Jay Park is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer and entrepreneur based in South Korea.
75 Facts About Jay Park
2.
Jay Park is a member of the Seattle-based b-boy crew Art of Movement, 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.
3.
In September 2009, Jay Park returned home to Seattle after comments he wrote about Korea in 2005 as a teenager were publicized by the Korean media, officially leaving the group.
4.
Jay Park returned to South Korea in June 2010 for the filming of Hype Nation, and in July, Jay Park signed a contract with SidusHQ, one of the largest entertainment agencies in South Korea.
5.
Jay Park attended Edmonds Woodway, where he spent most of his break and lunch times practicing dance with friends.
6.
Jay Park started listening to hip hop and rap music in his early teens, and spent time learning and writing raps himself during high school.
7.
In 2003, Jay Park became one of the first members of the Seattle-based b-boy crew Art of Movement.
8.
In 2004, Jay 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.
9.
In January 2005, Jay Park was brought to South Korea to receive training in dancing, rapping, singing, and the Korean language under the strict supervision of JYPE.
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Jay Park first appeared through Mnet's Hot Blood Men, a documentary-style reality program that showed the future members of One Day, split as idol groups 2AM and 2PM, in training.
11.
Jay Park, finishing at the top spot with the most fan votes, became the leader of 2PM.
12.
Jay Park apologized to the other 2PM members, and promised that he would "come back a better person".
13.
Jay Park was seen at b-boy battles with fellow Art of Movement members during his time in Seattle.
14.
Various Jay Park-dedicated forums and fansites all over the world organized silent protests and flash dance mobs.
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Jay Park's YouTube cover helped contribute to much of the song's success in Korea, with more than 5 million copies sold.
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Jay Park subsequently thanked his fans for their support and continued to urge them not to hate remaining 2PM members.
17.
Sherman and his wife Tinzar reached out to Jay Park, after seeing Jay Park's story and feeling bad about what happened to him during the MySpace controversy.
18.
Jay Park began working with singer, producer, and fellow AOM member, Cha Cha Malone, releasing "Bestie" in both Korean and English, and a duet titled "Speechless".
19.
Jay Park was cast for the 2011 Korean movie Mr Idol, starring alongside friend and fellow SidusHQ actor, Kim Su-ro.
20.
Jay Park was chosen to be the sole opener for Ne-Yo in his first concert in Seoul for the "2011 Hyundai Mall 40th Anniversary Concert" held on March 29.
21.
Jay Park was a finalist in the "Celebrity" category at the same event.
22.
On his third episode of Immortal Songs 2, Jay Park performed "Tell me the Truth" by Jinusean with Solbi, Jang Hyuk and Kim Su-ro, and was the victor for that episode, allowing him to choose the order for the next episode.
23.
On his fifth episode, Jay Park performed a remixed version of "Look Back at Me" by Deux with a b-boy dance break.
24.
The music video was released on the same day, and Jay Park apologized for its low quality, saying he had no control over the release of both the music video and the song.
25.
Jay Park performed his single on the same day at the 2011 Style Icon Awards, following a recording of tvN's Taxi.
26.
Jay Park was the only solo artist to receive the Disk Bonsang among the other Bonsang winners.
27.
Jay Park produced and composed a song with Cha Cha Malone for Korean-American singer Brian Joo, titled "Can't Stop".
28.
Jay Park wrote the Korean version of the song, while Joo wrote the English Version.
29.
Jay Park co-wrote the song "4U" for the idol group U-Kiss at the request of main vocalist Soohyun, a long-time friend and fellow former JYP Entertainment trainee, and it was included in U-Kiss's sixth EP DoraDora.
30.
Jay Park produced and composed a song for the girl group Tiny-G, entitled "Polaris"; the lyrics were written by actress Lee Si-young.
31.
Jay Park was selected as the 2012 R-16 Korea ambassador by the Korea Tourism Organization on April 23.
32.
Jay Park became the first artist of Asian origin to achieve this result on Datpiff.
33.
Jay Park performed his song "Carefree", which was included on the New Breed Red Edition repackaged album, and showed his self-choreographed dance break to "Dirty Bass" by Far East Movement featuring Tyga, which he later shared on YouTube.
34.
Jay Park held his own concerts in Sydney and Melbourne at the end of September 2012.
