# Yabujin
**Yabujin** is the main musical project of a Lithuanian rapper, singer and producer working in cloud rap, experimental hip hop, hexD, bitcrushed (digital audio deliberately degraded to sound lo-fi) ambient, jumpstyle and hardstyle, known for near-total anonymity: he has never given an interview, and fans know little about him beyond that he is from [Lithuania](https://www.edgepedia.org/lithuania).[1](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/chasing-yabujin-the-artist-who-secretly-shaped-the-underground-sound-of-the-2020s/) • [2](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/2791a048-7546-450e-aeda-a692a74f65c0) The user-editable reference work [TV Tropes](https://www.edgepedia.org/tv-tropes) identifies the person behind the project as Rokas Tarulis, but no independent source corroborates the name.[3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/Yabujin) Since 2021 he has released most of his jumpstyle and gabber material under the alias **DJ GYROTTA ZAO**, one of the many pseudonyms attached to the project.[4](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/yabujin) • [5](https://www.whosampled.com/Yabujin/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Origin | Lithuania; no interviews given, no confirmed biographical details beyond nationality[1](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/chasing-yabujin-the-artist-who-secretly-shaped-the-underground-sound-of-the-2020s/) |
| Name | "Rokas Tarulis" per TV Tropes only; unconfirmed elsewhere[3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/Yabujin) |
| Genres | Cloud rap, experimental hip hop, hexD, ambient, dark ambient, jumpstyle, hardstyle[2](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/2791a048-7546-450e-aeda-a692a74f65c0) • [4](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/yabujin) |
| First release | Instrumental track "gal games" under the alias "naga", September 1, 2016; first EP *fezome*, December 31, 2016[4](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/yabujin) |
| Key releases | *FLASH DESIRE* (2019), *BAROQUE* and *SWORDS* (2020), *Claws* (2022), *DESIRE* (2023)[2](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/2791a048-7546-450e-aeda-a692a74f65c0) |
| Aliases | DJ GYROTTA ZAO, YABHIEL, Elixir Nomad, tailandietis85, Ligonis24, Naga, LAMIANAGA, and others[4](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/yabujin) • [5](https://www.whosampled.com/Yabujin/) |
| Influence | A TikTok trend nicknamed "yabujincore" with over 23,000 posts; acknowledged influence on the Russian producer Dayerteq[1](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/chasing-yabujin-the-artist-who-secretly-shaped-the-underground-sound-of-the-2020s/) |
## Background and early career
The project's documented history begins on September 1, 2016, with the instrumental track "gal games" posted under the alias "naga". The first EP, *fezome*, followed on December 31, 2016.[4](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/yabujin) [MusicBrainz](https://www.edgepedia.org/musicbrainz) catalogs a prolific 2017–2018 run, including *Дистимия 6* (2017), *CHERRY HELIX*, *ENTER HEX 1616*, *LOW-POLY HEAVEN 888*, and the collaboration *PANDEMONIUM EXODUS* credited to "Lamianaga X Yabujin" (2018).[2](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/2791a048-7546-450e-aeda-a692a74f65c0) The mixtape *FLASH DESIRE* appeared on December 21, 2019.[4](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/yabujin)
**The 2021 reset.** In early 2021 the artist erased his discography from his [SoundCloud](https://www.edgepedia.org/soundcloud) page and took a hiatus from the Yabujin name, releasing hardstyle jump music as DJ GYROTTA ZAO instead.[4](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/yabujin) The Korean-language magazine VISLA dates the shift to 2021 and notes that imitators such as ilyhiryu, DJ Svevsx, STAKILLAZ, and jump2k appeared on the internet around the same time.[6](https://visla.kr/feature/304830/) A fan subreddit, /r/YABUJIN, had been formed on November 18, 2020.