G-Dragon is a Korean rapper, record producer, songwriter, and singer.
His net worth has been evaluated somewhere around $12.5 million.
Early Life
G-Dragon was born as Kwon Ji-Yong in Seoul, South Korea on August 18, 1988. His father’s name is Kwon Young Hwan, and his mother name is not known. He has one older sister named Dami. Kwon Ji-Young attended Seoul Korea Traditional Arts Middle and High School.
He began his music career aged only five when he was a part of Little Roo’Ra. After releasing a Christmas album, the deal with their record company was terminated which left G-Dragon is a sock. Later he pursued under SM Entertainment as a trainee, specializing in dance from the age of eight to thirteen.
Career
Kwon came to know about American rap group Wu-Tang Clan in his third grade when a friend introduced him. That music inspired him and developed a likeness towards rapping. In 2001, G-Dragon participated in releasing a Korean hip-hop album Flex which made him the youngest Korean rapper at the age of 13 years.
During his years with SM Entertainment, Kwon and Dong Young-Bae decided to form a hip-hop duo GDYB as Kwon had the stage name G-Dragon. GD had made cameo appearances on many artists’ albums. GDYB also released couple singles. When YG Entertainment decided to form a boy band, the Big Bang was formed with G-Dragon, Dong, Choi, Seungri, Daesung and Jang Hyun-Seung. The band formation received media attention, but before their formal debut, Jang left. The band’s first single sold over 40,000 copies.
There were many airplay singles like ‘We Belong Together,’ ‘La La La’ and ‘Forever with You’ featuring Park Bom. The special inclusion in the album was G-Dragons cover of Maroon 5’s ‘This Love.’ After the band’s EP Always was released in 2007, G-Dragon got involved in the role of the producer for the group’s album. The album Always included many of G-Dragon’s compositions like the lead single ‘Lies.’ The next EP Hot Issue was another big hit which included the song ‘Last Farewell.’ After working as Big Bang’s producer, G-Dragon helped Taeyang’s play Hot.
During 2009, G-Dragon started his solo career where he featured on Lexy’s song ‘Super Fly’ which was from the album Rush together with T.O.P and Taeyang. Later he collaborated with Japanese band W-inds for the single ‘Rain is Fallin’/Hybrid Dream.’ In August 2009, he released his debut solo album called Heartbreaker which featured many artists like Taeyang, Kush, Teddy from 1TYM, Sandara Park and CL from 2NE1. The lead single ‘Heartbreaker’ sold over 5 million units and the album made huge in the market and was named the Album of the Year in 2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards.
In March 2010, Flo Rida accepted the offer to feature alongside G-Dragon on his live album, Shine a Light. G-Dragon’s first solo concert took place in December 2009 at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena. The concert faced a backlash due to the use of suggestive and obscene comments, as to which the Korean Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family Affairs set governments prosecutors for further investigation for any violation. In 2015, G-Dragon was found innocent, and all the charges were cleared.
In November 2010, T.O.P and G-Dragon worked together in GD & TOP and held a worldwide premiere for their album in Seoul’s Times Square in Yeongdeungpo, and the event was streamed live on YouTube. Three hit singles from the album were ‘High High,’ ‘Knock Out’ and ‘Oh Yeah.’
In 2011, for Infinite Challenge Seohae Ahn Highway Song Festival, G-Dragon paired with Mark Myung Soo and dropped a song ‘Having an Affair’ which featured 2NE1 and Park Bom. This song was 2011’s second top downloaded song. G-Dragon appeared on Pixie Lott’s Young Foolish Happy (Japanese version).
In 2012, G-Dragon released his first extended play named One of a Kind. It was placed first in Billboard World Album Chart and also went into Billboard Top 200. This album won him the Best Hip-Hop and Rap Song of the Year awards from the Korean Music Awards and the Rhythmer Awards.
In 2013, G-Dragon set on his debut world tour ‘One of a Kind, ’ and this made him the first Korean artist to have a four-dome tour set in Japan and also the second Korean artist to host a world tour. After touring, G-Dragon worked extensively with Missy Elliot on his album Coup d’état which was released online in two sets. The album was released in 2013 and featured many well-known artists like Diplo, Sky Ferreira, Zino T, Baauer, Jennie Kim, Lydian Paek and much more. Missy Elliot accompanied G-Dragon for a performance of ‘Niliria’ at KCON 2013 in LA.
In 2014, he worked with 2NE1’s album Crush as a producer and songwriter for the song ‘Good To You.’ He worked alongside Taeyang for his second album Rise. Throughout the year he collaborated with many famous artists and also climbed the Billboard charts. The collaborations included Diplo and Skrillex.
A major part of 2015 and 2016 was spent touring which followed the release of another album. He plans on a second world tour in 2017.
Personal life
G-Dragon was rumored to have dated Ahn Sohee and Kiko Mizuhara. In 2016, He was dating Taeyeon who is a South Korean singer. As of records, he is not married and doesn’t have any children.
Quick Summary
Full Name: G-Dragon
Date of Birth: August 18, 1988
Birth Place: Seoul, South Korea
Age: 29 years
Profession: Record Producer, Singer, Rapper, Songwriter
Height: 1.73 m
Weight: 135lbs
Net worth: $12.5 million
