Epik High's bio

Epik High (Hangul: 에픽 하이) is a South Korean hip hop group from Seoul, South Korea. The group is composed of Tablo, Mithra Jin and DJ Tukutz.

History

Epik High was relatively unknown to Koreans in the beginning of its career due to hip-hop music'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 figures 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 game FIFA 07. Epik High's fourth album, "Remapping the Human Soul", released in 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.

2007: Success of fourth album

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 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

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.

"Fly" was also chosen for the video game FIFA 07 and Pump it Up NX. Epik High's fourth album, "Remapping the Human Soul" (released in 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 huge hit in 2007. They have been living in Korea for 4 years. Their origin is South Korea.

2009-2010: Map The Soul, Remixing the Human Soul, [e], Epilogue

Early 2009, Epik High parted ways with their old label Woolim 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 "Map the Soul," was released on March 27, 2009. Now completely independent from any major label, the book-album can only be bought on Epik High's website, MapTheSoul.com. YouTube videos show Epik High's progress as they recorded and created the album with the help of other artists such as MYK, Kero One and Beatbox DG. Tablo has specifically stated that: Map the Soul is not Epik High's official 6th album but instead a special project.

In May, Epik High toured various cities in the US (New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle) to promote their new book-album, "Map the Soul", along with Kero One, MYK and Far East Movement.

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]".

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 19th, right after the album release. The first single for (e) is "(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 October 15, 2009, DJ Tukutz temporarily left the group to begin mandatory military service for two years. Epik High is currently on hiatus due to this matter.

However, in a video announcement released by Tablo, new unreleased songs from the group will be released sometime in the near future. Also due to the hiatus, Tablo and Mithra have started working on their respective solo albums.Before doing so, the group has recently announced that they will be releasing a special album with unreleased tracks called "Epilogue" on March 9th.

Epik High had created their new album with their new song "Run" where they show a totally new reflection of what they were before. This new album contains less songs than the last one but is with dedication to all their fans and they thank everyone for all their support, as they wait for DJ Tukutz to finish his military service.

Members

Tablo

Tablo (Lee Sun-Woong [이선웅] a.k.a Supreme T) (born on July 22, 1980 in South Korea), also known as Daniel Armand Lee to American and Western audiences, is a Korean rapper in and leader of the group Epik High. Known not only for appearing in Korean variety shows and sitcoms such as MBC's Nonstop5, Tablo is also noted for having attained both a Bachelor's Degree and Master's Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing, respectively from Stanford University, California, U.S..[citation needed] Tablo claims to have been a long time fan of hip hop music, citing an almost lifelong affair with the culture itself. While listening to hip hop at an early age through artists such as Run-DMC and acquiring Cold Crush tapes, he concurrently gained recognition as a rhymer. His major and enduring love affair with making hip hop music was sparked later in life however, after hearing Drunken Tiger rapping, the group "Epik High" was formed in 2000 at an early time in the culture's local evolution; Tablo has since claimed to be the first emcee to have used the "rhyming rifle" technique. With the hip hop scene in Korea and for Korean emcees being known for their fickle tendencies, Tablo has through the years kept alive his legacy and career through numerous shows, appearances on influential overseas (American most notably) hip hop artists work, such as EPMD and now plans to release a solo album within the near future.

During early life, Lee suffered from bouts of depression, the origins of which are currently unknown. Through these times of hardship, hip hop music served as an outlet for him and after his interest sparked later in life, Lee decided to make hip hop the focus of his career. Tablo's father was adamant that he not embark on such a course, fearing that his son would endure the same hardships that he had suffered in his own youth. Tensions arose in the family and as a result of these, Lee frequently tried to escape and leave home. Eventually, he accepted his father's wishes and began to forget about music, ostensibly asking a friend to live out his own wishes to be making hip hop music. This same friend is said to have died of cancer sometime afterward, thus serving as an impetus for Tablo to re-enter the music industry at the behest of his dying friend.

Currently, Tablo is gaining immense popularity working as part of the newest Samsung Anycall project Anyband and performs "Talk, Play, Love" and "Promise You" (the two hit numbers of the album that the cellphone campaign released with the explosive popularity of the music video) with Kpop/Jpop stars BoA and Xiah Junsu of DBSK, as well as renowned Korean jazz pianist Jin Bora. "Talk, Play, Love" is said to have been written by him.

Tablo has a cameo role in Hollywood movie, August Rush, along with Koo Hye Sun.
Mithra 眞 (Jin)

Mithra Jin (Choi Jin [최진]) (born in January 6, 1983) is the rapper in this group. Mithra Jin was originally a poet whose poems also worked as rhymes. Then he made a debut in the group named [K-Ryders], which included J-Win, DJ D-Tones, Kyung Bin. K-Ryders actively led a concert in Korean underground around 2000s, and was disbanded in 2002 due to members' personal reasons(such as studying or pursuit of personal careers). Park emceeing and poetry readings were the first places where he met his future partner Tablo. They were introduced by a mutual friend and clicked right away because each other's style of poetic rhymes was comparable.

"I'm capable of anything. Anything on the face of this planet, I'm capable of. And I know that. That's the dangerous thing about me, 'cause I know it. And by knowing it...I'll do it. Just to show that...yes, somebody out there got enough balls to do it." - Mithra Jin

DJ Tukutz

DJ Tukutz (Kim Jeong-Shik [김정식] a.k.a Street T) (born in [November 19], [1981]), is the DJ in Epik High. DJ Tukutz first got into DJ-ing in the summer of 1995 while spending his time at illegal raves and warehouse parties, where his passion for the scene and music began. He started playing at local raves and parties in Japan's underground Hip-Hop scene, before moving up to South Korea in 2000 to attend the Technics DJ School. After returning from the academy, he hooked up with Tablo and headed to the States. He worked and DJ-ed on radio shows, live events and clubs around the Boston and New York City area.

When Tablo states "Street T" in certain songs such as "Nocturne" and "Flow", he is making a reference to the DJ Tukutz. close