BTS: Leader RM celebrates his 27th birthday
On this day of September 12th, 2021, RM, whose real name is KIM NAMJOON, celebrates his twenty-seven years, a great day for the leader of the renowned group BTS!
KIM NAMJOON was born on September 12th, 1994 in DONGJAK-GU, South Korea, but left this city at the age of 5 for ILSAN. City in which he grew up with his parents as well as his siblings.
Attached to his roots, it is not uncommon for the rapper to mention the city of ILSAN. Whether it’s in the lives he performs on the Vlive app, in the episodes of RUN BTS !, the band’s entertainment program, and, of course, in his usual medium: Music. Notably in the title “Ma city” of the album “THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MOMENT IN LIFE PT.2” in which he shares his attachment to the city and to various emblematic places of his childhood.
“I want to hear your voice, I want to hear your beliefs. No matter who you are, where you come from, what color your skin is or what your gender, express yourself”
This line, taken from RM’s address during their invitation to UN Headquarters in NEW YORK on September 25, 2018, is a testament to the BTS group’s struggle. That of freeing imprisoned youth, of combating the oppression and discrimination which they must demonstrate on a daily basis. This is why several BTS tracks point in this direction and behind many of this music is the feather RM.
Passionate about art, literature and poetry, NAMJOON has devoted himself to writing since his childhood. At first, RM only wrote poetry. Poetry he shares on a blog. With this passion, the young teenager of the time also won several awards for his poetic writings.
It was at the age of 11 that he discovered the musical style of Hip Hop, notably thanks to the track “Fly” by the group EPIK HIGH. Following this, he will use his writings for rap and will make his debut in 2007 in the world of underground rap. RM then performed under the name RUNCH RANDA, linking performances to street shows and on small stages and joined the underground group DAENAMHYUP. During this period, he shared his writings with other underground artists with whom he would collaborate. On this occasion, he worked with rapper ZICO and with SUPREME BOI (producer of BIGHIT MUSIC) who also started in the industry.
After several years as an underground artist, RM decides to audition for BIG DEAL RECORDS. This hearing takes him to the second round without him being able to go further in the adventure. However, rapper SLEEPY from UNTOUCHABLE noticed NAMJOON’s potential and shared it with PDOGG who is currently a producer at BIGHIT ENTERTAINEMENT (now BIGHIT MUSIC). The latter then recommends to NAMJOON to audition with BANG PD, CEO of BIGHIT ENTERTAINMENT.
Decided to try his luck, RM meets BANG PD, whose real name is BANG SI HYUK, in 2010, this meeting will bring him into the agency as the first trainee in order to join a Hip Hop group named BULLET PROOF BOYS (BPB).
For 3 years, he trained alongside MIN YOONGI, rapper from BTS group, and JUNG HOSEOK, dancer from BTS. During this period, he will share his talent for writing with the other trainees of the agency and member of the future B.P.B group such as SUPREME BOI and IRON. He will also have the opportunity to participate in the writing of the single “Party (XXO)” by the girls band GLAM. Through the lyrics of this song, which celebrates the love of two women, NAMJOON shares his support for the LGBTQIA + community, which he will do many times thereafter. Billboard called it “one of the most cutting-edge songs from a K-pop girl group in the past decade.”
Finally, it is as a member of BTS that RM will debut on June 13, 2013, alongside JIN, SUGA, J-HOPE, JIMIN, V and JUNGKOOK.
NAMJOON is then unveiled to the public as a leader and rapper bearing the stage name RAP MONSTER, a nickname given to him before his debut because of a line from one of the music he made during his period of trail. However, after 5 years as RAP MONSTER, the rapper changed his stage name to RM in order to shorten his stage name and make it easier to pronounce.
Today, RM continues to showcase his talents for songwriting as well as music production by working on the band’s albums, going so far as to help fellow members with their personal writings. Indeed, the rapper produces a lot of music for BTS, so it is not uncommon to see his name mentioned in BTS music credits and RM can be considered a full-fledged BTS lyricist.
NAMJOON has his own studio in the building of HYBE ENTERTAINMENT (parent company of BIGHIT MUSIC) which he named “MY Studio” in order to be able to fully work on his writings.
Rewarding his work, RM, alongside J-HOPE, was appointed as a member of the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA) as a producer, in 2020, then joining SUGA which had joined him in 2019. The organization then had said: RM and J-HOPE have joined the membership list for the worldwide popularity of their songs, “Boy with luv”, “Home”, “Blood, sweat and tears”.
Two years after his debut as a member of BTS, NAMJOON released his first mixtape titled RM, on March 17, 2015 more precisely. This mixtape includes 11 tracks produced by him. Inspired by artists J. Cole, Drake and Chase and Statuts, for this mixtape, he used the original sounds of these artists for some tracks of the mixtape. His approach was to rework these instrumentations in order to convey his interpretation of these sounds to the audience. A total of three MVs were posted on the BANGTAN TV YouTube channel, BTS’s official channel, on the occasion of the release. These clips are about “Awaking”, “Joke” and “Do you” music, so these are the first solo MVs of a BTS member.
On October 22, 2018, NAMJOON shares with the ARMYs his second mixtape titled MONO, previously announced during BTS’s second concert in Paris, given on the occasion of the Love Yourself tour. Softer than his first Mixtape, this one deals with topics such as love and the artist’s personal thoughts. Again, three MVs were subsequently uploaded to BANGTAN TV for the titles “Forever rain”, “Seoul” and “Moonchild”. With this mixtape, RM managed to position itself at the top of the iTunes charts in 88 countries in total.
We wish RM a very happy birthday and hope that this day will bring him as much happiness as possible.
Journalist: Omérine
Translator: Shawn
Sources: SNS Bighit entertainment / BANGTAN TV / Mnet