2003–2007: Folk Music The three original members of Far East Movement, Kevin Nishimura (Kev Nish), James Roh (Prohgress), and Jae Choung (J-Splif), grew up in the
Downtown Los Angeles area. They were close companions in high school and shared a passion for music together. The trio promoted their music online and began performing at local clubs and events in Los Angeles; soon, they began their musical career with the name "Emcees Anonymous" by 2001. However, they later changed it to Far East Movement or FM, originating from a song that they produced with the same name. In 2003, they organised an event called "Movementality" in
Koreatown, Los Angeles, featuring ten different performances with all the proceeds sent to a local youth drug rehabilitation center. In 2005, Far East Movement released a mixtape called
Audio-Bio, which was one of their first CDs and contained many of their earliest songs and many songs not available anywhere else. Their first album, titled
Folk Music, was released in early 2006. The single "Round Round" was featured in the film,
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, appearing both on the self-titled
soundtrack and video game. This critical breakout was the catalyst that cemented their decision to pursue music as a full-time career. Their songs "Get Offa Me" and "Make Ya Self" were featured in
The Fast and the Furious video game. They proceeded to perform on two world tours (including USA, South America, Canada, and Asia), and they signed distribution deals in Japan and Korea with
Avex Network and JF Productions for their album. In 2007, they were featured in the
Sundance Film Festival film called
Finishing the Game, making the song "Satisfaction" for the film. There were several collaborations on the
Animal album, including
The Stereotypes,
Lil Rob,
Baby Bash,
Wiz Khalifa, Bionik,
MC Jin, 24/8, IZ, DB Tonik, Jah Free, and
Bruno Mars, that made his first appearance on an official track for the first time on the track "3D". Their songs from the
Animal album were featured in major film and television on multiple occasions. FM's single "Girls on the Dance Floor" has been played on MTV's ''
America's Best Dance Crew on the Season 4 Finale during a performance with Artistry In Motion, Vogue Evolution and We Are Heroes. It was also featured on Get Him to the Greek'', FOX's
So You Think You Can Dance and on the 7th episode of
CSI: Miami Season 8. In addition, "Dance Like Michael Jackson" was aired on ABC Family's
Lincoln Heights on November 10, 2009 and on the
Gossip Girl episode, "Dan de Fleurette". "I Party" was highlighted on FOX's TV series
Lie To Me and "Fetish" was on Spike TV's Guy's Choice Awards 2009. "Girls on the Dance Floor" has attained over 5 million hits on Myspace while attracting over 8 million views on YouTube. Streetwear company Orisue teamed up with Far East Movement and helped shoot a music video for "Lowridin". In May 2009, Far East Movement joined the Korean hip hop group
Epik High on their "Map the Soul" tour throughout the U.S. They then held their first headlining concert at the Roxy Theater in Hollywood by July 2009, which resulted in a sold-out show. Together with
Wong Fu Productions, FM has established another three sold-out "International Secret Agents" concerts titled as "ISA", hosted in
San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York in order to promote Asian American artists in the media with performances by
Quest Crew,
Poreotics,
Jay Park, and others. FM's mixtape
Party Animal was released on the first date of
LMFAO's Party Rock Tour. Their two singles, "Girls on the Dance Floor" and "2 is Better w/
Ya Boy", garnered successful radio airplay. They later announced that they were working on a new album with Grammy nominated producers, The Stereotypes, who had produced their hit track, "Girls on the Dance Floor".
2010–2011: Cherrytree/Interscope Records and Free Wired '', October 2010 In February 2010, Far East Movement signed a major record deal with
Cherrytree Records, a subsidiary of
Interscope Records. They were managed at the time by Ted Chung and Russell Redeaux of Stampede Management. Later in the same year, the group supported
Robyn and
Kelis on their double headlining tour along with
Dan Black, in addition to being announced as the opening act of
Lady Gaga's tour on the Japanese leg of
The Monster Ball Tour. Furthermore, their previous hit track, "Girls on the Dancefloor" & "Fetish", was featured in
Piranha 3D, yet it was not slotted into the film's soundtrack. Their 2010 "ISA" shows in New York and LA were held on August 28 and September 5 respectively. They performed their songs alongside acts by
AJ Rafael,
Jay Park,
Wong Fu Productions,
Poreotics and
Quest Crew (both winners from
America's Best Dance Crew),
David Choi, Jennifer Chung,
David Garibaldi, Lydia Paek, and more. From September 13 until mid-October, the group was one of the opening acts for the Up In The Air Tour with
Mike Posner, across various cities in North America.
