Bobby (iKON): The talented rapper who wrote lyrics to diss BTS, suddenly became a dad at the age of 26
Let’s look back at the challenging idol path of the soon-to-be father Bobby.
Bobby is known as a popular rapper of YG’s boy group – iKON. Having highly appreciated talent, he has captured Kpop fans’ hearts over more than 5 years of his debut. Bobby is also the “stan attractor” of iKON with a large number of fans and supporters.
Outstanding talent since he was a trainee
Coming to Seoul in 2011 after being recruited by YG through an audition in New York, Bobby was first introduced to the public on the show WIN: Who Is Next? in 2013 – YG Entertainment’s contest for mail trainees to compete for a debut position under the group called WINNER.
Although Bobby’s team (team B) couldn’t win and lost the chance to debut, he was still one of the lucky trainees to appear in BIGBANG Taeyang’s Ringa Linga MV, and gained the attention of fans. Bobby also proved his talent when he participated in writing lyrics for the title song Empty on WINNER’s debut album.
In May 2014, Bobby continued to challenge himself in the hit show “Show Me The Money 3”. Overcoming extremely potential opponents, the excellent male rapper was crowned the winner of season 3, giving him the opportunity to hold a concert and release his own album. Although at that time, Bobby had not yet officially debuted in any YG group, he proved his charm when the tracks he performed in “Show Me The Money 3” were all well-received by the public.
After the show, Bobby attended the 11:11 concert with 3 seniors, Dok2, The Quiett, and Beenzino. In October 2014, Bobby continued to collaborate with Beenzino, Verbal Jint, B.I, and Song Mino to release Epik High’s Born Hater.
In early November 2014, he and Hi Suhyun – the subunit of Lee Hi and Lee Suhyun released the song “I’m Different”. By the end of November, Bobby featured in the single Come Here with DoK2, Masta Wu. This is also the song that caused a lot of controversies when he publicly dissed BTS member RM with his lyrics. At that time, the male idol was still a trainee under YG. This was considered a risky action when he had enough courage to rap diss a senior like that.
Specifically, Bobby’s lyrics read as follows: “They call me a monster, I’ve never called myself that. You all are completely made of glass, much better than the basement dungeon. If skill equals to looks, I’m Won Bin in front of a bulletproof glass”
At that time, RM was still using the stage name Rap Monster, so the word “monster” in Bobby’s rap was said to be referring to the BTS’s leader. Many fans also believe that the word “bulletproof glass” appearing in this song also implicitly refers to BTS because the group’s name used to be abbreviated as “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”.
“Struggling” on the musical path, especially since B.I left the group
After unremitting efforts, Bobby was officially selected to become an official member of iKON through the program “Mix And Match” taking place in 2014. The group debuted in 2015 with the participation of familiar names like B.I or Bobby. The two guys are also the key members, participating in the production and writing lyrics for most of the songs on the debut album.
iKON has made great efforts on their musical journey, but it was not until the song ‘LOVE SCENARIO’ was released that the group really had the first hit in their career. The song on the 2nd full album “Return” released on January 25, 2018, has achieved Perfect All-kill for 204 hours on iChart, bringing home 11 trophies on weekly music shows for iKON. The success of the album Return is thanks in large part to the talent of B.I, who continues to be the main producer for this product.
Therefore, when B.I decided to leave the group after the scandal of using drugs in 2019, fans could not help but worry about iKON’s future. The absence of a “talented producer” like B.I is a huge loss for the YG’s group because he has always been the main producer for iKON’s songs and at the same time create a unique musical color for this group.
Since B.I left, iKON continues to struggle on their musical path. Despite the fact that they continued to develop new products, the group was unable to reach the same level of success as previously.
Although iKON has not really stood out in the current Kpop market, Bobby’s talent is undeniable. He is not only a skilled rapper, but he also makes the listener respect his voice on his debut solo album, “Love And Fall”. His album has excellently risen to No. 2 on the Billboard chart after its release in 2017, bringing Bobby to the forefront as a world artist.
Besides, in January 2021, Bobby continued to have a solo project with the second full album titled ‘Lucky’ Man. Not long after, he reappeared with iKON in the MV ‘Why Why Why’ released in March. Bobby and iKON’s latter music, on the other hand, has not been well received by fans.
Suddenly became a father at the age of 26
On the afternoon of August 20, fans could not help but be shocked by the news that Bobby will officially get married and become a father in September this year. Specifically, the male rapper uploaded a handwritten photo with the announcement via his Instagram.
The male idol announced that he will marry the woman he loves, who was eight months pregnant. Bobby also apologized to the fans, promising that he would not embarrass the parents or members of iKON, as well as the group’s followers, in the future.
Currently, netizens are having mixed opinions about this incident. However, everyone hopes that he will be happy and continue accompanying iKON on the upcoming musical journey.
