| Halcali | |
| Landscape: | yes |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Origin: | Meguro, Tokyo, Japan |
| Years Active: | 2002–2013 |
| Label: | Epic Records |
, were a Japanese J-pop duo consisting of Halca and Yucali from Meguro, Tokyo, Japan. Its name is a portmanteau of and . Their debut album, Halcali Bacon, reached #5 on the Oricon charts, making it the first album by a female hip-hop artist to enter the top ten in Japanese history.
Halcali also made their American debut in May 2008 as the musical guests of honor at the Anime Central convention.[1] [2] They performed again in America at Central Park, New York City on June 1, 2008 as part of a Japan Day Festival as part of a Japanese tourism campaign.[3] [4]
As Halcali did not renew their contracts with Epic Records Japan, they have had no outstanding entertainment activity as a unit as of 2013.
Haruka and Yukari were close friends since elementary school and also attended the same local Meguro dance school. Both girls were only interested in becoming dancers in the future and had no aspiration to become singers.In 2002, Haruka and Yukari noticed a pink flier for an audition to become a "female hip hop unit" which was held by the group Rip Slyme.[5] [6] Yukari admitted that the both of them entered the competition simply to see what it was.[7] Among hundreds of entrants, Haruka and Yukari were chosen to form Halcali.[8] [9] The girls modestly spoke of their formation, saying that although there were many girls cuter than themselves, Rip Slyme and Oshare Toy Factory riskily chose them. Yukari stated, "Sometimes it's like you want to have a piece of really gross gum- Just to see!"[7]
Halcali debuted at a free concert held by Rip Slyme at the Budokan theatre. There, Halcali performed with Rip Slyme and were introduced along with their debut single, ."Tandem" was released on January 8, 2003 and was marketed on several Japanese television networks, along with MTV. The single entered into the Oricon Charts at position 19.[10] [11]
The time between the release of their first single to that of their debut album Halcali moved away from mainstream J-pop and toward a style combining pop and rap; an airy, self-parody "bubblegum" rap in the vein of earlier groups such as East End X Yuri. This was evident in their second and third singles, and released in mid-2003. Both singles focused on rap rather than pop.
The latter song attracted attention from Western audiences when it appeared on Adam and Joe Go Tokyo.