He always knew he wanted a career in music

Suga first started writing lyrics and learning how to work with Midi musical programming at the early age of 13, according to a 2016 interview with Grazia. Later, when he was 17, he worked at a music studio in his hometown Daegu, arranging music and making and selling beats.

He described this time as working rather than making music, even though the job barely covered his food and transport costs.

He used to play the lottery every week as he struggled financially

In Mnet’s Comeback Show – BTS DNA, Suga opened up about his financial struggles: “If I ate a meal, I didn’t have money to take the bus … Even when I sold my songs, I wouldn’t get paid properly.” He would always debate whether to eat the US$2 jajangmyeon (noodles in black bean sauce) in front of his studio because if he spent that money, he had to walk for two hours to get home. In episode three of the Burn the Stage documentary series, Suga said that he felt so helpless during his trainee years that he bought lottery tickets every week.

People doubted whether he could make it in music

In an interview with Ten Asia in 2014, Suga said that when he was in sixth grade, people would make comments like, “you won’t make it” or “you shouldn’t rap” – but that just pushed him to pursue his dream career in music even more as he wanted to prove those people wrong. Eventually he signed up for the Hit It rap audition in 2010, coming in at second place.

Even his family didn’t support his dream

In a 2018 Billboard interview, Suga shared that his parents did not support him at all when it came to music, saying, “My family was completely against it. They thought I was a mutant. I never heard music in my house growing up. My relatives said that I would most certainly fail.”

In a 2013 radio interview with Super Junior’s Ryeowook, Suga also said that his parents threw away all his music and lyric notes and, in an interview on Jo Jungchi and Harim’s 2 o’clock radio show in 2014, he explained that his parents wanted him to be a government worker and have a stable job.

Suga’s family situation wasn’t the best in general when he was growing up. During his video commentary on the album “The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1”, he said that his mother became very sick after he was born and even had surgery, which led to him being brought up by his grandmother in his earlier years.

He worked as delivery man as a trainee

During his trainee years, Suga worked as a delivery man to pay his tuition fees and ended up getting into a car accident that left him with a severe shoulder injury in 2012. After the accident, his condition worsened to such an extent that he could no longer breakdance and sometimes couldn’t even lift his arm.

But when he told his agency that he was thinking of quitting, Bang stopped him and decided to pay off Suga’s tuition fees himself. Finally, in 2020, Suga got the shoulder surgery that he very much needed after years of chronic pain and recurring mobility problems.

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