Jay Park

Jay Park (born April 25, 1987), Korean name Park Jae-beom (박재범), is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and dancer based in South Korea. He is a member of the Seattle-based b-boy crew Art of Movement (AOM), and founder and former CEO of the independent hip hop record labels AOMG and H1ghr Music, as well as the founder of the record label More Vision. Park returned to South Korea in June 2010 for the filming of Hype Nation, and in July, Park signed a contract with SidusHQ, one of the largest entertainment agencies in South Korea. Rebranding and re-debuting as both a solo singer and a rapper, Park has participated in the underground hip hop culture scene in South Korea, a rarity for both active and former K-Pop idols.

Known for his charismatic performances and stage presence, Park has been described as a "born entertainer" by Korean pop singer Patti Kim, and The New York Times quoted the president of digital music distributor DFSB Kollective illustrating Park as "not just an artist, but also his own PR agent, fan club president, and TV network." An influential figure in the Korean hip hop scene, Park has been described as the "scene stalwart" of Korean R&B, and has been credited as one of the main figures responsible for the increased commercial acceptance and mainstream popularization of K-hip hop in South Korea.

Born in Edmonds, Washington, in the Seattle metropolitan area, Park showed great interest in hip hop music and breakdancing at a young age. Park attended Edmonds-Woodway, where he spent most of his break and lunch times practicing dance with friends. Park started listening to hip hop and rap music in his early teens, and spent time learning and writing raps himself during high school. In 2003, Park became one of the first members of the Seattle-based b-boy crew Art of Movement (AOM). Often skipping classes to participate in b-boy competitions, Park would have continuous clashes with his mother regarding his lack of interest in academics and potential higher education. In 2004, Park's mother, seeing how her son spent more time breakdancing than studying, suggested he try out for a locally advertised talent audition, which was organized by South Korean conglomerate JYP Entertainment. With his family financially struggling at the time, Park auditioned for the program, believing it to be a contest where the winner would receive a monetary prize reward. Unbeknownst to Park, the success of his audition would eventually lead to him being officially contacted and selected by JYP Entertainment to be part of a Korean boy band as an idol. In January 2005, Park was brought to South Korea to receive training in dancing, rapping, singing, and the Korean language under the strict supervision of JYPE. Park eventually completed his university education at Dankook University.

Soon after Park returned to the United States, the South Korean public changed their perspective on the matter when they realized that his Myspace messages had been severely mistranslated and taken out of context, in addition to strong fan support for Park's return. Park was seen at b-boy battles with fellow Art of Movement members during his time in Seattle. However, on February 25, with Park's comeback looking more and more likely, JYP suddenly announced that Jay Park's contract with them had been terminated, citing a separate "personal mistake" that Park had made in 2009. JYP would make reference to this unknown event several times in 2010, but would never elaborate on any details. This termination had been agreed by all six members of 2PM and led to fan boycotts of 2PM-endorsed products. Protests for Park's return to the group began to take place, not only in South Korea, but internationally as well. Various Jay Park-dedicated forums and fansites all over the world organized silent protests and flash dance mobs. Fans also hired a plane with a banner showing "J, what time is it now?" to fly over Seattle, and it was broadcast on Seattle-based radio stations.

On several occasions, Park was the number one trending topic on Twitter, even topping the Oscars on March 8. Park's fans revealed plans to release a self-produced album in his honor on March 27 to commemorate the 200th day anniversary of his departure from Korea. However, because the album had been in preparation since January and public opinion on 2PM had since changed, the fans decided it would be in the best interest to not release the CD, and instead, mailed 10–20 copies to Seattle, Park's hometown.

Park created his own YouTube channel on March 15, "jayparkaom", with the first upload being his own version of "Nothin' on You", which went viral and reached over 2,000,000 views in less than 24 hours. In Korea, the original song by B.o.B and Bruno Mars topped the Cyworld music chart in a matter of hours upon the video's release. "Nothin' on You" earned $300,000 in sales through the effect of Park's video. On June 15, 2010, B.o.B released "Nothin' on You" featuring Park, in South Korea, where he replaces Bruno Mars' vocals. His YouTube cover helped contribute to much of the song's success in Korea, with more than 5 million copies sold. Park subsequently thanked his fans for their support and continued to urge them not to hate remaining 2PM members.

He appeared with fellow Art of Movement members at an annual Korean-American festival event called Project Korea III: KSA Cinderella Story at Rutgers University, New Jersey, on April 3, along with Ailee and Clara C. Videos of the event were uploaded onto internet portal sites, where footage of Park acting as an MC and dancing to Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" on stage drew much positive interest. On April 24, Dumbfoundead released a free collaboration track featuring Park and Clara Chung on his website, titled "Clouds".

Los Angeles-based entertainment attorney Ned Sherman, CEO of Digital Media Wire, announced on May 28 that he was representing Park as his legal representative. Sherman and his wife Tinzar reached out to Park, after seeing Park's story and feeling bad about what happened to him during the MySpace controversy. The Shermans and Park worked on a lot of projects together, including his movie deal for Hype Nation, an endorsement deal with dENiZEN, Levi Strauss & Co.'s new brand, and others.

Park's music takes its roots in R&B and hip hop, more specifically from the 90s. He is influenced by the work of American artists he grew up listening to, such as Usher, Michael Jackson, Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, Ginuwine, Musiq Soulchild, Justin Timberlake, Eminem, Jay-Z, Nas, Tupac, Dr. Dre, and Canibus. Park credits Usher as his idol and as one of his biggest influences, who he started listening to in the 6th grade. He also cites Michael Jackson as his role model, as "he is the best". He cites both Usher and Michael Jackson as singers and dancers who influence him vocally and in dance, as he attempts to mimic them, looking at their music videos. In 2012, Park also cited Chris Brown as an inspiration, and wanted "to be a singer who can be good at both singing and rapping like [him]". Park began listening to hip hop music when he was in second grade, after one of his cousins let him listen to Warren G's "Regulate". In general, Park stated he "doesn't really listen to music to get inspiration, I listen to music because I listen to music, but I do get inspired when I listen to music, it definitely helps".

