0.5 grams of marijuana lands rapper Kan a.k.a. Gami in hotter water

tokyoreporter.com -- Jul 09

Popular rapper Kan a.k.a. Gami, who is out on bail after being accused of possessing marijuana earlier this year, has been arrested again for the same crime, police said, reports Sports Nippon (July 7).

On June 15, the 42-year-old rapper, whose real name is Kunihiko Kawakami, allegedly possessed 0.5 grams of marijuana — valued at around 3,000 yen — at a residence in Narita City.

The residence has an unspecified connection to Kawakami, who denied the allegations upon his arrest. “I don’t remember possessing marijuana,” the suspect was quoted by police.

The arrest is his second this year. On May 2, the rapper allegedly possessed an unspecified amount of marijuana in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward. After his arrest later that same month, he was released on bail.

A native of Niigata Prefecture, Kawakami formed the hip-hop group MSC in 2000. Two years later, he took first place in a battle rap contest at the B-Boy Park hip-hop festival. He regularly appears on the TV Asahi program “Hiphop Dungeon.”