Part 1 : “They thought I was a mute because I couldn’t speak till I was 5..”
“How did the celebrities inside our televisions become a star?”
With the outlooks on the entertainment industry rising one step higher, we as the public aren’t just curious about their glamorous images, but their back stories before they became celebrities as well.
We have prepared the column “star story” in our publishing which not only tells a truthful side to stars, but their past that brought them to where they are today. This episode’s protagonist is Bang Yongguk who has stepped forth into the music industry with his strong charisma as the leader of the six-member group B.A.P.
Bang Yongguk greeted us brightly on a day in April filled with a spring atmosphere when we met him in his company. Because we’ve met him before during the days when he promoted in a duet with Secret’s Song Jieun with “Going Crazy,” we were able to interview him in a comfortable state.
We weren’t able to find the image of him shaking from nervousness before his first stage just a year ago as he exuded a confidence that was leader-like of him since he’s currently the leader of the idol group B.A.P.
“Hello, this is Bang Yongguk. I’m already nervous in telling our fans my story haha. What should I start with? Since I was born? Then I should talk about the precognitive dream my parents had before they had me. Hold on, let me call my mother haha.”
How does Bang Yongguk treat his mother? We thought that he would throw away his confidence that he carries as a leader of a team in showing aegyo to his mother but with not even much seconds passing by, those expectations were completely proven wrongly. He spoke to his mother on the phone with his normal deep voice which gave us the sense that he was a cold son.
“I was born in a hospital in Incheon on March 31st, 1990. I’m the youngest out of two sons and one daughter in our family. When my mother was pregnant with me, she said she had a precognitive dream about me and said that there was a really high sluice that gated the ocean and when the sluice opened, the ocean water seeped through and there were only silver-gleaming sand left but in it were two clams. For the fans who caught on early might know that I have an identical twin. Of course, my older twin brother and I both look alike and the way we talk is alike as well.”
And that’s how Bang Yongguk saw the light in the world with his older twin brother as they spent their adolescent days together. Right now, he’s currently showing off the nation’s greatest rap skills but from what we’re told, he learned how to speak much later than other kids.
“I learned how to speak really late. I couldn’t speak till I was 5 so my family thought I was mute. Because of how I was, there were a lot of people who were deeply concerned about me and I played a lot during my younger days, I was also a kid who received a lot of awards when I was in kindergarten. I received a lot of awards in competitions like children’s arts or math competitions. My older brother always placed 1st and I was always 2nd though.”
However, he didn’t have many memories of his younger days as he confessed that it was due to his parents both working to earn a living for their family.
“Because both of my parents were working in Seoul to provide income for our family, I spent majority of my adolescent days at my grandfather’s house. Even for school arts festivals, my parents never came and at the time, I was upset since I was younger but my grandmother always did. I remember being embarrassed when she did since all the other kids had younger moms and I remember being jealous of them (laughs). But because I’ve always had a strong set of pride since I was younger, I never showed these kinds of emotions to my parents and instead would say that things were better this way haha.”
In a way, this may sound like a depressing story but the smile never left Bang Yongguk’s face when he told us this.
“I used to really like sports when I entered elementary school. I liked all types of sports. In third grade, I was recommended by my coach to sign up for little league baseball since I liked sports and in 6th grade, I started soccer but because I caught the eyes of a recruiter from a different elementary, I even went to practice at a different soccer team in another school. Also, I entered a basketball team without my parents knowing in which I even advanced to the National Sports Festival. Back then, the anticipation of my surroundings were high and some even believed I’d become an amazing athlete. However, I wasn’t able to achieve that due to my parents being against it.”
Bang Yongguk continues to tell us that he’s interested in sports even to this day and because of various circumstances now, he enjoys watching it more.
“When I was younger, I had no toys to play with. I don’t hold the personality to make a lot of friends so at home, I only had my older brother and we’d find things for us to do together. Back then, we didn’t have proper equipment either so we’d use a broom as a bat and a cloth doll in replacement as a ball. That’s how we had fun playing and when I started elementary school, I started to get the hang of fitting myself around people when I started sports and my personaliy changed to a brighter one.”
