Far East Movement

Far East Movement

Far East Movement, also known as FM, is a Los Angeles group active since 2003. Its current line-up is J-Splif, Kev Nish, Prohgress, Virman Coquia and JT Rollerson. The group starts out in Koreatown, Los Angeles, and the original members — Kevin Nishimura, James Roh and Jae Choung — grow up there, meeting through high school and sharing an interest in music.

Early formation and local activity

Before adopting the Far East Movement name, the group performs under the name Emcee's Anonymous by 2001. They later take the Far East Movement name from a song they produce with that title. In 2003, they organise an event called Movementality in Koreatown, with ten performances and proceeds going to a local youth drug rehabilitation centre.

Style and profile

The group describes its music and image as combining music, lifestyle and party culture, aimed at listeners drawn to nightlife, fashion, car culture and online music blogs. Their work draws on the clubs, streets and diverse neighbourhoods of Southern California, and they build a large online following alongside a reputation for energetic live performances. Their listed styles include dance-pop, electro house, electropop, hip hop, hip house and pop rap.

Recordings, touring and collaborations

Far East Movement tours widely, including two world tours covering the United States, South America, Canada, Europe and Asia, and they also appear on the 35-city Party Rock Tour with LMFAO. Their single “Girls On The Dance Floor” reaches number one on Los Angeles radio and appears on the Billboard charts. In 2010, they sign their first major-label deal with Cherrytree / Interscope Records after releasing two independent albums.

The group works with the Stereotypes on its third album and first major release. Later, its fifth studio album, Identity, includes collaborations with a range of Korean and international artists, among them Chanyeol of EXO, Tinashe, Marshmello, Hyolyn of Sistar, Tiffany of Girls' Generation, Yoon Mi-rae, Jay Park, Loco, Urban Zakapa, Macy Gray, Soulja Boy and MNEK. The album debuts at number one on the global iTunes dance charts.

Media, film and brand work

Far East Movement appears on MTV World and has music placed on television and film projects including So You Think You Can Dance, America's Best Dance Crew, Lincoln Heights, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Entourage, Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift and Finishing the Game. The group is also the first Asian act to perform at the Sundance Film Festival's Music Café Gala, hosted by ASCAP, and it appears at the Cannes Film Festival in France.

Outside recording and touring, Far East Movement works in marketing and endorsements, including campaigns with McDonald's and Verizon Wireless. It also co-creates the International Secret Agents concert series with Wong Fu Productions to support community outreach, with endorsements from JCPenney and Verizon.

Later activity

After J-Splif leaves the group in 2016 for family reasons, Far East Movement continues to release singles and collaborations, including “Freal Luv”, “Umbrella”, “We Out Here”, “Bamboo”, “Blossoms”, “Lovebird”, “Paint the Clouds”, “Maps”, “Glue”, “Nice Things”, “Let the Future In” and “We Are the Truth”.