Epik High
Epic High on September 19, 2009
Background information
Origin	Seoul, South Korea
Genres	Alternative hip hop, hip hop, pop rap
Years active	2003–present
Labels	Woollim Entertainment 2003-2008, 2010-Present Map the Soul, Inc. 2009-Present
Website	www.mapthesoul.com
Members
Tablo Mithra Jin DJ Tukutz

Epik High (Hangul: 에픽하이) is a South Korean indie hip hop group from Seoul, South Korea. The group is composed of Tablo, Mithra Jin and DJ Tukutz. Their music has been considered by many as a "lyrical piece of literature" and "urban poetry", lyric orientated, soulful and often witty while addressing serious social issues such as identity, discrimination, community, unity and change as a whole through the use of sometimes controversial subject matter. The group has been on hiatus since 2009 whilst members served individual mandatory military service.

History[link]

2003-2005: Earlier Days[link]

Epik High was relatively unknown early in their career due to hip-hop's lack of popularity in Korea. Their success began with the release of their second album, titled "High Society". Upon the success of their third album, Swan Songs, released in late 2005, Epik High has become one of the most popular hip-hop groups in Korea. "Fly", the title song, and "Paris" (feat. Jisun from Loveholic) from their third album became hits in Korea, reaching number one on many Korean music channels as well as on online music charts.^[1] "Fly" was also chosen for the video games FIFA 07 and Pump it up, this song has now become a popular track for dancers/freestylers. Epik High's fourth album, "Remapping the Human Soul", released on January 23, 2007 has shown a very different music style from their previous albums. "Fan", the fourth album's title song, and "Love Love Love" have been big hits in 2007.

2006: Swan Songs[link]

Epik High's 3rd album, Swan Songs, became a mainstream hit in the Korean music scene. Notable hit singles included Fly and Paris. The album was later repackaged as "Black Swan Songs", which included remixes of various hit songs.

2007: Remapping the Human Soul[link]

Their fourth album, Remapping the Human Soul, was released on January 23, 2007. The album was supposed to come out in October 2006, but the date was postponed.^[2] The album sold almost 90,000 copies in its first month and pushed Epik High to the number one spot for best upcoming artist. It went on to sell a total of 130,000 copies. The group was chosen as the best artist of the month.^{[citation needed]} The group decided to head towards a 'no genre, just music' style for their fourth album. Some songs in the fourth album have been banned from several channels due to issues dealing with sexual crimes, war, education and religion; the Ministry of Culture and Tourism is trying to stop air play as stated by Tablo in an interview with The Korea Times.^[3] With the title song "Fan", the album became their number one selling music album. In addition, Epik High's fame has risen in Japan with the song "Flow", which features Emi Hinouchi. They will release a CD sample in Japan. There have been offers to remake "Fly" as well as "Paris".^[4] The album sold 120,301 copies during the year, making it the third best-selling album of 2007 in South Korea.^[5]

2008: Early Success of Fifth Album and The First Mini-Album[link]

Over 50,000 copies of the fifth studio album entitled "Pieces, Part One" were pre-ordered. The first single off the new album and released music video is "One," which features Jisun from Loveholic and Korean actress Jung Ryu-won. Shortly after "One", music videos for "Breakdown" and "Umbrella" were created. After the success of "Pieces, Part One," Epik High released a mini-album, titled Lovescream. This is their first mini-album since their debut in 2003. It came out September 30, 2008. Teasers were put up on the Epik High website, which gained attention because it was made of abstract, animated graphics instead of actual actors.^[6] The mini-album gained huge success and the title track "1 Minute 1 Second" topped online music charts.

2009: Map the Soul[link]

Early 2009, Epik High parted ways with their old label Woollim Entertainment, and founded Map The Soul, an independent record label that currently consists of Epik High, MYK, Planet Shiver and Dok2.