And that’s how Bang Yongguk spent his elementary school days and when he moved onto middle school, he started adjusting to a new environment when he moved up to Seoul where his parents lived.
<B.A.P Star Story – Bang Yongguk② will be released on May 1st>
Part 2 : The young boy begins to open his eyes to hip hop music”
“How did the celebrities inside our televisions become a star?”
With the outlooks on the entertainment industry rising one step higher, we as the public aren’t just curious about their glamorous images, but their back stories before they became celebrities as well.
We have prepared the column “star story” in our publishing which not only tells a truthful side to stars, but their past that brought them to where they are today. This episode’s protagonist is Bang Yongguk who has stepped forth into the music industry with his strong charisma as the leader of the six-member group B.A.P.
And Bang Yongguk confessed that when he moved to a new region as he started junior high, he had troubles adjusting to the complicated city life.
“I lived in Incheon and I thought there wouldn’t be much difference in moving to Seoul but I was wrong when I saw how much more people there were and how peers my age were really modernized. Because of that, it took me a while to adjust to the Seoul lifestyle (laughs). Where I used to live, all the lights would turn off when it turned 9PM but in Seoul, the streets were still busy during that time.”
Despite Seoul being a foreign place for Bang Yongguk to start a new life in, he was a kid who was able to adjust with his peers, especially since he spent his time with friends through sports which was a helping hand in getting friendlier with one another. He claims that he still contacts his friends he was close to back then and while he was busy spending his days with his friends and being a jokester, something tickled his curiosity one day and that was hip hop music.
“I started gaining interest in music from junior high and on. One day, I just thought how hip hop music seemed cool. It was also because my older sister liked American music so when I’d turn on the computer in our house, there were only songs in that genre. Because of that, I naturally began listening to hip hop music and gained interest, which led me to start looking for related videos myself.”
Bang Yongguk’s older sister played a vital role in where Bang Yongguk stands today and in thanks to his older sister who knew American music well, little Yongguk began growing his dream with music more and more each day.
“I think after seeing videos with rapping in it, I realized then for the first time that I wanted to rap myself and up till my second year of middle school, I didn’t even know there was an artist in Korea named Drunken Tiger. I always thought those who did hip hop music were foreigners and Drunken Tiger was a fresh kind of shock for me.”
As Bang Yongguk started gaining more interest in music, he began composing. At first, he didn’t know but he slowly began to find out that people took interest in the lyrics he wrote.
“In my second year of junior high I wrote lyrics for the first time. After composing lyrics, coincidentally I found an online forum that comprised of people who were interested in hip hop and rap just like me and it was a whole new world. I posted my lyrics for the first time on an online forum and the responses were really good. In thinking of it as people critiquing my work after having worked on my music alone, I was really happy.”
Bang Yongguk’s rap and lyrics were acknowledged by a lot of people at the time. In showing off his own unique color of music, the many people on the online forum acknowledged his work but more than that, they began praising his work as well.
“At the time, I saw lots of responses like, “Your rap is unique” and “It’s refreshing.” How did I feel? Of course I felt so happy that I felt like I was going to fly. Many people listened to my music and I even received a question that asked, “Do you live outside of the country?” I think my motive back then was to not be swayed by the trend and prove “I only do my kind of music” to others.”
And with the junior high student Bang Yongguk opened his eyes to music, he moved onto becoming a high school student which then he officially began walking down the path of music.
Part 3 : “Because of music, I was even rank 1 in my entire school..I don’t regret it”
“How did the celebrities inside our televisions become a star?”
With the outlooks on the entertainment industry rising one step higher, we as the public aren’t just curious about their glamorous images, but their back stories before they became celebrities as well.
We have prepared the column “star story” in our publishing which not only tells a truthful side to stars, but their past that brought them to where they are today. This episode’s protagonist is Bang Yongguk who has stepped forth into the music industry with his strong charisma as the leader of the six-member group B.A.P.
In high school, Bang Yongguk was really a quiet student. Despite moving onto the same high school as his friends that he was with in his junior high years, he was known to be the kid who never really talked.
