T.O.

Background information

Birth name

Choi Seung-hyun ()

Also known as

Tempo Mark T.O.P

Born

November 4, 1987 (age 25) Seoul, South Korea

Origin

Republic of Korea

Genres

Hip hop, K-pop

Occupations

Rapper, singer, composer,lyricist, beatboxer, actor, record producer, model

Years active

2006Present

Labels

YG Entertainment[1]

Associated acts

Big Bang, GD & TOP

T.O.P's signature

Choi Seung-hyun (Korean: ; born November 4, 1987), better known by his stage name T.O.P (Korean: ), is a South Korean Top rapper, singer, songwriter, model, and actor. Best known as a lead rapper of the hip hop Korean boy band Big Bang, he has branched out to act in various dramas and films, including I Am Sam, Iris, Nineteen and71: Into the Fire.

In 2011, T.O.P and bandmate, G-Dragon collaborated to record and release the album GD & TOP (2010). The album saw the release of three singles: "High High," "Oh Yeah," and "Knock Out," all of which have charted within the top three positions of the Gaon chart, with "High High" becoming a chart-topper. Jeff Benjamin from the American music magazine Billboard noted that T.O.P is well known for his low-bass timbre rapping.[2] On an episode of Korean variety show Family Outing, BIGBANG bandmate Daesung revealed T.O.P's nickname, Bingu TOP. Daesung explained that "Bingu" was referring to T.O.P's foolishness around other people.

History
20052006: Big Bang debut
Prior to his involvement with YG Entertainment, Seunghyun was an underground rapper under the name of Tempo, and a childhood friend of G-Dragon, another member and leader of Big Bang. G-Dragon stated that the two were "neighborhood friend[s] from middle school" and would often dance and rap together. Although GDragon later moved away and the two "became distant", he contacted Seunghyun again when YG Entertainment was scouting for candidates to create a boy band.[4] The pair recorded several demos and sent them to Yang Hyun Suk, CEO of YG Entertainment, who later asked Seunghyun to audition.[3] Seunghyun was initially rejected by the record label, which deemed him too "chubby" to fit the "idealistic version" of an idol.[3] Seunghyun later stated that he "went home and exercised really hard because I wanted to join YG Entertainment."[3] Six months later, he returned for another audition and was signed on. He reportedly lost 20 kg in 40 days.[3] Choi Seung-hyun was given the stage name of T.O.P. (Korean: ) by fellow YG artist Se7en. He became one of the two rappers in the group Big Bang, alongside G-Dragon. The two were paired with four others: Taeyang, Daesung, Seungri and So-1 and a documentation of their training was aired to promote them. So-1 was dropped by the record label, and Big Bang made its official debut with five members. Their first album, Since 2007, was a fair success, and included T.O.P.'s first solo song "Big Boy." The group achieved mainstream success with the release of the song "Lies" (Korean: ; Revised Romanization: Geojitmal) from their 2007 mini-albumAlways, which topped several charts upon its release. The singles, "Last Farewell" (Korean: ; Revised Romanization:Majimak Insa) from the mini-album Hot Issue and "Day by Day" (Korean: ; Revised Romanization: Haru Haru) from Stand Up, became chart-toppers as well.

20072009
Following the release of the band's albums and singles, T.O.P. began working on his solo career. In April 2007, he was featured with fellow Big Bang members Taeyang and G-Dragon on singer Lexy's single "Super Fly" for her album Rush. Later that summer, he appeared as an actor in Red Rocs "Hello" music video. He later became the first member of Big Bang to venture into acting, starring in the KBS2 drama, I Am Sam, portraying the school's top fighter, Chae Musin. He also took the role of MC of MBC's Music Core on November 10, 2007,

only to resign in April of the following year. In 2008, he collaborated with R&B artistGummy on the song "I'm Sorry" for her album Comfort, veteran singer Uhm Jung Hwa for her single "D.I.S.C.O." and ZiA for her single "I Only See You". That same year, he was also admitted to Dankook University, to the theater department. T.O.P later put his solo career on hold while he joined his group for their promotional activities. After more than a year of promoting Big Bang's materials, he returned to acting, playing the assassin Vick in the critically acclaimed Korean television drama Iris. T.O.P. also recorded the song "Hallelujah" for the drama's soundtrack with Taeyang and G-Dragon. Following Iris, T.O.P. and Seungri appeared in the teenage suspense drama, My 19.

