[bigbang-no1]

Продолжение интервью, в котором GD уже рассказал
о 5ти годах в SM и своих чувствах о сольном концерте:

О том как GD провел свой первый год в качестве "студента" YG моя полы и таская воду старшим:

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After hearing the American hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan’s music, G-Dragon found an academy that taught how to rap freestyle. It also happened to be where People Crew regularly practised and he soon became close with the hyungs in People Crew.

“When they saw a little kid had come to learn to rap, the hyungs were amazed and found me really cute. I appeared on a cable programme that the hyungs hosted and played around a bit on TV. I was given many learning opportunities, like getting to take part in the ‘2001 Korean HipHopFlex’ Album.”

As the youngest rapper at the age of 13, it would’ve been a huge deal for G-Dragon to be able to take part in an album made by the greatest Korean hip hop artists of the time.

“During the production of the HipHopFlex album, I wrote my own lyrics and recorded them. The hyungs saw my lyrics and said “That’s pretty good”. But since I ‘d never lived overseas or anything, my English sucked so the content of my rap was really.. typical. You know, something along the lines of ‘I may be young but I’m the best’. (laughs)”

To think that the young G-Dragon featured in the title track and wrote his own solo track... The album became a chance to introduce the world to the child called G-Dragon. It was around about the same time when Bow Wow was popular in America and young artists like BoA and Ryang Hyun Ryang Ha were starting to appear in the Korean music industry. YG Entertainment’s President Yang Hyun Seok didn’t let this child rapper slip through his fingers.

“I heard that JinuSean’s Sean hyung saw me and tipped off President Yang Hyung Seok. Perry, one of the main producers also liked me and said he would try producing for me. When I first went to meet the President, I was so nervous that ‘Omg I’m meeting Yang Hyun Seok’. Cos I’d liked Yang Hyun Seok best out of ‘Seo Taiji and Boys’. I liked how fashionable he was, like wearing gloves with short sleeve T-shirts, and he was the best dancer too. But as soon as I saw him... it really broke the image I’d had of him. Even from far away I could hear someone’s slippers dragging across the ground, and then when he got to me he said “So you’re here” in that unique accent of his. He seemed more like an uncle from the neighbourhood than Seo Taiji and Boys’ Yang Hyun Seok.”

After this Yang Hyun Seok went on to persuasively describe his plans for G-dragon to the young GD and his mother, and when his mother had left the room he half-threatened GD to ‘”whine and beg to join YG when your mum comes back”.

“I went home and cried so hard that my mother let me sign a contract with YGE. At the time when I was 13, a few of YG’s active artists were JinuSean, 1TYM and Lexy. When I first went into the office I think Dongwook (Se7en) hyung, who was dressed all hip-hop and cool, was playing around with some of the employee nunas. They were some of the prettiest people I’d ever seen.”

G-Dragon started off by cleaning the practice room. Mopping the floor, cleaning the mirrors with newspaper and running errands for the sunbaes [seniors] became G-Dragon’s job.

“I would watch the sunbaenims practise and give them water during their breaks, collect plates left after eating delivered food, and cleaned like hell for a year. When I arrived I would clean for an hour, practise for about two hours and cleaned for another hour. That was my routine.”

Just before he turned 14, G-Dragon featured in the title track of Perry’s solo album and was able to experience performing on stage by appearing on live music shows and doing concerts with the hyungs. It was during this time that he met fellow Big Bang member Taeyang, who was chosen to play the role of the other half of mini-JinuSean.

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Первая встреча с TaeYang'ом

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G-Dragon acted along with Taeyang in Jinusean's Ayo MV. They were both 13 years old at that time that's why they became friends easily.

"When I first met Youngbae, I was like, "Oh, Who's this?" We became friends right away. We never fought. Probably because our personalities are opposite. When I was a kid, I was shy but I got confident during my teenage years. Youngbae was more bubbly when we were young. But now, he's calm and serious. He told the president then, "I want to join YG" and he told Youngbae (in a joke), "Okay, you can come."

Taeyang went to the YG office one month later and then asked the president why he did not call him. The president liked his confidence so he took him in as a trainee with G-Dragon. The two became friends and instead of being rivals, they became each other's support.

"It's easier to mop and clean when you're with someone. We had a lot of memories and so much fun. We sometimes talk about the past and cry and laugh about it. It feels good."

Being a trainee is hard. You do not know what will happen in the future and a lot of events can make you sad.