“I didn’t really talk in high school and I would just go to school and come back home. Because I was quiet in always studying, my teachers thought I was a model student in which they liked. I would study at school and do music at home: that was all I did. Since then, I officially started taking interest in music.”
In his second year of middle school, Bang Yongguk started meeting up with his hyungs (who are label-mates with him currently) that were promoting at the time and began studying on composing. He said he started gaining more knowledge about music from a professional was around this time.
“In meeting up with the hyungs of our label back then, I composed by myself. My spectrum in music began expanding and seeing them produce music, I learned a lot from it. Even when writing lyrics, I used to just write what came to mind before but at the time, I think I thought a little before jotting down lyrics. If I think about it now, I think my third year of high school was the most critical period in my life (laughs).”
However, Bang Yongguk’s parents were very against him doing music. Although he was able to bypass the period of storms and gales well, there was a time when he rebelled for the first time also.
“Because my parents didn’t like me doing music, I even rebelled for the first time. I think my parents wanted me to earn a safe job since I was studious and because of that, I used to sneak out to produce music alone. The storage room we had, I remodeled it into a producing room and I used to stay there. That was the place where the life of rapper Bang Yongguk began.”
However, the bigger his dreams got, his parents’ disapproval grew stronger as well, but that didn’t mean that didn’t mean there wasn’t a compromise in which his parents proposed one factor.
“My parents told me, “Be studious first and then do what you like,” so I opened my eyes to studying as well. Having them tell me that they wouldn’t say anything afterwards once I achieved something first, I went to the library by myself and began studying. My test scores? I eventually ranked first in the entire school. Even after that, I maintained my status in our school’s top rankings (smiles).”
And from then on, music began bringing forth to him a lot of offers. With him being motivated to study from music, he earned a scholarship of course but was also offered a job in a major corporation that is one of the top nationwide.
“I received an excellence award in studies for the first time in my entire life and received a scholarship as well. Once I graduated high school, I was even offered a job in the S Corporation (Samsung). However, I wasn’t interested in any of those and I only had one thing in mind which was music.”
Part 4 : “B.A.P, if it’s with them..”
“How did the celebrities inside our televisions become a star?”
With the outlooks on the entertainment industry rising one step higher, we as the public aren’t just curious about their glamorous images, but their back stories before they became celebrities as well.
We have prepared the column “star story” in our publishing which not only tells a truthful side to stars, but their past that brought them to where they are today. This episode’s protagonist is Bang Yongguk who has stepped forth into the music industry with his strong charisma as the leader of the six-member group B.A.P.
In showing hope of being studious, his parents had hope that he would go to college. Of course, in order to show an even better image of himself to his parents, Bang Yongguk officially began preparing for his college entrance exams.
“My parents kept talking about college. I of course thought that I had to go to college so I prepared for my college entrance exams. At the time, I was promoting underground so I would go perform at Hongdae. Because of that, it was really difficult in trying to manage performances on top of my studies.”
However, Bang Yongguk never gave up either one and began achieving the tasks he was given one by one. As a result, he was able to taste the joy in earning an early acceptance to a famous university.
“When I was in school, I would try to study as much as I can and my mindset would be focused on making music on the weekends. It was the studying that allowed my grades to be good in that I was accepted early for chemistry at a university in Seoul. However, I gave up in going onto college. Why? Because I loved music to death then. I showed my parents my all in terms of being studious and it was my turn to do what I wanted which was to pursue in music. Eventually, I was able to convince my mother and she began to have an optimistic outlook on me pursuing music as well.”
After promoting underground, Bang Yongguk felt that learning music would be a help to him in life and so he officially began hanging around elder peers who were in the music field as he began raising his dreams again.
“When I was 20, all I had to me was music really. When I promoted underground, I promoted with a quite popular crew and we released a compilation album, even so as to holding a nationwide tour and I stood on stage without any worries.”
However, Bang Yongguk never knew what satisfaction was. He even left the crew for the purpose of finding his own color in music and was on the constant search for finding his own kind of music.
“Even when I was a part of the crew, I still had dreams of going through my own challenges and when I left the crew, I still did music by myself underground. It was a difficult period of time in my life but with music, I was able to hold strong.”
