The hip-hop/R&B duo Bennie K were the first female urban project to break into the Japanese musical mainstream, their sunny rap tunes with catchy choruses spawning a huge wave of followers in their wake. The band was established in 1999 in Los Angeles, of all places, where the rapper Cico met Yuki, who was doing vocal training in the U.S. The American experience allowed them to combine English with Japanese in their lyrics, and the newly formed group, which debuted at a Christmas event, began to work its way up the national scene upon returning to Japan. Their first singles, "Melody" and "School Girl," came out in 2001 but, despite the latter being used in a TV drama, they didn't fare too well commercially. However, by the time their debut studio album, Cube, was out in 2002, Bennie K were already performing and collaborating with such big names of the country's hip-hop scene as Soul'd Out, Diggi-Mo', and Def Tech, the success achieved not the least due to the band's appearances at charity events.