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Jay Park uploaded a practice video to "I Love You", showing the complex choreography that he and Prepix members were practising for his upcoming concert.
36.
Jay Park joined as a part of a new corner on the show, titled the "Trueman Show".
37.
On February 6,2013, it was announced that Jay Park would be joining the cast of Saturday Night Live Korea, having previously hosted an episode in late 2012.
38.
On May 3, it was revealed that Park would be participating on the soundtrack of M Night Shyamalan's 2013 American science-fiction thriller film, After Earth, having been personally contacted by Will Smith and Jaden Smith.
39.
On September 1,2014, Jay Park released his second full-length album, Evolution.
40.
In 2015, Jay Park participated as a judge on Mnet's rap competition program Show Me the Money 4.
41.
Jay Park released "My Last" featuring Loco and Gray on July 17,2015, alongside a music video.
42.
On November 5,2015, Jay Park released his third official studio album, Worldwide.
43.
The hip hop project contained a total of 18 tracks and contained some of the songs Jay Park had previously released in the year, such as "Mommae".
44.
On October 20,2016, Jay Park released his fourth solo album Everything You Wanted.
45.
Later that same month, it was announced that Jay Park would be replacing Melanie C and Vanness Wu as one of the judges on the second season of Asia's Got Talent, alongside Anggun and David Foster.
46.
In 2017, Jay Park founded record label H1ghr Music with producer Cha Cha Malone, with an aim to bring both Seattle and South Korean talent to the hip hop forefront.
47.
In May 2018, Jay Park released his first official single under Roc Nation, "SOJU" featuring 2 Chainz.
48.
On July 20,2018, Jay Park released his debut American project, an English-language EP named Ask Bout Me.
49.
On June 7,2019, Jay Park released his fifth solo studio album, The Road Less Traveled.
50.
In November 2019, Jay Park released a collaborative EP with American producer Hit-Boy, called This Wasn't Supposed to Happen.
51.
Jay Park featured as the first-ever non-Chinese guest judge in the fourth season of The Rap of China, first airing on August 14,2020.
52.
On December 31,2021, Jay Park stepped down as CEO of both AOMG and H1gher Music, but remained as adviser of both companies.
53.
On March 3,2022, Jay Park established a new label called More Vision.
54.
In November 2022, Jay Park was named one of GQ Koreas Men of the Year.
55.
Jay Park 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.
56.
Jay Park cites Michael Jackson as his role model, as "he is the best".
57.
Jay Park 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.
58.
Jay 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".
59.
In general, Jay 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".
60.
Jay Park cites Andrew Baterina from SoReal Cru; Movement Lifestyle's members Keone Madrid, Lyle Beniga, and Shaun Evaristo; Ian Eastwood; and Twitch.
61.
Kim went on to say that "[Jay Park] has an appealing and unique voice" and "definitely stood out amongst the rest".
62.
Jay Park admits that he is more at ease when writing songs in English than in Korean, as he started learning Korean in his late teens.
63.
In 2011, Jay Park stated that the music he currently creates is "the music that I wanted to do" prior to his departure from 2PM.
64.
Jay Park writes the hook of the song first, and finally the verses.
65.
Jay Park 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.
66.
Jay Park continued to endorse the brand until the end of 2011 with female model Kwon Ri-sae.
67.
In early 2012, Jay Park was chosen by KT Tech to be the official model of Take HD, a new smartphone by the brand.
68.
Jay Park released the maxi-single "Take HD Special Maxi Album" on February 7,2012, produced by KT Tech to promote the smartphone.
69.
Jay Park appears with fellow SidusHQ celebrities Jang Hyuk, Kim Su-ro, Kim Shin-young and Jang Hee-jin in the MMORPG Lineage 2 as supporting characters.
70.
Jay Park was 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".
71.
Jay Park has been selected as the new model for outdoor clothing brand, Williamsburg, participating in TV commercials and fan-signing events.
72.
Jay Park is currently sponsored by Nike Korea, and has modeled various times for the apparel company.
73.
In March 2016, Jay 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.
74.
On March 8,2020, a police report was filed against Brian Ortega for allegedly slapping Jay Park, who is a good friend of UFC featherweight fighter Chan Sung Jung, and serves as his translator.
75.
Jay Park is bilingual, fluent in both English and Korean, and can speak basic Mandarin.