Introduction
Kim Ji-won (Hangul: 김지원; born December 21, 1995), better known by his stage name Bobby (Hangul: 바비) is a Korean American rapper, producer and songwriter. He is known as a member of South Korean boy group iKON, signed under YG Entertainment. He is the winner of Mnet rap competition Show Me the Money season 3. Alongside Mino, he is part of the hip hop duo MOBB, who released the four-track album The Mobb in September 2016.
Life and career
Bobby was born in Seoul but later moved to Fairfax, Virginia in the United Stateswith his parents and lived there until finishing middle school. He later passed YG's audition in New York and moved to Korea at age 17.
2013-2015: Reality appearances and debut with iKON
After joining YG Entertainment on 10 January 2011, he participated as a trainee in the 2013 survival show WIN: Who is Next, competing against other trainees for the chance to debut as a group. He was a member of the trainee group "Team B". After the show had ended, he made a cameo appearance with the rest of Team B in the music video for Taeyang's single "Ringa Linga", and contributed to the lyrics for Winner's debut single "Empty".
In May 2014, he successfully auditioned for the third season of the rap competition Show Me The Money, going on to win the series overall as part of team "Illionaire" with Dok2 and The Quiett of Illionaire Records, winning $100,000 and a special concert. The songs from his performances during the series charted well on digital charts in Korea. On September 13, he appeared in the Illionaire Records 11:11 concert alongside Dok2, The Quiett, and Beenzino.
In October 2014, he featured in Epik High's single "Born Hater" alongside Beenzino, Verbal Jint, B.I, and Song Min-ho, and on November 11, he featured on "I'm Different" by Hi Suhyun, a project unit composed of Lee Hi and Lee Suhyun from Akdong Musician. That month he also featured with Dok2 in the Masta Wu track "Come Here." He performed "Born Hater" with Epik High at the 2014 Mnet Asian Music Awards, also performing "Come Here" and his single "YGGR". He was featured on GQ Korea's 2014 Men of the Year list.
He became part of iKON through the Mnet survival programme Mix & Match. The group officially debuted on September 15, 2015, with the single "My Type".
2016: Solo debut and MOBB
Bobby made his debut as a solo artist on September 7, 2016, with the single "꽐라 (HOLUP!)".
"꽐라 (HOLUP!)" was released as part of a four-track album titled The Mobb, a collaboration between Bobby and Mino under the name MOBB. They released the singles "붐벼 (FULL HOUSE)" and "빨리 전화해 (HIT ME)" on September 9.
Discography and filmography
Charted songs
| Year | Title | Peak position | Digital sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| KOR | |||
| 2014 | "L4L (Lookin' For Luv)" (featuring Dok2 and The Quiett) | 7 | 467,722 |
| "연결고리#힙합" (YGGR#hiphop) | 4 | 1,064,002 | |
| "가 (GO)" | 16 | 402,975 | |
| "가드올리고 Bounce" (Raise Your Guard and Bounce) | 4 | 523,402 | |
| "Born Hater" Epik High (featuring Beenzino, Verbal Jint, B.I, Mino, Bobby) | 3 | 639,994+ | |
| "I'm Different" Hi Suhyun (featuring Bobby) | 1 | 936,740 | |
| "Come Here" Masta Wu (featuring Dok2 and Bobby) | 8 | 275,664 | |
| 2015 | "이리오너라 (Anthem)" (with B.I) | 6 | 145,516 |
| 2016 | "사랑인걸 (It's Love)" (Bobby, Koo Junhoe, Kim Donghyuk) | 20 | 54,668 |
| !"꽐라 (HOLUP!)" | 9 | 199,815+ |
Production credits
| Year | Artist | Song | Role | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Team B | "Climax" | Co-Lyricist | WIN: Who Is Next |
| "Just Another Boy" | ||||
| 2014 | Himself | "Go" | Lyricist | Show Me The Money 3 |
| "L4L(Lookin' 4 Luv)" ft. Dok2 and The Quiett | Co-Lyricist | |||
| "연결고리#힙합" (YGGR#hiphop) | ||||
| "가드올리고 Bounce" (Raise Your Guard and Bounce) | Lyricist & Co-Composer | |||
| WINNER | "Empty" | Co-Lyricist | 2014 S/S | |
| Epik High | "Born Hater" ft. Beenzino, Verbal Jint, B.I, Mino, Bobby | Shoebox | ||
| iKON | "Long time no see" | MIX&MATCH | ||
| "Sinosijak" | ||||
| Hi Suhyun | "I'm Different" ft. Bobby | Digital single | ||
| Masta Wu | "Come here" ft. Bobby | Digital single | ||
| 2015 | iKON | "My Type" | Welcome Back (Half Album) | |
| "Rhythm Ta" | ||||
| "Airplane" | ||||
| "Welcome Back" | ||||
| "Today (오늘따라)" | ||||
| "M.U.P (솔직하게)" | ||||
| "아니라고 (I MISS YOU SO BAD)" | Welcome Back (Full Album) | |||
| "지못미 (APOLOGY)" | ||||
| "이리오너라" (Anthem) | Co-Composer & Co-Lyricist | |||
| "왜 또 (WHAT'S WRONG?)" | Co-Lyricist | |||
| "덤앤더머 (DUMB&DUMBER)" | ||||
| "리듬 타 REMIX (RHYTHM TA) [Rock Version]" | ||||
| 이리오너라 (Anthem) Remix | Welcome Back – Complete Edition | |||
| 2016 | Lee Hi | "안봐도 비디오 (Video)" ft. Bobby | Seoulite | |
| iKON | "오늘 모해 (#WYD)" | Digital Single | ||
| Himself | "HOLUP" | Co-Composer & Lyricist | The Mobb | |
| MOBB | "Hit me" ft. Kush | Co-Composer & Co-Lyricist | ||
| "Full House" | ||||
| iKON | "Love Me" | Co-lyricist | Dumb & Dumber | |
| "시노시작 (Sinosijak) Remix" |
Television appearances
| Year | Channel | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Mnet | WIN: Who Is Next | 10 episodes; premiered on August 23 |
| 2014 | Show Me the Money 3 | Series winner | |
| MIX & MATCH | 9 episodes | ||
| 2015 | SBS | Running Man | Eps. 278-279; with B.I |
| KBS | Happy Together 3 | Ep. 429; with B.I | |
| 2016 | JTBC | Two Yoo Project Sugar Man | Ep. 14; with iKON's Donghyuk and Junhoe |
| KBS | Yoo Hee-Yeol's Sketchbook | Ep. 306; as iKON | |
| MBC | Infinite Challenge | Ep. 466-468 | |
| tvN' | Daddy and Me |