Tablo [타블로]: Daniel Armand Lee, one of the earliest and absolute best Korean hip hop artists in the music industry.

Like any fangirl, I specifically made a Hallyu bucket list for my Korea trip. Like any fangirl, meeting my faves was definitely on that list.

Today, I’m going to share with you the best of my very first music festival.

Epik High

Korea Hip Hop Festival allowed me to cross two items off my bucket list, and watching Epik High live was one of them.

I was literally high during the whole performance. I was mesmerized and, at times, I felt myself turning deaf and just gazing at the most lit stage of the night.

Tablo, Mithra Jin, DJ Tukutz: Name a better trio, I’ll wait … Just kidding, I won’t wait because there is absolutely no other trio that showcases bromance, talent, and pure fun like these outstanding three artists do. I’ve read about them and watched them onscreen, but to witness them live is something else: To witness them live is something epic.

Epik High’s name speaks for itself, and their music speaks for us. Although I haven’t come across them until May 2016, and I have yet to go through their entire discography starting from 2003, I wholeheartedly appreciate their existence for the past 14 years.

Songs performed by Epik High: “Born Hater”, “Fly”, “Umbrella”, “Love Love Love”, “Don’t Hate Me”.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd8hndsFQoy/?taken-by=esmeegoeshallyu

Epic Tablo

On KHF, I ultimately managed to cross my No.1 item off the bucket list : meeting Tablo.

Since I already booked our tickets for the festival prior to our arrival, I knew that I would get to see him eventually, but what I didn’t know was that I would be standing in the front row and that he would walk off the stage and stop right in front of me.

In that moment, my brain went blank. All I kept telling myself was that my mentor, role model, idol, and the reason I went back to writing was standing in front of me.

Of course, I got snatched out of the moment because of the audience that went crazy and started pulling me backwards to claim the front row. A pile of arms was reaching out from behind to grab him, and although I was in the very front, I still hesitated whether it would be appropriate to grab onto him as well: Yes, I am the no-fun type of fangirl, the one with that 1% of hesitation because I don’t want to cause any kind of inconvenience to any artist, let alone my faves.

Nevertheless, I managed to grab his arm at some point to retrieve my balance and thankfully still kept filming throughout the whole thing. I was also lucky and very grateful for taking part in the hi-touch twice, which is marked in the video above with two high-pitched screams, followed by a hysterical laugh towards the end.

Zico & Heize

While Epik High closed the show, they weren’t the only artists performing that night. In fact, I got the chance to watch both my third favorite rapper and one of my new favorite artists live.

Zico, whom I actually have known long before Tablo and RM, set the stage on fire with his hype and playfulness. Watching him perform some of his hit songs such as “Tough Cookie” and “Okey Dokey” amongst others, as well as his recently released title track “Artist” was one for the books.

Before him, Heize marked her presence onstage as she fervently performed her popular songs, “And July” and “Don’t Know You” being a few. What really caught my attention was how sweet she was to her fans when she communicated with them between songs; I felt jealous because I couldn’t understand Korean, and I could only interpret the awes of the audience.

That’s all for today! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, and stay tuned for more Hallyu gems. Until I see you next time, thank you for reading me.