G-Dragon
권지용- Name
- Kwon Ji-yong
- Born
- 18 August 1988
Writes and produces his own songs and has led BIGBANG since their 2006 debut.
Their story
A birthday album
Kwon Ji-yong was already BIGBANG's leader and main songwriter when YG gave him a solo album. Heartbreaker was planned for the spring of 2009, then held back until August so it could come out on his 21st birthday. That winter it was named Album of the Year at the Mnet Asian Music Awards. By December he was headlining his own concerts in Seoul.
Coup d'Etat and after
The EP One of a Kind (2012) brought "That XX" and "Crayon", and the album Coup d'Etat (2013) split into two parts. "Crooked" became his first solo video to pass 100 million views. In 2017 he went quiet and personal: the EP Kwon Ji Yong, sold on a USB stick, was led by a piano ballad, "Untitled, 2014", and topped every big Korean chart in its first week.
Hip hop with a wink
He is mostly a rapper, and he likes to play with his own image. "Power" pokes at the media that follows him, in a video shot as one long take through a TV station. "Home Sweet Home" brought Taeyang and Daesung back on the same track. On Übermensch he shared the lead single, "Too Bad", with Anderson .Paak, and paired it with a second, minimalist video for "Drama".
Where he is now
After a seven-year break and a move to Galaxy Corporation, he spent most of 2025 on the road. The Übermensch tour opened at Goyang Stadium and ended in December at Gocheok Sky Dome. In October he became the youngest person to receive the Okgwan Order of Cultural Merit. In February 2026 he held his first solo fan meetings, then turned back to BIGBANG for their 20th anniversary.