With him being stubborn about music constantly, the opportunity of a major debut was given to him by fate.
“In 2010, the Untouchable hyungs that I’ve always known and was close with told a representative of our current label about me and when I was contacted by them for the first time, they said they wanted to make a hip hop idol group. I was shocked in hearing the term “idol.” I hesitated a lot at the time and I thought that if I was classified under an idol group, it would mean that the spectrum of music I was able to put out was limited. However, they told me, “If you come into this group, you’ll be able to live out your dreams” and that’s how they convinced me. After hearing about the members, I thought, “If I just work harder, it can be a good group.” So I told them I’d do it.”
And that’s how the big picture of idol group B.A.P began drawing out rapidly.
Part 5 : “The words, “You can’t” made me dance.”
“How did the celebrities inside our televisions become a star?”
With the outlooks on the entertainment industry rising one step higher, we as the public aren’t just curious about their glamorous images, but their back stories before they became celebrities as well.
We have prepared the column “star story” in our publishing which not only tells a truthful side to stars, but their past that brought them to where they are today. This episode’s protagonist is Bang Yongguk who has stepped forth into the music industry with his strong charisma as the leader of the six-member group B.A.P.
And that was how Yongguk took his first step into the TS Entertainment family. Since then, he’s been preparing for the idol group but encountered an obstacle. It wasn’t rap or singing, but dancing was the problem. He’s currently capturing the hearts of fans with a strong and charismatic dance on stage but back then, his nickname was “stiff bodied.”
“In July of 2010 was when I first joined the company and I think I was a trainee for about 1.5 years. When I first entered the company, I was promoting as a rapper so I had no interest in dancing. However, I was motivated when a representative of our company said, “We don’t expect dancing from you either.” In saying that without seeing my skills at all, I was driven (laughs).”
However, it took him not too long to realize that it was hard to improve his dancing skills with just a drive. Since then, he realized that a drive wasn’t the only answer, but practicing as well. As if he was suddenly reminded of the suffering he faced at the time, Bang Yongguk’s face slightly grimaced.
“It was so difficult. I learned in getting in trouble often from the hyungs of the choreography team and what bothered me the most was the fact that all the members can do it but I couldn’t. That’s why when the members would go home, I’d stay behind by myself to practice. After joining the company, this was the period of time where I was disinterested in rap or music as I only focused on being able to dance better.”
Holding the type of personality that needs to accomplish something once having started it, Bang Yongguk eventually was able to overcome the high obstacle of dancing that he never thought he could achieve. The “stiff bodied” Bang Yongguk earned the right of being a back dancer for Untouchable’s performance as he yet again caused another scene with his “hardcore” self.
“When Untouchable seniors were promoting “Make a Fuss,” I stood on stage as a back dancer. In gaining experience little by little, I was acknowledged for my dance skills little by little. It’s fortunate that I don’t get cursed for my dancing now haha. I remember being really proud when I stood at the center of the stage during the choreography for our debut song “Warrior.” I was satisfied by myself and whenever I hear, “You can’t do it,” I feel like my personality has to prove that I can.”
Bang Yongguk tells us that he dislikes when people are so quick into judging him and telling him that he can never accomplish things. It seems that he doesn’t let words that can leave scars settle as he uses it as an opportunity for himself to improve more.
How long has time passed as his life story is filled inside the reporter’s laptop. Lastly, we tossed the question of what kind of artist he’d like to be to him.
“I always think that I want to pursue music that has meaning behind it. I’m really thankful that the company and composers I’m able to work with allow me to do the music I desire. Although it’s inadequate to the public right now, I also want to make music that is acknowledged by the fans as well. If I had a personal wish, it’d be that I’m not limited to just making idol music but that I’m able to try different genres in music. When we first made “Warrior,” I had the heart of “making a music that’s able to deliver a meaning” and I plan doing my best to not lose that state of mind.”
And that’s how the fun yet long interview with Bang Yongguk ends. As a leader of a group and one who is crazy for music, we thought that his shoulders would be burdened with weight but we weren’t as worried anymore since now, he’s in it together with his dependent music colleagues Himchan, Daehyun, Youngjae, Jongup, and Zelo.
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