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| “ | Every day is a repetition of surprise and thankfulness. We can get carried away with all these things and all this love doesn’t let us settle down in reality. I make sure to have humility every day. | ” |
| — Mino | ||
Mino is a South Korean rapper, songwriter, and producer, under YG Entertainment. He is the main rapper of the boy group WINNER and MOBB. He made his debut with MOBB on September 9, 2016, with the mini album The MOBB.
Career[]
2007–2012[]
Alongside his studies, Mino was also a member of the underground rapping scene, under the name Mino or Hugeboy Mino, performing with other underground rappers-turned-idols, namely Block B's Zico and P.O, and Phantom's Hanhae. He auditioned and trained under Stardom Entertainment for several years before attaining a position in the line-up for the boy band, Block B alongside trainees Zico, U-Kwon, B-Bomb and Jaehyo. However, due to not being of legal age at the time, his father consulted with the company on his behalf in terms of business regarding the contract and ultimately was unable to reach an agreement. In result, he left to pursue elsewhere.
Starting from scratch, he joined and trained under Y2Y Contents Company for almost two years before making his debut on July 27, 2011 as a rapper in the ballad boy band BoM with the stage name "Tagoon". While promoting under the group, despite writing five songs among their releases, the executive of the company did not register nor credit his contribution for copyright and instead forged the name of another in his place to receive its royalties. He once vouched did not make as little as ₩10 won ($0.09) under the company. The ballad group soon followed disbandment almost two years later in March 2013.
2013–2014[]
In 2013, YG Entertainment reached out to him upon discovering a video of him covering Big Bang's La La La through his appearance on Channel A cable drama The Strongest K-POP Survival in March 2012. Upon being called for an audition, Mino was accepted and joined as a trainee. That same year, he appeared on Mnet survival program WIN: Who Is Next as a contestant under "Team A". Initially, he was appointed as the leader by Yang Hyun-suk during the first episode of the show, however, due to an injury part-way, he was replaced as leader by Kang Seung-yoon. Seeing the synergy and improvement in performance, Yang Hyun-suk made the change permanent in benefit of the team. On October 25, during the finale episode of the survival program, Team A was announced as the winners of the show. In result the team was set to debut under the name, WINNER.
Winner officially made their debut on August 17, 2014, with the studio album, 2014 S/S and the double A-side singles, "Empty" and "Colour Ring". The ten-track album also featured his first solo release titled, "I'm Him", peaking at number 15 on the Gaon Digital Chart. Upon debut, the quintet shot to instantaneous success with "Empty" topping all South Korean charts including Gaon, earning them the title, "Monster Rookies". Their unprecedented success earned them multiple awards that year including Top 10 Artist (Bonsang) at the Melon Music Awards and "Most Popular Korean Group" at the Tudou Young Choice Awards. The group also went on to becoming the fastest act to win on a televised music show, within five days through Mnet's M Countdown.
In October 2014, Mino was featured in labelmate senior Epik High's lead single "Born Hater" from their studio album Shoebox, alongside Beenzino, Verbal Jint, and labelmates iKon's B.I and Bobby. The single peaked at number 3 on the Gaon Digital Chart, selling almost 1.5 million digital copies. It was later performed together for the first time at the 2014 Mnet Asian Music Awards. That same day, he also had a collaborative stage with South Korean singer, IU, performing her single "Friday". In December 2014, Mino co-hosted the 2014 SBS Gayo Daejeon alongside South Korean actress, Song Ji-hyo and singers 2PM's Nichkhun, CNBLUE's Yonghwa, Infinite's L and B1A4's Baro.
2015–2017[]
In April 2015, Mino appeared in the Mnet rap survival program Show Me the Money 4 as a member of "Team Zipal" competing under Zico and Paloalto. He finished the show as the series runner-up behind rapper Basick. Through the program, Mino released numerous singles including Fear, Turtle Ship, Moneyflow, and Okey Dokey. Namely, the single "Fear", featuring labelmate senior Big Bang's Taeyang, went on to becoming one of the best-selling singles of the year, as well the best-selling single among the Show Me the Money series. "Fear" went on to earning him the Discovery of the Year (Hip Hop) award at the Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards, and a nomination for the Hot Trend Award at the MelOn Music Awards.
In September 2016, Mino and labelmate Bobby of iKon was formed as the project sub-unit, MOBB. Together, they released a four-track single album titled The MOBB, with the double A-side singles, "Full House" and "Hit Me" on September 9. The Hip-hop duo's success earned them the Best Hip-Hop/Rap Artist at the Seoul Music Awards. Ahead of their release, Mino also released the digital single, "Body" on September 8. "Body" peaked at number 13 on the Gaon Digital Chart and number 4 on the Billboard World Digital Songs Chart.
Through the MBC variety program, Infinite Challenge, Mino was cast for the show's "Hip hop & History Special" alongside Zico, Bewhy, Dok2, Gaeko and DinDin. He patterned with Haha to create a single with the fusion of hip hop and the history of South Korea. Ultimately, he created the single "Shoot" (쏘아), which peaked at number 3 on the Gaon Digital chart.
Mino joined as the newest addition to the cast of tvN variety program, New Journey to the West alongside Kyuhyun of Super Junior in January 2017 from season 2.5 onward. His appearance on the show marked his first-ever fixed appearance on a television series since debut. He went on to obtaining the infamous names Song Mojiri and Song Garak. On December 5, 2017 Mino appeared on tvN cooking variety program, Kang's Kitchen, a spin-off variety show of New Journey to the West, as a cast member.
2018–present[]
Through the release of the second studio album from his group, Winner, titled Everyday on April 4, 2018, he released the solo B-side single, "Turn Off the Light" (손만 잡고 자자), which peaked at number 74 on the Gaon Digital Chart.
On July 20, Mino featured and co-wrote on labelmate senior Big Bang Seungri's sub-title track "Where R U From" from his studio album The Great Seungri. The single went on to peaking at number 84 on the Gaon Digital Chart. Mino also made an appearance in the music video, which was later released on July 27, as well as on Seungri's live performance on MBC's Show! Music Core and SBS' Inkigayo on July 21 and 22 respectively.
Mino made his official solo debut on November 26 through his first studio album XX, with the lead single "Fiancé" (아낙네). He described the song as a fusion of trot and hip hop that samples the Korean trot song "소양강 처녀" ("Soyanggang Maiden") from 1969. It also went on to topping the month of December on the Gaon Monthly Digital Chart, in result, achieving his first number one hit. His single also earned him the Best Hip-Hop Award at the Golden Disc Awards and multiple nominations including Song of the Year (November) at the Gaon Chart Music Awards. He began promotions through his first music show appearance on MBC's Show! Music Core on December 1 and later achieved his first solo win on a music show through Mnet's M Countdown on December 6.
On October 30, 2020, Mino released his second self-produced solo album Take, with the lead single "Run Away" which peaked at number 55 on the Gaon Digital Chart. This album includes the first track called “Love and a Boy” which Mino wrote, composed, and arranged entirely by himself.
On October 7, 2021, it was announced that Mino will be holding his first ever solo concert, entitled "Maniac" on November 19. The event will be held simultaneously in-person at Seoul's Olympic Hall and online as part of 'YG Palm Stage 2021'. After the concert, Mino announced that he would be releasing his third studio album To Infinity and its lead single "Tang!" on December 7, 2021