G-Dragon


Kwon Ji-yong, best known as G-Dragon, is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Dubbed the "King of K-pop", he rose to prominence as the leader of the South Korean boy band BigBang, which went on to become one of the best-selling boy bands in the world.
Born in Seoul, he made his public debut at age six as part of the musical group Little Roo'ra. In 2009, he released his first solo studio album Heartbreaker; the album and its title track of the same name were commercially successful, becoming the best-selling album by a Korean soloist at the time and earning him Album of the Year at the 2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards. This was followed by a collaboration with bandmate T.O.P for the album GD & TOP in 2010. His first EP, One of a Kind, earned Best Album at the 2013 Seoul Music Awards and spawned the chart-topping single "That XX". In 2013, he embarked on the One of a Kind World Tour, his first worldwide tour as a solo artist, making him the first Korean soloist to tour Japanese dome arenas.
G-Dragon released his second studio album Coup d'Etat in 2013, featuring the number-one single "Who You?". His 2017 EP, Kwon Ji Yong, yielded the chart-topping single "Untitled, 2014", and the supporting concert tour Act III: M.O.T.T.E became the largest tour ever conducted by a Korean soloist. In 2023, G-Dragon officially departed YG Entertainment after 20 years of activities, signing to Galaxy Corporation under his real name. His third studio album Übermensch earned Album of the Year at the 2025 Melon Music Awards and spawned the number-one singles "Home Sweet Home" and "Too Bad"; the former song earned Song of the Year at the same ceremony.
Widely recognized for his influence on youth culture, fashion trends, and music in South Korea, G-Dragon was included in Forbes list of the 2030 Power Leaders for three consecutive years, and has been part of Hypebeast's list of the 100 most influential people in fashion eight times. He has written or co-written 24 number-one songs on the Gaon Digital Chart, most of which he has also co-produced. G-Dragon is the recipient of numerous awards, including twelve MAMA Awards, fourteen Melon Music Awards, two Korean Music Awards and two Golden Disc Awards, and the first and only solo artist to receive the MAMA Award for Artist of the Year. In 2025, South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism recognized G-Dragon's cultural achievements and expanding the value of Korea’s pop culture worldwide by awarding him the Okgwan Order, a 4th grade Order of Cultural Merit; he became the youngest recipient and first idol to receive it.

Early life and education

G-Dragon was born on August 18, 1988, in Seoul, South Korea. He enrolled at Kyung Hee University in 2008 to study post-modern music. He later dropped out due to his busy schedule, and instead majored in Leisure Sports Studies at Gukje Cyber University, obtaining a Bachelor's degree in 2013. G-Dragon graduated in 2016 with a Master's degree in content and retail distribution at Sejong University. Plans for a doctoral degree were delayed to accommodate his military enlistment.

Career

1994–2008: Career beginnings

G-Dragon began his career at age six as part of the group Little Roo'ra. Following the release of the group's Christmas album, the group's contract was terminated by their record company, which shocked G-Dragon. Although he vowed to his mother that he "wouldn't again," he was scouted by SM Entertainment on a ski trip with his family. He was a trainee under the record label SM Entertainment for five years, specializing in dance before he left.
During third grade, a friend introduced G-Dragon to the American rap group Wu-Tang Clan. Having been influenced by their music, he developed interest in rapping and began taking classes. After attending a summer school hosted by the South Korean hiphop group which he joined after begging his mom, he was introduced to Lee Hee-sung, who was member of another South Korean hip hop group, who tried to make G-Dragon into Korea's Bow Wow. Under People Crew's tutelage, he participated in the release of the Korean hip-hop album Korean hiphop Flex in 2001, becoming the youngest Korean rapper at 13 years old. Although he wrote his own lyrics, he admitted that his English was weak and the story behind the lyrics was just another typical "I'm young, but I'm the best" story. Additionally, he and future fellow BigBang member Choi Seung-hyun were "neighborhood friend from middle school" and would often dance and rap together before G-Dragon moved away. Catching the interest of Sean of the hip-hop duo Jinusean from YG Entertainment, he recommended G-Dragon to Sean's record label's CEO Yang Hyun Suk. After signing a contract with the record label, G-Dragon spent the first year cleaning the studio for the other artists in the record label and fetching water bottles during dance practice.
He chose the stage name G-Dragon. He featured on other artists' albums and released several singles with Dong Young-Bae under the name "GDYB." After YG Entertainment scrapped the plan and opted for a boy band instead, G-Dragon contacted Choi, who auditioned in. G-Dragon, Taeyang, and Choi, were paired with three other members.
The formation of the group was documented on television, but prior to their official debut, Jang was dropped. The now-quintet's debut was a moderate success, with their first album selling over 100,000 copies, and included G-Dragon's first solo recording, a cover of the American alternative rock group Maroon 5's single "This Love". The release of the EP Always in 2007 was a musical departure from their previous materials and saw G-Dragon's increased involvement in its production. Several songs were composed by him, including the lead-single "Lies", which became the group's first number one hit. Their following EPs followed its predecessor's footsteps: Hot Issue yielded "Last Farewell" while Stand Up spawned "Haru Haru"; both singles, composed by him, were chart-toppers. Having produced the majority of BigBang's materials, G-Dragon was also involved with the production of Taeyang's debut extended play Hot.

