BANG YONGGUK

South Korea's Bang Yong-guk (aka Yongguk) is a rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer who entered the music industry as the leader of the TS Entertainment-founded boy band B.A.P. After releasing five studio albums with the group -- including the chart-topping First Sensibility (2014) -- he left the entertainment company in 2018 to kickstart his solo career with the 2019 solo album BANGYONGGUK. Born in Seoul and raised in Incheon, musician Bang Yong-guk first released music as part of rap group Soul Connection, which he joined through online forums while attending middle school. Under the alias Jepp Blackman, he began working substantially with the collective, debuting with "Cherry Flower" before appearing on the group's 2009 album Rapsody. His stint with the group was to be short-lived, however: after a scout from TS Entertainment (Untouchable, Secret) took notice of his talents, the rapper (now using the alias Yongguk) signed a contract with the company in 2010. Yongguk's TS debut was a monumental success -- the rapper's husky voice and fierce flow helped catapult Song Ji-eun's "Going Crazy" to a number one spot on the Gaon Music and Gaon Digital and Streaming charts. With the musician's name established on a national scale, TS soon announced that he would be the leader and main rapper of the organization's new boy group, B.A.P. The group debuted in early 2012 with the gritty single "Warrior," followed by a single album of the same name which landed at number ten on Billboard's World Albums chart. Similar successes came later that year with two single albums (Power and Stop It) and the No Mercy EP, before B.A.P. topped the Billboard World Albums chart in early 2013 with sophomore EP One Shot. Yongguk continued to demonstrate his raw talent and charisma on the group's debut album, First Sensibility, which landed at number one on the Gaon albums chart. After a brief hiatus in 2014 and 2015 -- during which Yongguk released the solo single "AM 4:44" -- B.A.P. continued to find success through the end of the 2010s, issuing a second Korean studio album, Noir (2016), and three Japanese-language LPs, Best.Absolute.Perfect (2016), Unlimited (2017), and Massive (2018). Yongguk decided not to renew his contract with the organization in 2018, leaving B.A.P. to begin his solo career. His post-TS debut came with the introspective "Hikikomori," a compelling reflection of his fears and anxiety, followed by the second single "Journey" and a film (A Short Film About Bang Yongguk) in early 2019. His debut album, BANGYONGGUK, arrived later that year, a versatile, personal, and poignant offering featuring everything from jazz-rap to R&B. In 2022, he issued a more anthemic second album, 2, which was the first to be released on his own label, Consent. ~ David Crone, Rovi