About

Kyori the Okapi (also known by his aliases: Da Funky Okapi and MIYAKICHI) is a Japanese American Hip-Hop, R&B, and Asian Pop artist/producer from Torrance, California. He is passionate about uplifting person of color (POC) communities and strives to provide a voice to create a positive impact on those communities.

Along with friends Hajime Hotta, JCMint$, masumi, Schmoofy, and many more, Kyori hopes to bring joy through his quirky sense of humor and hopefulness through his community involvement.

What is an Okapi?

The okapi is an endangered animal from Congo in Africa, and is the only living relative of the giraffe. Despite its striped legs, it bears no genetic resemblance to zebras. It has a unique history of being thought of as fictional species, since European colonizers in Africa did not discover them until the early 1900s. Still to this day, not many people know what they are.

For Kyori, the okapi is a representation of POCs in the U.S., especially for Asian Americans. As POCs, we do not get equal representation in American mainstream media. Like the okapi, it feels that we are left in the background and are not being noticed or being misrepresented. Our voices are not being heard in America unless non-POCs claim or appropriate our cultures.