Who is Jay Park?
Korean hip-hop crew AOMG Records, led by Jay Park, successfully concluded its 2016 North American eight-city tour with its final concert in Seattle on April 17th in front of an enthusiastic crowd at the Showbox Sodo. Park expressed gratitude to his fans and crew members for their passion and energy for the concert tour.
Many fans know about Jay Park’s hip-hop music but few know about his personal journey. Park was born in Edmonds, Washington, and grew up in Seattle until his high school years. After developing a keen interest in hip-hop music and break dancing, Park decided to audition for a Korean talent company, JYP Entertainment. They were quickly impressed with his performance at the audition and Park was signed on as a trainee talent for JYP entertainment.
After three years of intense vocal, dance, and rap training, Park made his first debut in 2008 as the leader of 2PM, a Korean boy band pop group. With big hits like “Again and Again,” Jay Park and 2PM were basking in their meteoric rise in the K-pop world until 2009 when the so-called “Myspace incident” brought everything down with a crash.
Homesick and having difficulties adapting to Korean culture, Jay Park vented his frustration on Myspace making disparaging comments about Korean people and culture. This immediately enraged the public and fans revolted. They demanded JYP Entertainment take immediate and appropriate punitive action. Jay Park apologized and explained his comments repeatedly, but the public’s rage showed no signs of subsiding. As a result, Jay Park was forced to drop out of 2PM and returned home to Seattle.
Many fans and friends in the music world continued to support Park and kept in contact. When one fan sent him a MacBook as a gift, he uploaded a video of himself covering “Nothin on You,” a song originally by B.o.B, as a thank you. The video became viral and reached millions of views in only a few days.
In July 2010, few years after that video was uploaded, Sidus HQ, another Korean entertainment company, announced a signed contract with Park, signaling a new start for Jay Park’s career in Korea. He released several new albums in Korea including “Count on me.” Park, once again, found success and started to receive public interest and support. In 2013, Park showed off his acting skills in a TV show, SNL Korea. He received good reviews on his acting and approval from the audience. Park’s new success in Korea continued even after his contract with Sidus HQ ended in 2013.
Now free from contracts, Park turned to focus back on his music by forming AOMG, “ABOVE ORDINARY MUSIC GROUP” and his own record label. Park went on to recruit other artists, such as Simon D, Loco and Gray, expanding the influence of AOMG in the music industry and global K-pop trends.
During an interview with Chosun Biz, Park stated, “My dream is becoming clearer recently. I write songs for concerts, make albums for songs, and keep company with fellow musicians.” Although Park went through excruciating hardships during start of his professional career, he never gave up and rebounded to success. He is now the CEO of one of the trendiest hip-hop labels in Korea thanks to his friends and fans that never gave up on him.
