It’s been five or six years, he tells us in an exclusive interview ahead of his performance, since he last came to play in the region. “It’s been a while since I’ve been here, so I’m excited to meet my Hong Kong fans.”

The last time B.I performed in Hong Kong, he was still the leader of YG Entertainment’s boy group iKon and responsible for producing a number of the group’s greatest hits like “Love Scenario”.

However, in 2019, the rapper was embroiled in a drug scandal that led to the termination of his contract with YG and eventual departure from the group, according to NME.

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The 26-year-old debuted as a solo artist in 2021 under his self-founded label 131 Label, per USA Today.

Since then, B.I has slowly expanded his presence in the business as a solo artist, releasing singles like “Got It Like That” with American musicians Destiny Rogers and Tyla Yaweh, and his first full-length studio album Waterfall a month later. The music video for his title track “Illa Illa” surpassed 12.7 million views in the first 24 hours on YouTube, breaking the record for the most viewed K-pop male solo artist debut music video, according to Pinkvilla.

On July 15, the rapper announced his return by releasing the second instalment of his global album project, Love or Loved Part. 2, to come out in October. The album is intentionally divided into two parts, with each EP delivering a distinct message. “If the first part is about falling in love, the second part is about breaking up,” B.I. explains.

Love or Loved Part. 1 was released in November 2022, with songs that describe the feeling of falling in love, with more upbeat undertones.

Part two, it seems, will be a little different. Based on promotional material, the new album seems to be moving towards a more sombre direction. “I just portray a kind of loneliness and sadness and a little bit of emptiness,” says the artist.

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Throughout his career, B.I has become a jack of all trades. Not only does he rap, sing and dance, but he also produces and writes a lot of his own songs. The songwriter is well-known for being a lyrical genius, but he says he himself looks up to hip-hop trio Epik High’s frontman Tablo for inspiration.

“I get a lot of inspiration from him,” says B.I, who has collaborated with Tablo multiple times. “I think he’s a genius and he can write English lyrics and Korean lyrics too.”

Another artist B.I says he gets inspiration from and tries to emulate in his work is American rapper and singer Nelly. “I get a lot of influence from Nelly, a lot. I like his style and his singing and rapping style. So I kind of copied him a lot when I was training, with like melodic rapping and his gestures and stuff.”

Dates for his Europe tour “Love or Die” are also out. The rapper will tour a total of 16 cities starting off in Utrecht in the Netherlands on September 19 and ending in Munich, Germany on October 19.

“Everything will be new,” he says about the tour, “because I’ve never done a concert with my second album, so it will be new songs.” For a special treat, he says he will also perform a couple of unreleased songs that he made with his producer friends in Europe.

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B.I has a relaxed approach to making music and has said that he often finds inspiration from films and manga. The “Dare to Love” singer explains that he doesn’t have a strict routine when it comes to his creative process. “Sometimes lyrics come first, sometimes melody comes first, sometimes track comes first, so it all depends. I don’t have any exact routine.”

His approach to burnout is similarly simple: “Just get over it.” Every artist in the world has at some point in their career experienced burnout, and while some find ways to alleviate the exhaustion through self-care, B.I’s only resort is to power through. “I just accept it, but it’s not that easy. I think it’s not that easy for everyone,” he says.

“I think when I first debuted, I didn’t really understand the importance of having to take care of my fans. But now I definitely understand,” he reveals.