Free Wired, their debut album from Cherrytree/Interscope Records, was released on October 12, 2010. The album includes collaborations with
Keri Hilson,
Lil Jon,
Snoop Dogg (a song co-written by
Bruno Mars),
Mohombi,
Colette Carr,
Natalia Kills,
Koda Kumi, and
Ryan Tedder from
OneRepublic. In the October 30, 2010, edition of
Billboard Magazine, their single featuring
the Cataracs and
Dev titled "
Like a G6" peaked at number one on the
Billboard Hot 100 as well as
iTunes. On November 20, it was confirmed that the group had reached the
double Platinum status for "Like a G6", collecting two million in sales. Their second single which was released for airplay as a follow-up to "Like A G6" was "Rocketeer", which featured
Ryan Tedder. The group was awarded
Best International Artist in the
2010 M.net Asian Music Awards. The group toured with
Rihanna and
Calvin Harris from late February to early March, as part of Rihanna's
Last Girl on Earth Tour. Right after the tour ended, the group began headlining their own tour, The Free Wired World Tour. The group visited
Manila,
Jakarta,
Taipei, Hong Kong, Singapore,
Seoul,
Hamburg and
Bangkok. The group were due to tour selected venues in the United Kingdom in early July but cancelled these dates due to recording commitments. However, they performed at the Barclaycard
Wireless Festival on July 1 in London. Far East Movement toured with
Lil Wayne on the I Am Still Music tour. On tour, the group took out a second tour bus to work on their second album under the Cherrytree Records label.
2012–2015: Dirty Bass and KTown Riot Their second major label album,
Dirty Bass, was released on May 18, 2012. The lead single from the album was "
Live My Life", featuring
Justin Bieber. It was more successful than the original first single "
Jello". The single was released on February 28, 2012, with the release of the music video on March 23, 2012. The video was shot on the streets of Amsterdam, and directed by Mickey Finnegan. Far East Movement also worked with producers such as
David Guetta, Cherry Cherry Boom Boom (aka Cherrytree founder/president Martin Kierszenbaum),
will.i.am and
RedOne. In September 2012, the group performed in
Charlotte with
Perez Hilton as part of the
2012 Democratic National Convention. On October 22, 2012, they released a new single, "For All" which they then performed at then President Barack Obama's re-election inauguration. Far East Movement also performed the official theme song for the first season of the American-Japanese animated series
Monsuno, which airs in the United States on
Nicktoons. In January 2013, "
Get Up (Rattle)," a song by the
Bingo Players on which they were featured, topped the charts in the United Kingdom. It remained at the top of the
UK Singles Chart for two weeks before being dethroned by "
Thrift Shop" by
Macklemore &
Ryan Lewis. "Turn Up the Love", a track from "Dirty Bass", reached the top 5 on the overall singles charts in over a dozen countries. On April 29, 2013, Far East Movement released the song "Lovetron", featuring
Travis Garland. On June 2, 2013, they released the song "
The Illest", featuring
Riff Raff. On January 9, 2014, they released the song "Bang It To The Curb", featuring
Sidney Samson. Their EP
KTown Riot was released on October 28, 2014.
2016: Identity and J-Splif's Departure On September 21, 2016,
S.M Entertainment, one of the largest entertainment companies in
South Korea, announced that
Chanyeol, from popular
K-pop band
EXO, would be collaborating with Far East Movement in their track "Freal Luv", which also features
Tinashe and
Marshmello. On October 10, 2016,
Starship Entertainment announced that
Hyolyn, from
K-pop girl-group
Sistar, would be featured in a new song titled "Umbrella". Both songs were included in the band's fifth studio album,
Identity, released on October 21. It features various Korean artists, such as
Tiffany from
Girls' Generation, rappers
Yoon Mi-rae,
Jay Park,
Loco and R&B group
Urban Zakapa, along with American singer-songwriter
Macy Gray, rapper
Soulja Boy and credits from British singer-producer
MNEK.
Identity debuted at #1 on the global
iTunes dance charts. The
music video for "Freal Luv" was viewed over 30 million times on
YouTube. On October 14, 2016, Far East Movement released "We Out Here" featuring
Blackbear and Thurz. On November 23, 2016, Far East Movement announced that
J-Splif had left the group due to family reasons.
2017–present: International collaborations On October 26, 2018, Far East Movement released a song titled "Bamboo" which features vocals from
Jason Zhang and
Kina Grannis. On February 8, 2019, Far East Movement released a single titled "Blossoms" which features Troop Brand and Chinese rapper
Vava. On March 14, 2019, Far East Movement released a single titled "Lovebird" which features
Lay. On April 19, 2019, Far East Movement released a single titled "Paint the Clouds" which features vocals from
Tia Ray. On June 21, 2019, Far East Movement released a single titled "Maps", featuring Diamond, Starchild Yeezo, and Rell the Soundbender. On July 26, 2019, Far East Movement released a single titled "Glue", featuring
Heize and
Shawn Wasabi. ==Awards and nominations==