Epik high

2001–2004: Beginning of Career, debut album Map of the Human Soul , and High Society

Epik High was formed in 2001 after the return of Tablo frontman to South Korea after receiving education in Vancouver and Stanford . With the addition of Mithra Jin and DJ Tukutz, the group began its activities on the underground hip hop scene in Seoul, performing with other Korean hip hop groups such as CB Mass and as part of “Movement Crew”, one of the biggest hip hop teams of that time in South Korea. Since the genre was unpopular among the mainstream audience, the group was relatively unknown in the early stages of their career, and critics saw a small market for “lyrically complex music” that did not fit the K-pop model of the time. Their first performance was for a small audience at Everland Amusement Park in 2002. ^[8] They released their debut album, Map of the Human Soul , as part of Woollim Entertainment in 2003, and began to succeed with the release of their second album, High Society (2004).

2005: Mainstream Success with Swan Songs

Swan Songs was supposed to be the last Epik High album after the poor work of two previous releases; however, it became a hit and made them one of the most popular hip hop groups in Korea. The album was a hit chart with the title track "Fly", which reached first place in the domestic charts. “Fly” also appears in the soundtracks for FIFA 07 and Pump It Up . Another track from Paris's Jisun of Loveholics was also a hit in Japan and Korea. The album was repackaged the following year as " Black Swan Songs " , which included remixes of several tracks.

2006–2007: Rethinking the Human Soul

Originally released in October 2006, the fourth Epik High Remapping the Human Soul album was released on January 23, 2007. The two upbeat singles, “Fan” and “Love Love Love”, were hits, while the rest of the album was darker and covered various topics, including sexual crime, war, religion and education. The album was reportedly censored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism due to its lyrical and thematic content. Despite this, it was a commercial success in both Korea and Japan. During the year, 120,300 copies were sold, making it the third best-selling album of 2007 in South Korea. During this time, the group spoke of its philosophy “not a genre, just music”, expressing disappointment with the “narrow”, “outdated and isolated” ideas about the hip-hop genre.

2008: Pieces, Part One and Lovescream

More than 50,000 copies of their fifth studio album, entitled Pieces, Part One, were pre-ordered prior to its release in April 2008. The album was followed by music videos for the singles "One", "Breakdown" and "Umbrella". Following the success of the album, Epik High released EP Lovescream , which was due to appear in October, with the title track EP "1 Minute 1 Second," which topped the music charts online.

2009: Map the Soul and [e]

In early 2009, Epik High broke up with Woollim Entertainment and founded Map The Soul, an independent label that included Epik High, MYK, Planet Shive r and Dok2. They released their seventh work, a “book album” called Map: Map the Soul , on March 27 and distributed it exclusively on the Epik High website. The scoreboard stated that 魂: Map the Soul is not the band’s official sixth album, but a special project.

Music videos for the single "Map the Soul" were released May 19 in versions for the whole world and Korea. In honor of their first release, under the independent label Epik High, they toured in Japan and performed at the Melon Ax in Seoul with Kero One and MYK. This month, they also performed in various US cities ( New York , Los Angeles , San Francisco and Seattle ) along with Dumbfoundead , Kero One, MYK and Far East Movement. .

On July 22, Epik High and Map the Soul signed Planet Shiver and released Remixing The Human Soul .

Epik High's sixth album, [e] , was released on September 16 with the title single "Wannabe (따라 해)" featuring Mellow, an electronic pop track critical of the K-pop trend. The studio album contained 30 tracks in 2-CD format. His release was followed by a tour of South Korea, which will begin on September 19.

2010–2012: Epilogue , Military Service, and Break

October 15, 2009 DJ Tukutz entered the two-year compulsory military service for two years after marriage. He was discharged in August 2011.

While DJ Tukutz was called up for work, Epik High Epilogue's seventh studio album was released as part of Woollim Entertainment on March 9, 2010 to succeed. The music video for the title track “Run” showed several members of the Infinite bowling group, signed by Woollim, before their debut: L is the main character of the video, Sunggyu is the guitarist, Woohyun is the bass player and Sungjong is the keyboard player. Endless in Hoya and Dongwoo also served as a dancer during the single's promotions on various music shows.

Shortly after the release of the album, Mitra Jin also entered the compulsory military service and served for two years from August 3, 2010 to May 14, 2012. He entered reserve 102 in Chuncheon and served as an infantry rifle soldier, member of a military band, and a Republican party soldier before settling in the DEMA.

During the two-year break that followed, Tablo (who is a Canadian citizen and therefore not required to do military service) signed a four-year contract with YG Entertainment and released a solo album called Fever's End on November 1, 2011. However, he indicated that Epik High had not disbanded.

2012: Return to YG Entertainment and 99

In July 2012, it was confirmed that Epik High would return to the group led by YG Entertainment after a three-year hiatus. On October 9, the band released the single "It's Cold" with the recently signed Lee Hi to succeed. ^[19] They digitally released album 99 , as well as music videos for the tracks “Up” (featuring Park Bom) and “Don't Hate Me” on October 19th. The album was physically released on October 23 with two additional non-digital tracks.

During SBS Gayo Daejeon on December 30th, they joined Dynamic Duo and Simon D for "Cypher 2012", a remix of the popular hip hop tracks of the year, which was very popular. 2015 K-Pop Night Out at SXSW DJ Tukutz, Scoreboard, Mitra Jean

2013–2017: 10th anniversary, Shoebox, and we did something wonderful

On October 23, 2013, Epik High released their single "420" featuring Double K, Yankie, Dok2, Sean2Slow, Dumbfoundead, TopBob and MYK to celebrate their decade.

On May 18, 2014, they released the single “With You” in collaboration with Chinese singer Bibi Zhou to re-record “Fool” (originally featuring Bumkey) from their previous album, Epilogue . On October 18, YG Entertainment released a music video for the pre-release track "Born Hater" featuring famous rappers. Epik High's eighth studio album, Shoebox , was physically released on October 22 and received critical acclaim for the emotions and complex lyric content of the lead singles "Happen Ending" and "Spoiler", as well as other tracks, including "Burj Khalifa" and "Amor Faty".

In March 2015, Epik High performed at the SXSW in Austin, Texas.

In April 2016, they became the second Korean artist to perform at the Coachella Music Festival ^, where their performance was well received by the public.

On October 23, 2017, they released their ninth studio album, We Done Done Done Something Wonderful .

2018 - Present: Departure from YG Entertainment, Returning Under the direction of William Morris and Insomnia

On October 3, 2018, Epik High left YG Entertainment after six years.

On February 19, 2019, Epik High signed a contract with William Morris Endeavor.

Epik High Released Their Second EP, Sleepless , March 11th

• Map of the Human Soul (2003)
• High Society (2004)
• Swan Songs (2005)
• Remapping the Human Soul (2007)
• Pieces, Part One (2008)
• (e) (2009)
• Epilogue (2010)
• 99 (2012)
• Shoebox (2014)
• We've Done Something Wonderful (2017)

Gaon Chart Music Awards

Golden Disc Awards

KBS Music Awards

Korean Music Award

MBC Plus X Genie Music Awards

Mnet Asian Music Awards

SBS Music Awards

Seoul Music Awards

• yg-epikhigh.com - official site of Epik High
• Epik High YouTube Video Channel
  • EPIK HIGH - '헤픈 엔딩 (HAPPEN ENDING)' (feat. YOO INNA) + 'BORN HATER' (feat. BI, MINO, BOBBY) in MAMA 2014
• Epik High Profile at KBS World