B.I (rapper)

Kim Han-bin (born October 22, 1996), known professionally as B.I is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer.

Kim Han-bin was born on October 22, 1996, in Cheonan, South Korea.

In 2009, B.I made his first appearance by featuring and participating in promotions for MC Mong's single "Indian Boy", including live performances and accompanying the rapper to the TV show You Hee-yeol's Sketchbook.

He also appeared in the music video for the song and had a cameo appearance in the music video of another song by MC Mong, "Horror Show".

B.I joined YG Entertainment as a trainee in January 2011.

After over two years of training, in 2013, B.I participated in Mnet reality survival program WIN: Who Is Next as a contestant under Team B. However, his team's opponent, Team A, won the program, so B.I, together with the other members of the team, continued as a trainee under YG Entertainment.

In 2014, B.I and his label-mate Bobby competed in Mnet's Show Me the Money 3, during which B.I released his self-written digital single "Be I", which became the first single from the show to top the charts.

This was noteworthy as he was only 17 years old and still a trainee at the time.

While B.I was still competing on Show Me the Money 3, it was announced in September 2014 that Team B would return to compete on another survival program, Mix & Match.

This show eventually led to the debut of Team B, with the addition of trainee Jung Chan-woo, under the group name iKon.

In October 2014, B.I was featured in label-mate Epik High's lead single "Born Hater" alongside Beenzino, Verbal Jint, Bobby, and Winner's Mino, and they performed the song together at the 2014 Mnet Asian Music Awards.

He debuted in the South Korean boy band IKon under YG Entertainment in September 2015.

B.I made his debut as the leader of iKon under YG Entertainment on September 15, 2015, with their warm-up single "My Type" (취향저격), followed by lead singles "Rhythm Ta" (리듬 타) and "Airplane" on October 1, 2015.

Throughout his leadership tenure, B.I played a significant role in the production and songwriting of iKon's music, This includes the group's full-length studio albums Welcome Back and Return, as well as the compilation album The New Kids, and singles and EPs such as "#WYD" (오늘 모해), New Kids: Begin, "Rubber Band" (고무줄다리기), New Kids: Continue, and New Kids: The Final.

He is credited as the sole record producer for all of iKon's albums.

In December 2015, he and fellow iKon member Jin-hwan joined the cast of JTBC's Mari and I (마리와 나).

His contributions to iKon's second studio album, Return, for the lead single "Love Scenario", earned him the prestigious "Songwriter of the Year" award at the 2018 Melon Music Awards.

In 2021, he debuted as a solo artist under his self-founded label, 131, with the charity single album Midnight Blue (Love Streaming) and full-length charity studio album Waterfall.

Cosmos, the first half of his second studio album was released in November 2021.

In 2022, he launched his global album project Love or Loved, starting with the single "BTBT" in May, followed by the EP Love or Loved Part.1 in November.

B.I released his second studio album To Die For on June 1, 2023.

In December 2018, B.I was awarded the "Songwriter of the Year" award at the 10th Melon Music Awards for his contributions to iKon's second studio album, Return, and specifically for his work on the lead single "Love Scenario" (사랑을 했다).

Deemed one of the "100 greatest songs in the history of Korean pop music" by Rolling Stone in 2023, "Love Scenario" topped the South Korean Gaon Digital Chart for the year 2018, and received several awards in South Korea, including the Melon Music Award for "Song of the Year", the Golden Disc Award for "Song of the Year", and the Seoul Music Award for "Best Song".

While serving as the leader of iKon, B.I released one non-promoted solo track, "One and Only" (돗대), as a B-side from iKon's album Return.

He was also featured in label-mate Psy's studio album 4X2=8 in June 2017, on the track "Bomb" along with Bobby, and on the track "Mollado" (몰라도) from Seungri's debut studio album, The Great Seungri, released on July 20, 2018.

On June 12, 2019, he departed from the group due to drug allegations.

During his time with the group, he played a significant role in the production and songwriting of their music, and is credited as the sole record producer for all of the group's releases.

In 2019, B.I was cast for JTBC2's variety show Grand Buda-guest.

He was also featured on label-mate Lee Hi's single "No One" (누구 없소), and co-wrote and co-composed the track "1, 2" (한두 번) from her EP 24°C.

On June 12, 2019, following drug allegations, B.I left the group iKon and terminated his exclusive contract with YG Entertainment.

Despite his departure from iKon and YG Entertainment, B.I was still credited with writing and composing four out of five songs on iKon's 2020 EP I Decide, including the title track "Dive", which was released by YG Entertainment on February 6, 2020.

On September 28, 2020, B.I was appointed as the executive director of IOK Company.

On January 11, 2021, it was announced that B.I would feature on Epik High's tenth studio album, Epik High Is Here 上 (Part 1), on the song "Acceptance Speech", which was released on January 18, 2021, along with the rest of the album.

This was followed by B.I's release of a charity single album, Midnight Blue (Love Streaming), on March 19, 2021, through B.I's self-founded label, 131 Label, an affiliate of IOK Music.

The label's name was inspired by the shape created when the letters "B" and "I" are combined.

The debut single album contained three self-written songs, and an animated music video for lead single "Midnight Blue" was released on the same day.

All tracks had been previously released, partially, as demos via B.I's SoundCloud between 2020 and 2021.

On May 7, 2021, 131 Label announced the release schedule for B.I as a solo artist.

This included a global single "Got It Like That" featuring Destiny Rogers and Tyla Yaweh, released on May 14, 2021, and his first full-length studio album, Waterfall, released on June 1, 2021.

Waterfall featured former label-mates Lee Hi and Tablo of Epik High.