2010 Present
T.O.P appeared in the movie 71: Into the Fire which released in June 2010. He received many good critiques and praise for his acting; and eventually won many actor awards at the end of the year. The movie hit 1 million views in a week, making it the first movie of 2010 to reach that number of views in South Korea. He is also in preparation for his solo debut. During Big Bang's Big Show concert in January 2010, T.O.P. performed his new single "Turn It Up." YG Entertainment released a music video teaser for "Turn It Up" on June 14, 2010 which revealed the release date for the full music video to be June 21, 2010. The teaser itself received over 200,000 views within 48 hours of its original posting on YouTube. The official music video was released at noon in South Korea, with over 1,000,000 views and comments in just a few minutes. He is also the first Korean artist to have his song release worldwide on iTunes. On 29 October 2010, he won the Hallyu Popularity Award in the 47th Grand Bell Film Awards. In November 2010, YG Entertainment announced T.O.P and bandmate G-Dragon would release a collaboration album. Preceding the release of the album, the duo held a world-wide premiere showcase for their album at Times Square in Yeongdeungpo of Seoul, South Korea, which was also broadcast live on YouTube. To promote their album, the duo released three singles: "High High," "Oh Yeah," and "Knock out." All three singles preceded the release of the album. The singles attained commercial successes: "High High" was a chart topper while "Oh Yeah" and "Knock Out" both peaked at #2 and #3 respectively. The album was released on Christmas Eve, and debuted at number one with pre-orders of 200,000 copies. In October 2011, it was announced that T.O.P. had been tapped as the male lead to star opposite Kim Ha Neul in Absolutely Him, the South Korean remake of Absolute Boyfriend, a Japanese manga about a perfect robot boyfriend that has already been adapted into both a Japanese and Taiwanese live action drama. However, there is no confirmation from both actors' agencies yet. T.O.P featured in English artist Pixie Lott's Japanese album along with fellow member G-Dragon. The song is titled "Dancing On My Own". T.O.P won the cover of 1st Look Magazine in 2011. The photoshoot took place in Brooklyn, New York and was shot by renowned photographer Hong Jang Hyun. He modeled the brands winter military jacket and black jeans.

In June 2012, T.O.P has been confirmed to star in the upcoming action film, Alumni, with actor Jo Sung-ha. He will play the son of a North Korean spy who is falsely accused. Kim Yoo Jung will play T.O.P.'s little sister in the drama.

Discography
Collaboration albums

GD & TOP with G-Dragon (2010) Play with GD & TOP with G-Dragon (2011)

Singles
Peak position Year Single
KOR
[26]

Album

2006

"Big Boy" (T.O.P solo)

Since 2007

"Friend" (Feat. Taeyang) 2007 "Act Like Nothing's Wrong" (Feat. Kim Jieun)

non-album release

Always

2009

"Hallelujah" (Feat. G-Dragon & Taeyang)

18

Iris OST

"Turn it Up" 2010 "Because"

11

GD & TOP

19 OST

"Of All Days" 2011 "Oh Mom"

89 GD & TOP 27

Featured & Collaboration singles

Peak positions Year Title

Album

"Forever with You" (with G-Dragon Ft. Park Bom) 2006 "We Belong Together" (with G-Dragon Ft. Park Bom)

Bigbang Vol.1

2007

"Buckwild" (NBK Gray Ft. T.O.P)

"I'm Sorry" (Gummy Ft. T.O.P)

Comfort

"D.I.S.C.O" (Uhm Jung Hwa Ft. T.O.P) 2008 "All I See is You" (ZiA Ft. T.O.P)

D.I.S.C.O

Road Movie

"Forever with You" Japanese version(with G-Dragon Ft. Park

With U

2010

"Digital Bounce" (Se7en Ft. T.O.P)

Digital Bounce

"High High" (with G-Dragon)

"Oh Yeah" (with G-Dragon Ft. Park Bom)

2011

"Knock Out" (with G-Dragon)

GD & TOP

"Intro" (with G-Dragon)

"Baby Goodnight" (with G-Dragon)

13

"Don't Go Home" (with G-Dragon)

22

2012

"Dancing On My Own" (Pixie Lott Ft. T.O.P & G-Dragon)

Young Foolish Happy (Deluxe Edition)

"" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Filmography
Film

Year

Film

Role

Notes

2008 Story of Men

Himself

Cameo appearance

2009 Nineteen

Seo Jeong-hun

2010 71: Into the Fire Oh Jang-beom

2011 Iris

Vick

Film adaption of Iris for Japan

2012 Alumni (film)

Myeong-hoon

Television

Year

Title

Role

Notes

2007 I Am Sam

Chae Mu-sin

2008 Show! Music Core Host

With Sunye and Sohee

2009 Family Outing

Guest

Ep 3435

2009 Iris

Vick

2012 Running Man

Guest

Ep 84-85

2012 GO Show

Guest

Ep 3

Music Videos

Year

Title

Role

2007 Red Roc - "Hello"

Himself

Gummy - "I'm Sorry" 2008 Uhm Jung Hwa - "D.I.S.C.O"

Himself

Himself

2011 Gummy - "I'm Sorry" (Japanese version) Himself

Awards and nominations

Hallyu Popularity 47th Grand Bell Awards Best New Actor 2010 8th Korea Film Awards Best New Actor 71: Into the Fire

Won

Nominated

Nominated

Style Icon Awards

Best New Actor

Won

Best New Actor 31st Blue Dragon Film Awards Popularity

Won

Won

Max Movie Award

Best New Actor

Won

5th Asian Film Awards

Best New Actor

Nominated

Best New Actor 47th Paeksang Arts Award Popularity Award (Actor in a Motion Picture)

Won

Won

TV commercials / advertisements

Calvin Klein- "Brooklyn Boy" North Face Lotte Department Store Sunny10 LG Lollipop LG Cyon Suit LG Optimus ONE LG Cyon Clear Baskin Robbins Nikon FILA 2% Water Eversense G Market Lotte Duty Free CJ Group CM TV Style M

Bangs B-School FUBU