Since late 2020, Epik High has been hinting at a new album in the works and it’s finally here! Part of it anyway—their tenth studio album is slowly being revealed through a double album release and Epik High Is Here 上 (Part 1) is quite obviously the first part. This marks their first release since March of 2019 with Sleepless in ______ and fans have been waiting eagerly for the trio to hit the industry with more of the real and relatable lyrics that they have become known for.  

Let’s Talk Music!

Tracklist: 

1. “LESSON ZERO” 

2. “ROSARIO” feat. CL, ZICO ♔

3. “내 얘기 같아 (BASED ON A TRUE STORY)” feat. HEIZE ♔

4. “수상소감 (ACCEPTANCE SPEECH)” feat. B.I

5. “LEICA” feat. KIM SAWOL

6. “정당방위 (IN SELF-DEFENSE)” feat. Woo, Nucksal, Changmo

7. “TRUE CRIME” feat. Miso

8. “SOCIAL DISTANCE 16”

9. “END OF THE WORLD” feat. G.Soul

10. “WISH YOU WERE”

“ROSARIO”

Although it’s not the first track on this album, “ROSARIO” strongly sets the mood with a Latin flair that is emphasized by the acoustic guitar, clappers, and horns that come in for the first time at the pre-chorus—the bass line also goes hard and when it drops, it drops. It’s amazing and the first time listening is mind blowing. Aside from the music, this track also features artists CL and ZICO, who deliver their verses perfectly as expected. Another expectation that everyone has come to look forward to is lyrics, and they don’t disappoint. “How come there are this many saints? Don’t even shed me a teardrop. Afraid of the law but none of y’all fear God. Pretending to be clean, trying so hard,” “If you weren’t around when I shed tears, you don’t deserve me when I laugh,” “Outta my way, I am a legend and I’m here to stay,” ”Thank you my haters.The honour is all yours. Handwriting my epic narrative with your malicious comments,” “You’re still a speck of dust in my eyes, whether or not I shake it off, there’s no gain. I don’t waste my time,” and “I paved the way for everyone that is pavin’ the way” make the song another iconic title track from Epik High that everyone will certainly enjoy vibing to. 

“내 얘기 같아 (BASED ON A TRUE STORY)”

This track is a total contrast to “ROSARIO,” but it’s just as amazing and definitely deserved its place as a title track. HEIZE’s voice makes the song so enchanting and with the combination of the main piano melody, the strings, and the intertwined piano riffs, it creates something emotional that you can’t help but feel a sense of sadness from. “Just to fill my tiny void, I extort others’ emotions and end up harboring them. I keep the solitude and loneliness that are not mine on my heart and lips. Empathizing, saying it sounds like my story. The truth is, I’m afraid that I might feel something that is entirely mine.” This one verse was enough for everything to stop; it hit close to the heart and it ended up being a line that would continuously pop up through the day. The way Epik High conveys their emotions and thoughts through their music and lyrics is honestly genius. 

B-Sides

“LESSON ZERO” is a full English track a little over two minutes long and when length was brought up, Tablo responded through Twitter with, “lesson zero is short because I said everything that needed to be said.” The song is completely insightful and impactful from the first listen. As always, the lyrics are deep and they definitely make you think and reflect on both yourself and the world around you. This track wasn’t at all complex in terms of music, most likely to put emphasis on what Tablo is saying. Messages like “They teach you to heed the word of a god who has never spoken,” “That to feel is to be weak, to suppress emotion, so no one sees you had a heart ‘till your chest is open,” “Feed you things to fight about instead of things to fight for” hit hard because these are topics that are constantly brought up everywhere you look. Epik High, to many, has always been an artist that people go to for many different reasons, each one personal to the person listening, and that won’t be changing anytime soon. 

One thing that can definitely be said about “수상소감 (ACCEPTANCE SPEECH)” is that it’s incredibly painful. Hitting you where it hurts is something that they have always been good at and you don’t even have to understand the lyrics; you can hear it in their voices and in the music they worked hard to compose. This song features former iKON leader B.I and it’s one of the first tracks we’ve gotten to hear from him in a while—somehow that makes the lyrics mean even more as he sings “even bitter smiles are smiles after all, because I live in a world with nothing to smile about.” Are our idols really happy or are they constantly forcing themselves to fake it for the camera? It’s worrisome. More lyrics that both ride the beat and make you seriously question life are: “Everyone seems afraid of my lack of emotion, when you’re the culprits who turned me into this,” “Now I can be anything I wanna be. What doesn’t kill me can only make me bleed,” and “There’s one thing I realized. Maybe God and the Devil, the two, rather than being enemies, are just dual personalities of the same being.” That last line alone was personally so impactful, but the whole song is representative of all the struggles they face, the struggles we face, and the questions and thoughts that come along with them. 

“LEICA” starts off with a strong bass line and a nice piano melody line that Tablo sings along with; it’s…dare I say, unrefined? It gives off the vibe that it’s an ode to the creative process of the song, which is refreshing to hear because we rarely ever get to hear what a song sounds like in the making. This song has a theme of living life to the fullest and there should be much appreciation for lines like “Put the phone down. No more cameras. I live with all my might and every time I close my eyes, I save a smile. This is how you take a real picture to last a lifetime,” “I hold happiness in my heart, not in my eyes,” and “the only time worth is that spent loving and being loved, scenes that will grow old but still remain beautiful.” Sometimes as humans we get so caught up in living life trying to purposefully show off and it’s become normal to take pictures as a way to remember things for later. Truthfully, memories that are important to you always stay with you and the emphasis on that in this song is really beautiful.  

