j-hope

j-hope (제이홉) was born as Jung Hoseok (정호석) on February 18, 1994, in Gwangju, South Korea. He’s a dancer, rapper, songwriter, composer and producer. He’s also known as a member of the South Korean group BTS.

Before debuting with BTS, Hoseok was part of the underground street dance team Neuron. In 2008 he won a national dance competition in South Korea.

In 2010 he joined Big Hit Entertainment as a trainee and debuted with BTS in 2013.

Hoseok has a bright disposition, and is known to be the mood lifter in the group. To create his stage name, he took the ‘J’ from his surname, and the ‘H’ from his given name. He stated in an interview:

My stage name has the deepest meaning out of all the others in this group. (laughs) You know how in Pandora’s Box after everything else left, the only thing remaining was hope, right? I put ‘hope’ in my name to be a hopeful presence in the group.

In 2018, he released his first solo mixtape, Hope World. The album was met with a positive reception and made him the highest-charting Korean solo act on Billboard 200 (the title previously held by his bandmate–RM). The album has reached #1 on iTunes in 102 countries and is the most streamed album by Korean solo artists on Spotify.

On September 27, 2019, he released his hit song “Chicken Noodle Soup” featuring Becky G. The song has reached #1 on iTunes in 100 countries.

In 2018, along with the other members of BTS, he was awarded the fifth-class Hwagwan Order of Cultural Merit by the President of South Korea for the contribution to Korean culture.

In January 2020, Hoseok was promoted to a full member of the Korea Music Copyright Association — KOMCA. As for 2020, j-hope is credited officially as a writer/producer of over 130 tracks on KOMCA (10003800).

In September 2020, alongside with the other members of BTS, j-hope has spoken at the United Nations General Assembly about the hope in times of pandemic.

Later in 2020, j-hope, alongside with SUGA, become the first Koreans to write and compose a #1 Billboard Hot 100 song.

Two years later, in 2022 j-hope released his full studio album, Jack In The Box. The album was assisted by singles “MORE” and “방화 (Arson).” The album debuted in the Top 20 on the Billboard 200 chart.