Epik High
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Epik High | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Seoul, South Korea |
| Genre(s) | Alternative hip hop, hip hop, rap, pop rap |
| Years active | 2003-present |
| Label(s) | Woolim Entertainment (2003-2008)
Map the Soul, Inc./Independent (2009-present) |
| Associated acts | Pe2ny, TBNY, J-Win, Clazziquai, Dynamic Duo, Jisun, Jinbo, DJ Friz, Kebee, Nell, Myk, UnknownDJs |
| Website | www.mapthesoul.com |
| Members | |
| Tablo Mithra Jin DJ Tukutz |
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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.
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[edit] 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 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 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.
[edit] 2006: Swan Songs
Epik High's 3rd album, Swan Songs, became a mainstream hit in the Korean music industry. Notable hit singles included Fly and Paris. The album was later repackaged as "Black Swan Songs", which included remixes of various hit songs.
[edit] 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]
[edit] 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. 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]
[edit] 2009: 魂: Map The Soul
Epik High's seventh work, a book-album entitled "魂: Map the Soul," was released on March 27th, 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 魂: Map the Soul is not Epik High's official 6th album but instead a special project. In May, Epik High toured the US (including New York City, Los Angeles, San Fransisco and Seattle) to promote their new book-album, "Map the Soul", along with Kero One, MYK and Far East Movement.
Epik High was recently banned by KBS, MBC, and SBS. Epik High’s new track ‘Believe’ along with 2 other tracks ‘Top Gun’ and ‘Cipher’ were all banned by the three networks. The reason being is, MBC claimed, “Epic High talk about specific brands, there is strong and excessive indirect advertising” while KBS and SBS claimed, “their lyrics contain criticism towards specific organizations” while ‘Top Gun’ is said to criticize a certain type of career while ‘Cipher’ indirectly advertises their homepage through the mentioning of ‘Mapthesoul.com’ in the lyrics.
Netizens are arguing that the reasoning behind the ban is unacceptable. The power of these netizens are hoping will cause these broadcasting companies to lift their ban like they did for TVXQ.
[edit] The Movement
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
- T
- Sean2Slow
- Buga Kingz
- EXPLICIT LINEZ
- Leessang
- Yang Dong Geun
- Eun Ji Won
- Double K
- TBNY
- Insane Deegie
- Bobby Kim
- Dok2
- Bizzy
[edit] Members
Tablo AKA Supreme T, AKA Daniel Armand Lee: rapping, vocals, songwriting, composing, programming
Mithra Jin: rapping, vocals, songwriting, composing
DJ Tukutz AKA Street T: turntables, programming, samples, songwriting, vocals, composing, engineering
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
- 2003: Map of the Human Soul
- 2004: High Society
- 2005: Swan Songs
- 2006: Black Swan Songs (Repackaged)
- 2007: Remapping the Human Soul
- 2008: Pieces, Part One
- 2008: Lovescream (EP)
- 2009: Map the Soul
[edit] EPs
- 2008: Lovescream
[edit] Awards
| Year | Awards |
|---|---|
| 2005 |
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| 2007 |
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| 2008 |
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[edit] References
- ^ "(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 on 2008-05-04.
- ^ (Korean) Tablo's hip hop magazine interview
- ^ Epik High Soars to New Heights
- ^ Epik High to expand into Japan with sample CD
- ^ "(Korean) January - Total sales level". http://www.miak.or.kr/stat/kpop_2007_2.htm. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
- ^ "Epik High Website". http://www.epikhigh.com. Retrieved on 1 December 2008.
[edit] External links
- (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
- KoME Interview with Epik High prior to the release of Map The Soul
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