Jay Park


Jay Park, Korean name Park Jae-beom, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and dancer based in South Korea. He is a member of the Seattle-based b-boy crew Art of Movement, and founder and former CEO of the independent hip hop record labels AOMG and H1ghr Music, as well as the founder of the record label More Vision. Park returned to South Korea in June 2010 for the filming of Hype Nation, and in July, Park signed a contract with SidusHQ, one of the largest entertainment agencies in South Korea. Rebranding and re-debuting as both a solo singer and a rapper, Park has participated in the underground hip hop culture scene in South Korea, a rarity for both active and former K-Pop idols.
Known for his charismatic performances and stage presence, Park has been described as a "born entertainer" by Korean pop singer Patti Kim, and The New York Times quoted the president of digital music distributor DFSB Kollective illustrating Park as "not just an artist, but also his own PR agent, fan club president, and TV network." An influential figure in the Korean hip hop scene, Park has been described as the "scene stalwart" of Korean R&B, and has been credited as one of the main figures responsible for the increased commercial acceptance and mainstream popularization of K-hip hop in South Korea.

Early life

Born in Edmonds, Washington, in the Seattle metropolitan area, Park showed great interest in hip hop music and breakdancing at a young age. Park attended Edmonds-Woodway, where he spent most of his break and lunch times practicing dance with friends. Park started listening to hip hop and rap music in his early teens, and spent time learning and writing raps himself during high school. In 2003, Park became one of the first members of the Seattle-based b-boy crew Art of Movement. Often skipping classes to participate in b-boy competitions, Park would have continuous clashes with his mother regarding his lack of interest in academics and potential higher education. In 2004, Park's mother, seeing how her son spent more time breakdancing than studying, suggested he try out for a locally advertised talent audition, which was organized by South Korean conglomerate JYP Entertainment. With his family financially struggling at the time, Park auditioned for the program, believing it to be a contest where the winner would receive a monetary prize reward. Unbeknownst to Park, the success of his audition would eventually lead to him being officially contacted and selected by JYP Entertainment to be part of a Korean boy band as an idol. In January 2005, Park was brought to South Korea to receive training in dancing, rapping, singing, and the Korean language under the strict supervision of JYPE. Park eventually completed his university education at Dankook University.

Career

2008–2009: 2PM and MySpace controversy

Park first appeared through Mnet's Hot Blood Men, a documentary-style reality program that showed the future members of One Day, split as idol groups 2AM and 2PM, in training. Park, finishing at the top spot with the most fan votes, became the leader of 2PM. On September 4, 2008, 2PM debuted with the song "10 Out of 10" on the music program M Countdown after the release of their first mini-album, Hottest Time of the Day, a few days prior.
Aside from 2PM's music activities, Park created the song "Jeong" with Yeeun of the Wonder Girls for the original soundtrack of the television drama Conspiracy in the Court, and featured on V.O.S's "To Luv...". He also participated in special stage performances, such as Navi's "Heart Damage" on May 3, 2009, and K.Will's "One Drop per Second" on June 20, 2009. In addition to Idol Show and Wild Bunny with fellow 2PM members, he also became a regular cast member in several variety programs, including Star King and Introducing a Star's Friend. In August 2009, he and Kara band member, Nicole Jung, became the new hosts for a cultural variety show called Nodaji.
On September 4, 2009, unfavorable comments about Korea were found on Park's personal Myspace account from 2005. The comments, written in English to a friend, were translated by Korean media and quickly spread across hundreds of news articles. Park expressed deep remorse and shame over his forgotten words and issued an official apology, explained the unhappiness that he experienced during his early days as a trainee in an unfamiliar country where he lacked family, the ability to easily communicate, and an understanding of the culture. Outraged protesters demanded that Park should be removed from 2PM, but JYP CEO Park Jin-young on September 7, 2009, said Jay Park would continue as a part of the group. The following day, Jay Park announced on his official fancafe that he would be leaving the group to calm the situation and return to his hometown of Seattle. He also apologized to the other 2PM members and promised to "come back a better person". Park Jin-young then confirmed that 2PM would continue as a six-member group. Due to the sensitive topic of Jay Park's departure, all 2PM members were withdrawn from their regular appearances on variety shows, and the final episode of their reality show, Wild Bunny, was postponed indefinitely. Park's vocals would not be removed from the older songs he promoted with 2PM, but he would be absent from the newer tracks. The remaining six members of 2PM re-filmed their music video for "Heartbeat" without Park on October 31, 2009.
The title of 2PM's first official album 1:59PM symbolized Park's absence, according to the six remaining members. Through their acceptance speeches at year-end awards shows for "Again & Again", the members thanked Jay Park and reiterated their wish for his return. At the Mnet Asian Music Awards, the group paid homage to him during their performance of "Again & Again" with a spotlight shown over his usual position in the dance formation and his lines left unsung.

