enforcer, or his neighbor who’d leave his radio alarm going for hours on end from his old bachelor apartment.