For his dance, Park highlights Art of Movement, Skill Methods, and Massive Monkees as b-boy crews that influence him. He also cites Andrew Baterina from SoReal Cru; Movement Lifestyle's members Keone Madrid, Lyle Beniga, and Shaun Evaristo; Ian Eastwood; and Twitch. Park is also inspired by Taiwanese-American NBA player Jeremy Lin, saying that Lin "was off the radar and now he's playing with the best of the best. People can't hate on him even though they want to because he's so good. That's how a K-pop star has to be over in America if they want to succeed. They have to be so good in every single way that even if people hate, they can't really say anything".

Jay Park's music is generally contemporary R&B and hip hop, but he also incorporates pop, dance, soul, electronic and acoustic into his songs. Prior to debuting with 2PM, Park was coached vocally by former SOLID member and renowned R&B artist Kim Jo-han, also known to be the vocal coach of many idols in the industry. Kim went on to say that "[Park] has an appealing and unique voice" and "definitely stood out amongst the rest". Park began to write rap lyrics in eighth grade. Since becoming a solo artist, he has complete creative control over his music : he writes and composes his own songs, produces his albums, chooses the people he wants to work with, and participates in the mastering and mixing of his songs, something almost unheard-of for a singer in the Korean music industry. More than making hit songs, Park says he wants people to hear his style of music, to make them listen to "Jay Park-sounding" music. Being fluent in both English and Korean, Park writes songs in these two languages. He admits that he is more at ease when writing songs in English than in Korean, as he started learning Korean in his late teens. In 2011, Park stated that the music he currently creates is "the music that I wanted to do" prior to his departure from 2PM. His musical process starts by listening to a lot of beats sent by various producers, while thinking of what kind of song he wants to write, and eventually short-listing a selection of potential beats to work with. Then, Park works on the melody of the song, along with ideas and lyrics. He writes the hook of the song first, and finally the verses. Park is inspired by everything when writing songs: "just listening to good songs, seeing a good live performance, having good conversations with people. Just everyday life". Some songs Park wrote are influenced by songs from other artists, for example, his song "Turn Off Your Phone" (전화기를 꺼놔; Revised Romanization: Jeonhwagireur Kkeonwa) from his album New Breed was inspired by Leessang's hit single "Turn Off the TV ..." (Korean: TV를 껐네…; Revised Romanization: TV Reurkkeotne) from their 7th album Asura Balbalta.

In July 2010, Park was announced to be endorsing Levi Strauss & Co.'s new brand, dENiZEN. He had previously revealed on YouTube in June 2010, before coming back to Korea, that he was at a photoshoot without revealing it was for dENiZEN. He continued to endorse the brand until the end of 2011 with female model Kwon Ri-se. Park and Kwon recorded a remix duet song of dENiZEN's theme song, "Manifesto". In early 2012, Park was chosen by KT Tech to be the official model of Take HD, a new smartphone by the brand. Park released the maxi-single "Take HD Special Maxi Album" on February 7, 2012, produced by KT Tech to promote the smartphone. The maxi-single includes remixes of Park's lead single from his album New Breed, "Know Your Name", released on the same day.

Park appears with fellow SidusHQ celebrities Jang Hyuk, Kim Soo-ro, Kim Shin-young and Jang Hee-jin in the MMORPG Lineage 2 as supporting characters. On behalf of Naver's first "Fashion Collaboration" event, Park also with fashion designer 275C for creation of a joint T-shirt titled Live Free, representing Park's free mind and lifestyle, and displaying both the Space Needle from Seattle, his hometown, and the Namsan Tower from Seoul, where he currently lives. The back of the T-shirt shows the names of his b-boy crews Art of Movement and Korean Assassins, and dance collaboration team, Project Prepix Asia.

Park was also chosen to endorse and model for casual clothing brand Googims for their 2012 collections; after the announcement was made, it was stated that "the brand's home page server was down every five minutes". A behind the scenes video of Park performing an impromptu dance to "Gangnam Style" by Psy at a Googims photo shoot was uploaded to YouTube on September 2, 2012, capturing the public's attention for his unique take of the choreography. Park also has been selected as the new model for outdoor clothing brand, Williamsburg, participating in TV commercials and fan-signing events.

In March 2013, Park, a long time fan of Nike, participated at a Nike event in Seoul, Korea, titled "Nike on Air", which was streamed live online via Ustream. Park is currently sponsored by Nike Korea, and has modeled various times for the apparel company. In 2016, Park, alongside Jessica Jung, Tian Yo, Charlene, and Pakho Chau modeled for Adidas's Celebration of Sportswear campaign. In March 2016, Park modeled for Umbro Korea's 'Reborn to Heritage' campaign; and did a photoshoot for Police Sunglasses, which was featured in the April issue of Dazed Korea magazine.

On March 8, 2020, a police report was filed against Brian Ortega for allegedly slapping Park, who is a good friend of UFC featherweight fighter Chan Sung Jung (also known as "Korean Zombie"), and serves as his translator. The slap allegedly happened while Jung went to the bathroom at UFC 248.

Park is bilingual, fluent in both English and Korean, and can speak basic Mandarin.

AOMG "Follow The Movement" – Korea & U.S. Concert Tours (2016)

Jay Park - All Of Me (Korean Concert) (2018)

IU The Golden Hour: Under the Orange Sun (2022)