Suga from K-pop giants BTS – his life, his loves and his solo works
BTS put on an incendiary performance at the Billboard Music Awards, where they won the award for the best social media artist. We take a look at the life of the K-pop group’s outspoken rapper Suga
After releasing their long-awaited third album, the moody and stylistically ambitious Love Yourself: Tear last week, South Korean K-pop giants BTS made yet another comeback by returning to the stage of the Billboard Music Awards last Sunday.
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At the ceremony, the seven-member group again won the award for top social media artist for their huge army of followers – more than 10.9 million on Twitter, and 10.4 million on Instagram – and performed their latest single, Fake Love.
With the group back in top form, and as the BTS Army celebrate a new era in the boy band’s career, let’s look back at BTS rapper Suga’s life so far.
His early life
Suga, born Min Yoon-gi, grew up in South Korea’s third-largest city, Daegu. The 25-year-old’s love for all things hip hop began at an early age, when he heard South Korean rappers Epik High perform their track Fly. Before joining BTS, Suga was a member of the underground rap outfit D-Town, or Daegu-Town, and went by the name Gloss. Suga came from a poor family and never expected to make it “big”, and has spoken of his appreciation for the success of BTS.
His image
Suga is known as the most outspoken member of BTS. With a propensity to speak his mind, Suga has commented on a wide variety of issues including the state of politics in his native South Korea. Bang Si-hyeok, the founder of BTS’ management firm, Big Hit Entertainment, has said he recruited Suga for his outspokenness, according to an interview published in Billboard earlier this year.