Drunken Tiger
Drunken Tiger (드렁큰타이거) is a solo Korean-American hip-hop artist known as JK; however Drunken Tiger was a duo in 1999. The group once consisted of two members, Tiger JK & DJ Shine, but DJ Shine left in 2003 for personal reasons, reportedly to start his own business. The two met at hip-hop festival in LA.
They are considered as one of the very first groups to have introduced hip-hop to the gayo scene, thus making them the most influential figures of Korean hip-hop. Early in their career, they made it a point to make sure their opinion of the gayo industry was known. Being highly critical of the "watered down" pop acts trying to pass off as hip-hop and of the music industry as a whole, they were often very controversial. For their first couple of albums, they would only come out and perform on gayo shows a handful of times to let it be known that a new album was out, but would promptly cease activities so that they would not further support an industry they despised.
Drunken Tiger is associated with "The Movement" Crew.
Contents
Controversy
Although much of their music was critically acclaimed by the public, they confronted a fair deal of resistance from industry executives. It wasn't until their second album they were given the proper exposure and representation by their management.
However, it was shortly after the release of their second album when Tiger JK was arrested and charged with drug posession along with members of the hip hop group Uptown. It has been reported that members of Uptown had made a deal, giving up JK's name in exchange for acquittal from the crime.
There has also been criticsm that their lyrics are too simplistic and also for their usage of the word "nigger" in their songs. They have defended themselves by stating that they are simply speaking how they do in real life and that they had found acceptance with African-Americans back home and feel justified to write the way they do.
Also, there was a decent amount of commotion caused by some of their attacks in their lyrics directed at other artists. One of the biggest examples is a line from the song Knock Out Kings stating "you're just tapping the Suck like YangHyun"; a direct attack at the founder of YG Entertainment and former Seo Taiji and Boys member Yang Hyun Suk.
Members
- Former Members
- Support Members
Member History
Tiger JK had released a solo album prior to the formation of Drunken Tiger. Several of the singles from this album were present on their group debut. Tiger JK used to reside in California.
DJ Shine was apart of a pop group formed by Yang Hyun Suk called Keep Six. DJ Shine claims he was decieved into joining the group as he was led to believe that it was a Hip-Hop group and not the pop group that they ended up being. The group only released one album and had little success.
Discography
Albums
- [1999.02.02] Year Of The Tiger
- [2000.04.23] The Great Rebirth (위대한 탄생 )
- [2001.03.22] The Legend of
- [2003.02.05] Foundation (뿌리)
- [2004.08.13] One is Not a Lonely Word (하나하면 너와나 )
- [2005.08.12] 1945 Liberation (1945 해방 )
- [2007.09.06] Sky Is The Limit
