Here at The Honey Pop, we take ancient texts very seriously, and when it comes to Stray Kids, our beloved ancient text is 3RACHA’s discography. Before making music that would take over the world and define a new generation in K-Pop, before Stray Kids‘ debut, before even the survival show, 3RACHA was already an established unit making music and uploading it to SoundCloud—under the stage names of CB97 for Bang Chan, SPEARB for Changbin, and J.One for Han. And while we now have an extensive and varied catalog of Stray Kids music written, composed, and produced by 3RACHA, their early discography is something no Stray Kids fan should miss. The tracks might be direct homages to some of their favorite rappers, but there was also a spark of something new and refreshing—what would come to be Stray Kids.
If you don’t know where to start when it comes to getting familiar with their music, then you’ve come to the right place! We’re here to guide you through their discography from January 2017 to now!
J:/2017/mixtape
On January 18th, 2017, 3RACHA released their first mixtape on SoundCloud, featuring two songs: ‘Intro’ and ‘The Dreamz.’ It marked the beginning of 3RACHA for the public, and it’s the day now remembered as their anniversary. After this initial release, they released two songs together every two weeks: one self-produced song and one song that followed the mixtape formula of relying on samples. All the original tracks were combined into one single mixtape, J:/2017/mixtape, released on April 26th, 2017. Unfortunately, the secondary tracks were deleted, but fortunately for us, the internet is forever, and you can absolutely still find them.
This first mixtape already featured some of their most iconic songs, including ‘Runner’s High‘—which they performed several times in their rookie years, including during the survival show—as well as the infamous ‘WOW,’ the only track in the mixtape to be produced by Changbin, as opposed to the other tracks, produced by Bang Chan. The first line in the mixtape—“1, 2, 3RACHA spotlight“—is also what serves as the unofficial 3RACHA greeting. The mixtape already had energetic tracks, but it didn’t shy away from heavier topics such as mental health and school bullying. One mixtape was all it took to lay the foundation for what Stray Kids would become.
Tracklist:
- ‘Intro’
- ‘Tik Tok’
- ‘Runner’s High’
- ‘Don Quixote’
- ‘은석이 (Eunseoki)’
- ‘WOW’
- ‘NXT 2 U’
Deleted Tracks & Their Samples:
- ‘The Dreamz’ (‘Wet Dreamz’ by J.Cole)
- ‘Complain’ (‘Who I Am’ by Pusha T, 2 Chainz, and Big Sean)
- ‘₩1,000,000’ (‘Senile’ by Young Money, Tyga, Nicki Minaj, and Lil Wayne)
- ’42’ (‘Too Young’ by Post Malone)
- ‘Cloud 9’ (‘Killas’ by Ca$hfromtheb and Lilyoungstunnal)
- ‘건들지마 (Don’t Touch Me)’ (‘Hip Hop Is Dead’ by Nas and will.i.am)
- ‘Bucket List’ (‘King Kunta’ by Kendrick Lamar)
3Days
3RACHA didn’t waste any time and continued to release music shortly after their first mixtape. 3Days followed the same release pattern: two tracks every two weeks, one self-composed and one sampled. And just like J:/2017/mixtape, the sampled tracks were deleted when 3Days was released on August 16th, 2017. However, two additional unreleased tracks were added to the tracklist: ‘IF,’ a Changbin solo song, and ‘I SEE,’ a Han solo song. Bang Chan was once again the one to produce the most tracks, with Changbin and Han also taking part in the production of their respective solo songs. Additionally, ‘힘이 돼 (Become My Strength)’ was the first song entirely produced by Han.
While this is probably the least remembered mixtape, it showed significant growth both lyrically and stylistically for 3RACHA. The iconic ‘Small Things’ is in this mixtape after all. They continued to delve into heavier topics like in ‘Peer Pressure,’ and showed more vulnerability and rawness, especially in Han’s solo track. They also experimented way more with their sound, as showcased in a song like ‘-.+.’ 3Days also features a song that would later become a Stray Kids mixtape. ‘If There’s a Shadow, There Must Be Light’ was a deleted track from 3Days, but it was rewritten as a Stray Kids song as a CD-only bonus track for I am WHO—first named ‘Mixtape#2’ and released on streaming platforms with Clé 2: YELLOW WOOD, and later re-recorded and re-named ‘Behind The Light’ in SKZ2021.
Tracklist:
- ‘쉿’ (Shh)
- ‘작은 Dragon Three 마리 (Three Little Dragons)’
- ‘Peer Pressure’
- ‘Small Things’
- ‘-.+’
- ‘국산 바나나 (Domestic Banana)’
- ‘힘이 돼 (Become My Strength)’
- ‘IF’
- ‘I SEE’
Deleted Tracks & Their Samples:
- ‘그림자도 빛이 있어야 존재 (If There’s a Shadow, There Must Be Light)’ (‘Too Far’ by Primary and Beenzino)
- ‘깨 (Sesame)’ (‘Caroline’ by Aminé)
- ‘ID:a’ (‘Fade Away’ by Logic)
- ‘Subway Pt. II’ (‘After Surgery Thoughts (Cole Summer Remix)’ by JeterCT)
- ‘Cypher I’ (‘Yonkers’ by Tyler, the Creator, ‘Butterfly Effect’ by Travis Scott, and ‘Soliloquy’ by Isaiah Rashad)
- ‘지갑방 (Wallet Room)’ (’44 Bars’ by Logic)
- ‘Alchemistry’ (‘Tokyo Drift’ by Kaseem The Skywalker)
Horizon
The final mixtape by 3RACHA, at least for now, followed the same bi-weekly release schedule, but they left behind the sampled songs. And so, Horizon was completed on December 20th, the day after Stray Kids‘ debut was confirmed, with all its members. Horizon is by far the most iconic and most well-known 3RACHA mixtape. Not only does it have truly iconic songs such as ‘Matryoshka’ and ‘P.A.C.E.,’ but it also has that sound that can only be described as Stray Kids‘ own genre.