[4](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/yabujin)
## Musical style and aesthetics
Yabujin's music is built on bitcrushed, video-game-like production that merges cloud rap, jumpstyle, ambient, and industrial styles; Know Your Meme notes he is often compared to the cloud rapper Bladee.[3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/Yabujin) • [4](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/yabujin) Pitchfork highlights the tracks "CHALICE OF MIND", built on jumpstyle kicks, and "SECRET GROTTOES", which it describes as evoking kenopsia in a video-game world, alongside "FLASH DESIRE".[1](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/chasing-yabujin-the-artist-who-secretly-shaped-the-underground-sound-of-the-2020s/)
The visual side is as distinctive as the audio. TV Tropes describes a maximalist, surrealist aesthetic using old webcam footage, amateurish coloring and editing, glitch art, 1990s and 2000s anime, and imagery taken from flash games and old imageboards.[3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/Yabujin) The project is wrapped in a self-created multimedia alternate reality game called "Azeroy", with an eight-part web series centered on the character "Guheitta", recurring numerology motifs (1616 and 8888), a floating fetus entity named "Yyate", and a fictional conlang called "Azeroyska".[3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/Yabujin)
## Discography
Documentation is sparse and partly fan-maintained, because the artist repeatedly deletes his accounts and catalog.[1](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/chasing-yabujin-the-artist-who-secretly-shaped-the-underground-sound-of-the-2020s/) MusicBrainz lists, under the Yabujin name, the EPs *Fezome* (2016) and *Flash Genies* (2018), the mixtape *FLASH DESIRE* (2019), the EPs *BAROQUE* and *SWORDS* (2020), *Claws* (2022), and *DESIRE* (2023); the 2022 release *？？？？ 2021）* is cataloged under the alias Yabhiel.[2](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/2791a048-7546-450e-aeda-a692a74f65c0) A fan-run Bandcamp page, "YABUJIN ARCHIVE", hosts reuploads of deleted material, including "302CASANOVA", "AЗEROY", "NOM∆D YABUJIN", "bleach drinkers", "TTraumacatching", "FLASH NOMAD", "LAMiA", and the Lithuanian-titled "Laumių Dovanos".[7](https://yabujinarchive1.bandcamp.com/)
## Influence and the yabujincore phenomenon
Pitchfork credits Yabujin's "cursed" aesthetic with shaping a wave of 2020s underground music, including jagged jumpstyle and nightmarish glitch art, and notes influence on larger acts such as [2hollis](https://www.edgepedia.org/2hollis) and [Ken Carson](https://www.edgepedia.org/ken-carson) (or their visual designers), who do not cite their sources.[1](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/chasing-yabujin-the-artist-who-secretly-shaped-the-underground-sound-of-the-2020s/) The Russian producer Dayerteq has acknowledged being heavily inspired by Yabujin.[1](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/chasing-yabujin-the-artist-who-secretly-shaped-the-underground-sound-of-the-2020s/)
**Yabujincore.** Yabujin and his DJ GYROTTA ZAO alias have spawned a score of copycats and a TikTok "genre" with over 23,000 posts nicknamed yabujin-core.[1](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/chasing-yabujin-the-artist-who-secretly-shaped-the-underground-sound-of-the-2020s/) The trend is an homage to his hardstyle jump music and 2000s-inspired visual art; one of the earliest videos was posted on December 3, 2021, by the user @hexdsim3kkk, pairing jumpstyle dance footage with Arabic, Russian, and Japanese text overlays and videogame-like graphics.[8](https://trending.knowyourmeme.com/editorials/guides/what-does-yabujincore-and-jumpstyle-core-mean-on-tiktok-the-nichetok-video-aesthetic-explained) VISLA criticizes the derivative "Jumpstyle Core" trend as lacking the development of Yabujin's original approach.[6](https://visla.kr/feature/304830/)
## By the numbers
A nearly 5,000-member Discord channel, NKWeb, is partly devoted to tracking his accounts and decoding his mythology, and fans maintain a color-coded "Yabujin Tracker" spreadsheet listing over 400 songs released across over 10 pseudonyms and accounts.