2010: YouTube career and solo debut

Soon after Park returned to the United States, the South Korean public changed their perspective on the matter when they realized that his Myspace messages had been severely mistranslated and taken out of context, in addition to strong fan support for Park's return. Park was seen at b-boy battles with fellow Art of Movement members during his time in Seattle. However, on February 25, with Park's comeback looking more and more likely, JYP suddenly announced that Jay Park's contract with them had been terminated, citing a separate "personal mistake" that Park had made in 2009. JYP would make reference to this unknown event several times in 2010, but would never elaborate on any details. This termination had been agreed by all six members of 2PM and led to fan boycotts on 2PM-endorsed products. Protests for Park's return to the group began to take place, not only in South Korea, but internationally as well. Various Jay Park-dedicated forums and fansites all over the world organized silent protests and flash dance mobs. Fans also hired a plane with a banner showing "J, what time is it now?" to fly over Seattle, and was broadcast on Seattle-based radio stations.
On several occasions, Park was the number one trending topic on Twitter, even topping the Oscars on March 8. Park's fans revealed plans to release a self-produced album in his honor on March 27 to commemorate the 200th day anniversary of his departure from Korea. However, because the album had been in preparation since January and public opinion on 2PM had since changed, the fans decided it would be in the best interest to not release the CD, and instead, mailed 10–20 copies to Seattle, Park's hometown.
Park created his own YouTube channel on March 15, "jayparkaom", with the first upload being his own version of "Nothin' on You", which went viral and reached over 2,000,000 views in less than 24 hours. In Korea, the original song by B.o.B and Bruno Mars topped the Cyworld music chart in a matter of hours upon the video's release. "Nothin' on You" earned $300,000 in sales through the effect of Park's video. On June 15, 2010, B.o.B released "Nothin' on You" featuring Park, in South Korea, where he replaces Bruno Mars' vocals. His YouTube cover helped contribute to much of the song's success in Korea, with more than 5 million copies sold. Park subsequently thanked his fans for their support and continued to urge them not to hate remaining 2PM members.
File:Art of Movement.jpg|right|thumb|Park and some members of his b-boy crew, Art of Movement
He appeared with fellow Art of Movement members at an annual Korean-American festival event called Project Korea III: KSA Cinderella Story at Rutgers University, New Jersey, on April 3, along with Ailee and Clara C. Videos of the event were uploaded onto internet portal sites, where footage of Park acting as an MC and dancing to Beyoncé's "Single Ladies " on stage drew much positive interest. On April 24, Dumbfoundead released a free collaboration track featuring Park and Clara Chung on his website, titled "Clouds".
Los Angeles-based entertainment attorney Ned Sherman, CEO of Digital Media Wire, announced on May 28 that he was representing Park as his legal representative. Sherman and his wife Tinzar reached out to Park, after seeing Park's story and feeling bad about what happened to him during the MySpace controversy. The Shermans and Park worked on a lot of projects together, including his movie deal for Hype Nation, an endorsement deal with dENiZEN, Levi Strauss & Co.'s new brand, and others.
Park returned to Korea on June 18 at Incheon International Airport, to the biggest crowd ever seen at the airport, for the filming of Hype Nation. "Park Jaebeom has returned" became the biggest headline in Korea that day, and "JayIsBack" shot up immediately on the trending topics on Twitter on June 18 at 9:30 AM GMT. Pictures of Park in Hype Nation were released on July 2, and Park was able to meet with the Korean media for interviews for the first time, talking about his current activities. It was also revealed that his single "Demon" would be included in Hype Nation's original soundtrack.
It was reported on July 8 that Park would sign a contract with SidusHQ for his domestic Korean activities in terms of acting and singing; his management stated that he planned to redebut as a rookie artist, and the contract with SidusHQ was finalized on July 16. Park released an EP titled Count on Me containing three tracks, including a rearranged Korean version of "Nothin' on You", on July 13. The English and Korean lyrics were written by Park himself. The EP sold 21,989 physical copies on the first day of release, coming in at number one in sales and number seven in the overall ranking of albums released from January to July 13. Without any promotion on music shows, more than 41,316 copies sold, and the EP placed at number 32 on Gaon's year end chart, earning Park approximately 700 million.
Park began working with singer, producer, and fellow AOM member, Cha Cha Malone, releasing "Bestie" in both Korean and English, and a duet titled "Speechless". Also in 2010, Park began collaborations and forming close ties with rappers Dok2 and The Quiett of Illionaire Records, titling the partnership "AOM & 1llionaire".
On September 5, Park participated in the 3rd International Secret Agents Los Angeles concert held in Cerritos, California, together with well-known YouTube celebrities such as Ryan Higa, KevJumba, AJ Rafael, Alyssa Bernal, Far East Movement, and America's Best Dance Crew Season 5 champions, Poreotix. Park's performance drew many positive responses.
Park was cast for the 2011 Korean movie Mr. Idol, starring alongside friend and fellow SidusHQ actor, Kim Soo-ro. Park was also one of the performers, alongside SE7EN, Taeyang and Musiq Soulchild, at the Seoul Soul Festival held at the War Memorial of Korea on October 10. Park and Musiq Soulchild also performed the latter's song "Love" at the festival. Park held a charity concert in December called the "White Love Party Concert", with Supreme Team and Dok2 making appearances. Park and Art of Movement performed at "Fever Seoul Live" alongside Dumbfoundead, David Choi, and several international b-boys.
In December, Park was named as Naver's most searched solo singer of the year.