2009–2011: Solo debut and commercial popularity

In 2009, G-Dragon was featured on singer Lexy's song "Super Fly" for her album Rush alongside Taeyang and T.O.P. He later collaborated with the Japanese boy band W-inds. for their single, "Rain Is Fallin'/Hybrid Dream". His first solo album, Heartbreaker, was released in August of that year. Featuring collaborations with several artists, including Teddy of 1TYM, Taeyang, Kush, CL and Sandara Park of 2NE1, and propelled by its lead-single of the same name, the album surpassed 300,000 copies sold, and went on to win Album of the Year at the 2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards. Shortly after Heartbreaker's release, G-Dragon was accused of plagiarism by Sony Music when his tracks "Heartbreaker" and "Butterfly" were alleged to be similar to Flo Rida's "Right Round" and Oasis's "She's Electric", respectively. However, EMI, the record label that distributed "Right Round" said that they saw no similarities between these two songs.
On March 6, 2010, YG Entertainment announced that they personally contacted Flo Rida's representatives requesting that he feature in G-Dragon's live album, Shine a Light, to which Flo Rida accepted. In support of his album, G-Dragon staged his first solo concert at Olympic Gymnastics Arena in December 2009. The name of the concert, Shine a Light, was derived from the lyrics to his song "A Boy". The concert subsequently sparked controversy following complaints of obscenity and suggestive content. The Korean Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs later asked the government prosecutors to investigate if G-Dragon or YG Entertainment violated laws on obscene performances in his concert. He was found innocent and was cleared of all charges on March 15, 2010.
In November 2010, G-Dragon and T.O.P released their collaboration album GD & TOP. Preceding the release of the album, the duo held a worldwide premiere showcase for their album at Times Square in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul, which was also broadcast live on YouTube. To promote their album, the duo released three singles: "High High", "Oh Yeah", and "Knock Out". All three singles preceded the release of the album and achieved commercial success: "High High" scored number one on several music programs while "Oh Yeah" peaked at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart. The album was released on Christmas Eve, and debuted at number one on the Gaon Album Chart with pre-orders of 200,000 copies.
G-Dragon also formed a duo with Park Myung Soo for the Infinite Challenge Seohae Ahn Highway Song Festival 2011. They released their song "Having an Affair" featuring Park Bom from 2NE1 on June 2, 2011. The song later became the second most downloaded song on the Gaon Music Chart for the year 2011.

2012–2013: Breakthrough years and comeback with Big Bang

While working on new solo materials, G-Dragon made an appearance in the Japanese version of Pixie Lott's album Young Foolish Happy, along with T.O.P. His first extended play One of a Kind was released on September 15, 2012, drawing positive reviews, placing first on the Billboard World Album Chart and entering the Billboard 200 Chart at 161. Three singles were released to support the album: the top-five hit "One of a Kind," which earned him the Best Hip Hop and Rap Song of the Year awards from the Korean Music Awards and the Rhythmer Awards respectively; the number one "That XX" and the top-three hit "Crayon" that was ranked by Spin Magazine as the best K-Pop single of the year. The album sold over 200,000 copies, making it the highest selling solo album in Korea since the release of his debut album Heartbreaker in 2009. He won "Best Male Solo Artist" at the 14th Mnet Asian Music Awards and "Record of the Year" for One of a Kind at the 22nd Seoul Music Awards. G-Dragon also embarked on the One of a Kind World Tour in 2013, becoming the first Korean solo artist to hold a four-dome tour in Japan and the second Korean solo artist to have a world tour. The production of the tour cost $3.5 million, making it the largest scale in Korean history at the time. The tour was held in 8 countries, visited 13 cities for a total of 27 concerts gathering 570,000 fans.
In August 2013, G-Dragon performed "Shake The World" as an intro to "One Of A Kind," "Feat. Missy Elliott" and "Crayon" at the KCON 2013 concert in Los Angeles.
After touring extensively, G-Dragon went back into the studio to record his second studio album. YG Entertainment later announced that Grammy Award-winning musician Missy Elliott will be featured on the album. Coup d'Etat was released in two parts online, with the full album released physically on September 13, featuring collaborations with Diplo, Baauer, Boys Noize, Sky Ferreira, Siriusmo, Zion.T, Lydia Paek, and label-mate Jennie Kim. G-Dragon and Missy Elliott performed the song "Niliria" at the KCON 2013 in Los Angeles. Six tracks from Coup d'Etat placed within the top 10 of the Gaon Digital Chart, including the number one "Who You?". The best-performing single of the album was "Crooked", with over 1.8 million digital downloads, which was his first solo music video to surpass 100 million views on YouTube. The title track "Coup d'Etat" was chosen by Billboard as one of the game-changing EDM tracks of 2013. The album entered the Billboard 200, making G-Dragon the first Korean act to have multiples entries on the chart. The success of Coup d'Etat led to G-Dragon winning a total of four awards at the 15th Mnet Asian Music Awards: Best Male Solo Artist, Best Music Video for "Coup d'Etat", Best Dance Performance for "Crooked", and the highest award, Artist of The Year; he became the first and only solo artist to win the latter. He later took home the World's Best Entertainer and World's Best Album at the World Music Awards.
G-Dragon participated in the Infinite Challenge music festival again for the second time on October 17, 2013, in Imjingak, composing and performing the song "Going to Try" with comedian Jeong Hyeong-don.