[1](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/chasing-yabujin-the-artist-who-secretly-shaped-the-underground-sound-of-the-2020s/) On TikTok, an August 3, 2022 video covering his discography and bitcrushed video-game music style gathered over 180,000 plays and 25,000 likes in roughly three months, and a November 20, 2022 Roblox edit using DJ GYROTTA ZAO gathered over 340,000 plays and 50,000 likes in three weeks.[4](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/yabujin) Pitchfork reports he has likely never performed a show and has released only one piece of merchandise.[1](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/chasing-yabujin-the-artist-who-secretly-shaped-the-underground-sound-of-the-2020s/)
## What has changed since 2023
The 2023 release *DESIRE* appeared under the YABUJIN name on MusicBrainz.[2](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/2791a048-7546-450e-aeda-a692a74f65c0) In 2024, WhoSampled credits the track "Bride" by Ligonis24 with a producer credit to Yabujin, containing 63 samples.[5](https://www.whosampled.com/Yabujin/) The yabujincore trend spread more widely after a viral "For You page" video in April 2024.[8](https://trending.knowyourmeme.com/editorials/guides/what-does-yabujincore-and-jumpstyle-core-mean-on-tiktok-the-nichetok-video-aesthetic-explained) Pitchfork's feature framed him as an artist who shaped the underground sound of the 2020s.[1](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/chasing-yabujin-the-artist-who-secretly-shaped-the-underground-sound-of-the-2020s/) MusicBrainz also lists a 2025 release group for Yabujin without further detail.[2](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/2791a048-7546-450e-aeda-a692a74f65c0)
## Identity
The artist has not given an interview, and fans know little about his life beyond that he is from Lithuania.[1](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/chasing-yabujin-the-artist-who-secretly-shaped-the-underground-sound-of-the-2020s/) The name Rokas Tarulis appears in TV Tropes, which says that almost nothing is known about his personal life beyond his name and country of origin.[3](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/Yabujin) Titles in the project's output include "Laumių Dovanos" and "Дистимия 6", and an alias is tailandietis85.[7](https://yabujinarchive1.bandcamp.com/) • [2](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/2791a048-7546-450e-aeda-a692a74f65c0) • [4](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/yabujin) Releases have been deleted, and a fan-run archive and tracker document material from the project.[1](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/chasing-yabujin-the-artist-who-secretly-shaped-the-underground-sound-of-the-2020s/) • [7](https://yabujinarchive1.bandcamp.com/)
## References
1. [Chasing Yabujin, the Artist Who Secretly Shaped the Underground Sound of the 2020s, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/chasing-yabujin-the-artist-who-secretly-shaped-the-underground-sound-of-the-2020s/)
2. [Yabujin, MusicBrainz](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/2791a048-7546-450e-aeda-a692a74f65c0)
3. [Yabujin (Music), TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/Yabujin)
4. [Yabujin, Know Your Meme](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/yabujin)
5. [Yabujin – Samples, Covers and Remixes, WhoSampled](https://www.whosampled.com/Yabujin/)
6. [Yabujin과 함께 돌아온 Jumpstyle, 그리고 ROMANCEPLANET, VISLA Magazine](https://visla.kr/feature/304830/)
7. [YABUJIN ARCHIVE, Bandcamp](https://yabujinarchive1.bandcamp.com/)
8. [What Does 'Yabujincore' and 'Jumpstyle Core' Mean On TikTok?, Know Your Meme](https://trending.knowyourmeme.com/editorials/guides/what-does-yabujincore-and-jumpstyle-core-mean-on-tiktok-the-nichetok-video-aesthetic-explained)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Music scenes › Transnational genre scenes › Hip hop scenes worldwide › Artists, groups, and people: Hip hop scenes worldwide › Internet-era and underground rap (SoundCloud, cloud, phonk, rage, plugg)*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license