Epik High's seventh work, a book-album entitled "魂: Map the Soul," was released on March 27, 2009. Completely independent from any major label, the book-album was distributed exclusively on Epik High's website. They recorded the album with the help of other artists such as MYK, Kero One and Beatbox DG. Tablo has specifically stated that 魂: Map the Soul is not Epik High's official 6th album but instead a special project. On May 19, 2009, Epik High released both worldwide and Korean versions of the music video for "Map the Soul". To commemorate their first release under their independent label and to interact with fans, Epik High toured various cities in the US (New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle) along with Kero One, MYK and Far East Movement in May 2009.

On July 22, 2009, Epik High and the electronic group they scouted, Planet Shiver, joined forces and released an album with re-recorded, remixed and remastered versions of Epik High’s past hit songs titled Remixing The Human Soul.

On August 14, 2009, Epik High member Tablo revealed on his blog that they are working on a new album called "[e]". Then on September 16, 2009, Epik High's 6th album, "(e)", was released. This album contains 30 tracks in 2CDs and a 74 page mini-book, which has interviews of each member as well as pictures. The Korean tour began on September 19, right after the album release. The first single for (e) was "따라해(Wannabe)" which features Mellow, and is an electronic-pop song that criticizes the current trends of K-pop. A joint music video was released for the next upcoming singles ("Trot" and "High Technology") shortly afterward. On December 6, 2009, a music video featuring scenes from the movie "No Mercy" was released with the track "Slow Motion".

[edit] 2010-present: Epilogue and military service

On October 15, 2009, DJ Tukutz enlisted for mandatory military service for two years, and was discharged on August 7, 2011.

On March 9, 2010, the album "Epilogue" was released.^[7] Epik High had created their new album with their new song "Run," representing their new artistic direction. This new album contains fewer songs than the previous, but is dedicated to all their fans and they thank everyone for all their support, as they wait for DJ Tukutz to finish his military service.

On August 3, 2010, Mithra Jin also enlisted for mandatory military service, he entered the 102 reserve in Chuncheon, then served as an infantry rifle soldier, a member of the military band and a GOP soldier, and finally at the Defense Media Agency (DEMA). He was discharged by the Ministry of Defense in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on May 14, 2012.^[8]

Announced on September 27, Tablo made his comeback on November 1 with his debut solo album. Although Tablo signed an exclusive 4-year contract with YG Entertainment, he indicated that it does not mean that Epik High has disbanded nor are they necessarily signed (or will sign) to YG as a group.^[9]

Members[link]

• Tablo AKA Supreme T, AKA Daniel Armand Lee: rapping, vocals, songwriting, composing, programming
• Mithra Jin AKA Sleeping M: rapping, vocals, songwriting, composing
• DJ Tukutz AKA Street T: turntables, programming, samples, songwriting, vocals, composing, engineering

The Movement[link]

Epik High is part of The Movement, a Korean hip-hop crew, which includes several other well-known hip-hop artists:

• Drunken Tiger
• Dynamic Duo/CB Mass
• Yoon Mi Rae/T/Tasha
• Sean2Slow
• Buga Kingz
• Leessang
• YDG
• G-Won (Eun Ji Won)
• Double K
• Top Bop
• Yankie
• Insane Deegie
• Ex-plicit Linez
• Dok2
• Roscoe Umali
• Mickey Eyez
• Bizzy
• MNOVA

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• 2003: Map of the Human Soul
• 2004: High Society
• 2005: Swan Songs
• 2007: Remapping the Human Soul
• 2008: Pieces, Part One
• 2009: (e)
• 2010: Epilogue

EPs[link]

• 2008: Lovescream

Projects[link]

• 2006: Black Swan Songs (Repackaged)
• 2009: Map the Soul
• 2009: Remixing The Human Soul

Awards[link]

References[link]

