Pioneers of Korean hip-hop, Drunken Tiger formed in 1998. Initially comprised of Korean American rapper Tiger JK (real name: Seo Jung-kwon) and producer, DJ, and rapper DJ Shine (real name: Lim Byung-wook), Drunken Tiger released their debut album, Year of the Tiger, in 1999. Featuring the singles “I Want You” and “Do You Know Hip-Hop,” the album reached number 20 on the albums chart. The duo brought in three new members – DJ Jhig, Micki Eyes, and Roscoe Umali – for their second album, The Great Rebirth, which was released in 2000 and reached number 3. Tiger JK was arrested on drug charges and the group was banned from performing in public for two years, After an appeal, the ban was lifted and the group released their third album, The Legend of… (number 7 / 2001), which became one of their most successful albums. In 2001, they won Best Hip Hop Performance at the MNET Music Video Festival and Hip-Hop / Rap Award at the Seoul Music Awards. Drunken Tiger’s popularity continued to grow internationally with the release of the albums Foundation (number 8 / 2003), and One is Not a Lonely Word (number 4 / 2004) but after the release of their sixth album, 1945 Liberation (number 3 / 2005), DJ Shine left the group and Tiger JK continued to use the group’s name as a solo project. Drunken Tiger’s next album, Sky is the Limit (2007), featured the single “8:45 to Heaven”, which won the award for Best Hip-Hop Song at the Korean Music Awards in 2008. Feel gHood Muzik: The 8th Wonder was released in 2009 and became a big seller. The album featured 27 songs, all of which debuted on the Top 100K-Pop Singles chart. Another popular release, the album won Record of the Year at the Seoul Music Awards in 2010 and Best hip-Hop Album at the Korean Music Awards. Tiger JK formed a trio called MFBTY with Yoon Mi-rae and Bizz and released the single “Sweet Dreams.” He then brought the two members on board for the next Drunken Tiger album The Cure (number 11 / 2013). After a 2015 album with MFBTY, Tiger JK returned as Drunken Tiger with the 2018 album Drunken Tiger X: Rebirth of Tiger JK, which reached number 22 on the albums chart.