"Because we were the youngest, we really had a lot of hard times. There was a time when Wheesung couldn't attend Se7en's concert so we were sent instead. We had to prepare our clothes ourselves. We rode the subway carrying big bags with people going to the concert. After the concert, they'd see us and ask, "Aren't those the kids who performed?" We looked okay on stage but embarrassing after."

One time, a manager was supposed to pick them up but he forgot.

"We were supposed to be picked up at 11AM but he didn't come. We waited until 6PM. We didn't know his number and they told us to "Wait" so we did. We waited until the last train and then just went home. The next day, we asked him and he said he forgot. We couldn't really say anything so we just cleaned again. But it was really sad."

So he can debut and be noticed, he decided he needed to prepare something special.

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И, кроме того, несколько строк о том, как GD был разочарован перспективой попадания в ряды айдолов и пара слов о ТОПе:

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G-Dragon (Real Name: Kwon Ji Yong - 23) along with Taeyang (Real Name: Dong Young Bae - 23) as YG trainees dreamed of being a hip-hop duo. While training, they imagined of making that group.

"Around the second year of high school, I think. There was talk about creating this group called "Big Bang". I signed and trained on thinking I was going to be a solo artist, with collaborations with Taeyang, but then I hear talk of "Big Bang" being an idol group. At the time, there was a slight prejudice of "idol" groups so I was thinking 'from a company who focuses on hip hop, what is this talk of idols'."

It was a huge shock for G-Dragon who wanted to debut "YG Family style" but instead was put into an idol group.

"I didn't want to dance the same things as others. I thought, I wanted to dance a choreography that was my own. Although now I don't have such prejudices of idol groups, back then along with Taeyang we thought, 'We patiently worked this long so far, this isn't what we wanted.' I didn't even like the thought of the same wardrobes, same dances. There were thoughts like 'Should I just leave for another company' or 'is this the path we were meant for' during that time."

After talks of creating "Big Bang" started, the first member that came along was TOP (Real name: Choi Seung Hyun - 24) which was in large part because of G-dragon.

"TOP-hyung was originally my friend. He was my neighborhood friend from middle school. He was a friend that I danced and rapped with but when I moved we became distant but I contacted him again. TOP said during that time, 'This is so good, this is my dream'. We created a demo CD together for him. He made it and mailed it to YG. That was one of many times we repeatedly made tapes for YG where YG then asked to see TOP."

However, at the time with TOP's chubby demeanor YG judged him to not fit the "idol" image so he was rejected. However six months later, TOP came back with a different image

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NEW! Конечные этапы в создание Big Bang или

"Что мы делаем?":

The first member of Big Bang aside from G-Dragon (Real name: Kwon Jiyong, 23) and Taeyang (Real name: Dong Youngbae, 23) to be mentioned was TOP (Real name: Choi Seunghyun, 24). But YG Entertainment’s President Yang Hyun Seok thought his chubby demeanor made him unsuitable to join the group.

”TOP hyung exercised like crazy for six months and returned after losing a lot of weight. I asked ‘Why have you lost so much weight?’ and he said ‘I exercised really hard because I wanted to join YG’. He redid his audition and of course he made it this time.”

Next came Seungri (Real name: Lee Seunghyun, 20) who was eliminated in the last round of an Mnet programme called ‘Battle Shinhwa’, then Daesung (Real name: Kang Daesung, 22) who was chosen for his bright smile.

”Hyunseung, who is currently a member of Beast was originally one of our members too. The 6 of us including Hyunseung practised together and lived together for a while. At first it was difficult at first to have six people who had led completely different lives to live in one house; our personalities clashed and there was a lot of intimidation. But during the happy times, it really felt like we’d become a family.. I think it took about a year and a half though. I think it’s thanks to those times that we can understand each other just by looking at each others’ eyes now.”

They overcame the bickering to build teamwork, and plans for Big Bang’s debut were launched. The company decided to create a ‘survival’ documentary showing the candidates for Big Bang. They planned to show the existence of the group and gain fans by airing ‘Real Docu BIGBANG’ through Gom TV.MTV Korea, which turned out to be a success.

”As well as the uncommon fact that YG was making an idol group, the survival-style documentary programme seemed to interest fans too. Since that was back when there weren’t any ‘real variety’ shows. It was before our debut so we all felt really pressured at the time. We were being watched by millions of people and we didn’t even have our own song or dance as a group! People at YG would always look at us and say ‘What do we do with them?’, and soon our group’s nickname became ‘What do we do’. (laughs)”

Hyunseung was eliminated in the end, and the remaining members received a huge shock. However they concentrated on making an album as fans watched and waited, and slowly created the image of Big Bang.