“정당방위 (IN SELF-DEFENSE)” is a wake up call— a slap in the face to all the haters and keyboard warriors and we’re here for it. Epik High, Woo, Nucksal, and Changmo didn’t waste a single breath holding back on the track and honestly, they didn’t have to. The lyrics called out people who firmly believe that they deserve to know everything about a celebrity’s life and people who talk and spread hate; people who clearly don’t have anything better to do. “You treat me like a bitch and expect obedience? Aha! The right to know, the right to know? Thanks to that, we get tabloids breeding like rabbits and flocks of f**kery," "Rather than social distancing, wanna distance myself from these pessimistic f**ks. No difference between you and the virus, cuz you only leave behind pain," "I’ve done everything you’ve done, except one: kissing hella ass to earn good opportunities," and “I swear to God, swear I didn’t wanna have to kill again. Eye for an eye. Classic after classic, this is number ten. Hey you f**kers. Name a f**kin’ rapper we ain’t influenced. It’s Epik High. If I’m guilty, it was all in self-defense. BANG!" Lyrics are especially important in this track because it takes courage and a lot of confidence, but it simultaneously takes a lot of pent up frustration to release something like this. This is something that artists have to go through all the time and it gets worse everyday because of people who don’t know when to stop; it’s powerful.

“TRUE CRIME” is hands down one of the best songs on the album, starting out with a very chill lofi-esque beat before it switches up to a slow piano with repetitive bass hits. The music on this track is probably a favorite with the light synths in the back creating a build up to a bass drop at the chorus where Miso sings “It’s only us” to a slight EDM breakdown. The best part comes right before the second chorus where the hi-hits come in to emphasize the build up before the previous bass drop comes in but with added elements, hitting harder than the first time around. Just like the music, the lyrics are captivating as well; “You’re a controversial work, the embers that agitate me. Don’t care what they say, you make my dead heart beat again,” “Even if we break any law, love is love. How could a world that’s turned its back on love ever understand love that’s turned its back on the world?,” “I’d open up my chest for your entertainment,” and “It’s a true crime for me to be without you,” are just some of the lines that make this track so appealing. 

Epik High always has a way of making things seem so effortless and “SOCIAL DISTANCE 16” is just one of those tracks. Mithra Jin and Tablo are heard in the beginning saying things like “turn my mic up” and that gives listeners a feeling of playful curiosity, wondering what they could possibly do with a track only one minute long. Well, they can do a lot. They did do a lot. This has got to be the shortest but most real diss track out there. There are two main points to this track: the music industry and the overarching theme of the pandemic. “Quarantine, we in quarantine. The industry makes me sick and there’s no vaccine, ''got lots to say but surrounded by boundaries and restraints,” “everyone declares immortality, but in ten years boy, watch carefully. Who will survive? Goodbye. Good riddance and bye bye.” These are a few of the lyrics in this track and it’s honestly amazing how they can spit so much truth in such a short time—it really emphasizes the fact that they put a lot of thought into this track and it isn’t as effortless as it may seem at the start. 

Right off the bat, “END OF THE WORLD” starts off with a crisp acoustic guitar melody and G.Soul’s vocals right before the bass line comes in to accompany the flow. It turns into a nice R&B groove that people can easily vibe to on a daily basis, especially with the catchy lyrics that G.Soul provides us: “I want you to love me like it’s the end of the world. No one else above me. Nobody else you prefer. ’Cause we got this thing I wanna trust. Even if it falls apart, I want you to love me like it’s the end of the world.” Even though you can definitely bop to this, the lyrics are just as serious as any of the others on the album, talking about how hypocritical people are with lines like “Even God can’t save us. Full of doubt rather than belief. Living with both eyes and ears closed but asking for the truth,” and “Justice eludes wealth. The more corrupt, the more likely to survive, they teach as if it’s only natural to be hurt as much as you’ve dreamed. The future has been concealed by the darkness of reality.” One last aspect of the music that’s definitely worth mentioning is the slight synth beat that comes in toward the end of the track because it complements the vocals and makes the song seem so much more ethereal. 

“WISH YOU WERE” is such a powerful way to end the album. It’s another short, all English track, but it’s a track that seems very similar to “LESSON ZERO.” Tablo seems to have said all that he needed to say and told the story that he wanted to tell. This track was very emotional because on a previous song on the album, he mentions his daughter; on this track, he talks about how his desire to stay home with his family and his family noticing how he’s a little worn out means he’s “washed up” in the people’s eyes. This narrative is a recurring theme on the album, but just the fact that Epik High is still making music and releasing their tenth studio album is enough to prove that narrative wrong. Their music speaks volumes and it also speaks to people's hearts—this album was beautifully done. 

“ROSARIO” Title Score: 9/10

“내 얘기 같아 (BASED ON A TRUE STORY)” Title Score: 9.5/10

“ROSARIO” MV Score: 8/10

“내 얘기 같아 (BASED ON A TRUE STORY)” MV Score: 9/10

Epik High is Here Pt. 1 Album Score: 9.5/10

Total Score: 9/10

* Lyric translation from here.