1. ^ "(Korean) Epik High 1st on online chart". http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=106&oid=111&aid=0000021553. Retrieved 2008-05-04. 
2. ^ (Korean) Tablo's hip hop magazine interview
3. ^ Epik High Soars to New Heights
4. ^ Epik High to expand into Japan with sample CD
5. ^ "(Korean) January - Total sales level". Archived from the original on 2008-05-08. http://web.archive.org/web/20080508152311/http://www.miak.or.kr/stat/kpop_2007_2.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-04. 
6. ^ "Epik High Website". http://www.epikhigh.com. Retrieved 1 December 2008. 
7. ^ http://mapthesoul.com/news/29
8. ^ Oh, MiJung (14 May 2012). "Epik High’s Mithra Jin Released from Army". Mnet News. http://global.mnet.com/news/newsdetail.m?searchNewsVO.news_id=201205141449_6653. Retrieved 16 May 2012. 
9. ^ "Epik High's Tablo Joins YG Family". Asia Pacific Arts. 09/28/2011. http://asiapacificarts.usc.edu/article@apa?epik_highs_tablo_joins_yg_family_17430.aspx. 

External links[link]

• (Korean) (English) Map the Soul Epik High's official website
• (Korean) Tablo's Cyworld homepage
• (Korean) DJ Tukutz's Cyworld homepage
• (Korean) Mithra Jin's Cyworld homepage
• (English) Icarus Walks Epik High's fansite & fanforum

Kero One
Kero One Playing Fender Rhodes at a concert in 2009.
Background information
Also known as	Kero Uno
Origin	San Francisco, California
Genres	Hip hop, Rap, R&B, Electro
Occupations	Rapper, Composer/Producer, DJ
Instruments	Vocals, Keyboard, Bass Guitar, Drums
Years active	2003 - present
Labels	Plug Label / P-Vine / M.net
Associated acts	DJ King Most, Ohmega Watts, Epik High

Kero One is a Korean-American hip hop MC and producer from San Francisco, California.

History[link]

Kero One originally worked as a web designer, making 50 copies of his first single with home equipment and personal credit cards. One of the copies was purchased at a record shop in Tokyo by a Japanese DJ, who generated interest for Kero One by playing it at a club. A Japanese record label then requested 3000 copies of the single, which led to performances throughout Japan. In 2005, Kero One released the self-produced album, "Windmills of the Soul," which was named the "Best Hip Hop Album of 2006" by Remix Magazine. In 2005, he opened the office for his own label, named Plug Label. In 2009, he released his second album, "Early Believers."

Kero One's style, "has been compared to Common, Q-tip, and Kanye West, but Kero One's music is very positive and upbeat..."^[1]

Highlights[link]

1. 5th Best Indie hiphop of 2004 on MSN music.^[2]
2. 4th Most Downloaded artist on Cnet's Download.com.^[2]
3. 2nd Selling underground hiphop album on HMV and Tower Records Japan.^[2]
4. 2nd most downloaded album on iTunes Japan.^[2]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

Collaborative Works[link]

References[link]

• KERO ONE - BIOGRAPHY

External images
	WMP screenshot
	cnet screenshot
	Firefox screenshot of HMV site (Underground Best Sellers)
	iTunes screenshot (Windmills of the Soul)

• Reviews of Windmills of the Soul
• Windmills of the Soul : rapnews.co.uk
• Windmills of the Soul : RapReviews.com
• Kinetic World : Lesson Six
• DJ Deckstream - Soundtrack 1.5
• Nomak Re-Calm

1. ^ Garcia, Cathy Rose A. (2009-06-15) "Rapper-DJ Kero One Makes Waves in US" Korea Times. Accessed 2009-11-05.
2. ^ ^{a b c d} [1], additional text.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kero One

• Kero One on Myspace
• Plug Label on Myspace
• Allhiphop.com review (February 26, 2006)
• Platform8470 interview April 12, 2009
• Vinas, Len; John Coyne (photos) (March 10, 2007). "KEEP IT ALIVE: An Interview with Kero One". Oh Dang!. http://www.ohdangmag.com/archive/features/keep_it_alive_an_interview_wit.html. Retrieved 2009-04-22.