Horizon is the mixtape from which they also took the most songs to turn into Stray Kids songs: ‘Placebo‘ was released as ‘Mixtape#1’ as a CD only exclusive in their debut mini-album, I am NOT, ‘For You’ was released as ‘Mixtape#3’ for I am YOU, ‘Broken Compass‘ was ‘Mixtape#4’ in Clé 1: MIROH, and they all were released on platforms with the special album, Clé: YELLOW WOOD. ‘Hoodie Season’ was the last of the series, ‘Mixtape#5,’ a CD exclusive to Clé: LEVANTER. All songs regained their original titles with the release on SKZ2021.
In many ways, Horizon marked the ending of an era for 3RACHA and the beginning of a world changing career.
Tracklist
- ‘Matryoshka’
- ‘Hoodie Season’
- ‘P.A.C.E.’
- ‘고장난 나침반 (Broken Compass)’
- ‘Placebo’
- ‘SCENE STEALERS’
- ‘Double Knot’
- ‘For You’
3RACHA Songs Since HORIZON
Thankfully for us, 3RACHA didn’t stop making music as a trio just there. Of course, Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han have had their hands in Stray Kids‘ discography from A to Z, to the point where all three of them are in the top 10 of idols most credited on KOMCA, with Bang Chan coming at second overall. But aside from performing their songs, released and unreleased, on huge stages such as KCON and the MAMAs, there have also been a couple of additions to their 3RACHA discography.
Official Songs
‘Start Line’ – The song was released on the anniversary of 3RACHA‘s first upload, a few months before their official debut in Stray Kids. It is a raw, emotional song that traces their journeys and explores their love for music.
‘ZONE’ – With the kickoff of Stray Kids‘ series, SKZ-Player, each sub-unit released a special video. In 3RACHA’s case, they released a brand-new song, ‘ZONE.’ They also performed it on MCountdown, and it was eventually released on streaming platforms as part of SKZ-REPLAY in 2022.
‘Carpe Diem’ – In 2019, Stray Kids gave one of their most meaningful performances of the year at VLive’s VHeartbeat Awards, by performing ‘3rd Eye,’ ‘Side Effects’ and ‘Double Knot.’ And in the middle of that, Changbin and Han performed a brand new song: ‘Carpe Diem.’ The song was later officially released on SoundCloud on the third anniversary of 3RACHA.
‘We Go’ – For Stray Kids‘ first world tour, each unit had a stage with an unreleased song (at the time). And so, 3RACHA gave us ‘We Go.’ It was later released as part of the repackaged version of Stray Kids‘ first full-length album, IN LIFE.
‘JUST BREATHE’ – In early 2022, 3RACHA collaborated with the Japanese artist SKY-HI on his song ‘JUST BREATHE.’ It was their first commercial release as a trio, outside of the songs included in Stray Kids‘ albums.
‘HEYDAY’ – 3RACHA teamed up with Street Man Fighter to release ‘HEYDAY,’ this time produced by Czaer, and it gave us one of their most iconic, addictive songs yet.
‘3RACHA’ – Just like with IN LIFE, Stray Kids included unit songs by the three different “rachas” for MAXIDENT, giving way for the self-titled ‘3RACHA‘ – which Changbin kicks off with the same opening line as ‘Intro’ from J:/2017/mixtape. The outro of the song also re-purposed a part of their song ‘PASSION,’ performed at KCON 2020.
Special Stages
‘PASSION’ – Opening performance at the 2020 Summer KCON:TACT
‘Colours’ – Unit performance for Mnet’s Kingdom: Legendary War, alongside BTOB’s Minhyuk and ATEEZ’s Hongjoong
‘Hey Monster’ – Special performance during Stray Kids‘ stage at the 2021 MAMA
‘YEAH’ – Special stage at the 2022 KCON in Los Angeles
‘Music Makes One’ – Special stage for the opening of the 2022 MAMAs, alongside Jung Jaeil and Tiger JK
It doesn’t stop there because 3RACHA have taken every single opportunity to make new music and show off their skills as writers and composers, as well as their chemistry as a trio. The thing is, these songs don’t always have titles. 3RACHA performed an untitled song alongside N.Flying at KCON LA in 2019, and revamped and performed ‘Back Door’ with the participants of the survival show LOUD in 2021. They also performed at the ON: Hallyu Festival, where Changbin rapped part of his ‘Cypher,’ Bang Chan sang part of ‘Drive,’ and Han premiered ‘Scissor.’ Their AAA 2021 performance is another example of how 3RACHA flawlessly incorporates new music and raps into their performances—yet this one was never given a name. The title doesn’t matter when the music hits, and 3RACHA never fail.
What’s your favorite 3RACHA song of all time? What’s your favorite mixtape? Be sure to let us know by tweeting us at @thehoneypop or visiting us on Facebook and Instagram.
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TO LEARN MORE ABOUT 3RACHA:
INSTAGRAM | BANG CHAN’S INSTAGRAM | CHANGBIN’S INSTAGRAM | HAN’S INSTAGRAM | SOUNDCLOUD | YOUTUBE
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT STRAY KIDS:
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | TWITTER | WEBSITE | YOUTUBE
