Mino (rapper)
Song Min-ho, better known by the stage name Mino, is a South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter, producer and member of boy band Winner, formed through Mnet survival program WIN: Who Is Next under YG Entertainment.
He appeared in the survival program Show Me the Money 4, where he finished as series runner-up. Alongside Bobby, he is part of the hip hop duo MOBB and released the four-track album The Mobb in September 2016. He made his solo debut with studio album XX in November 2018; its lead single, titled "Fiancé", became a hit in South Korea, topping Gaon's Digital and Streaming charts for the month of December.
He is currently a series regular in tvN's New Journey to the West and Kang's Kitchen.
Biography
Early life
Song Min-ho was born on March 30, 1993, in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. He has a younger sister named Dan-ah, who was a member of New F.O. He graduated from Hanlim Multi Art School in 2011. He was also a member of the underground rapping scene, under the name Mino or Hugeboy Mino, collaborating with other underground rappers-turned-idols, namely Block B's Zico, Kyung and P.O, Phantom's Hanhae, Speed's Taewoon, and M.I.B's Sims.2011–2014: BoM and Debut with Winner
In 2011, Mino debuted as a rapper in the ballad boy band BoM, under Y2Y Contents Company, following disbandment two years later. While still active in the group, in March 2012 Mino appeared on Channel A cable drama The Strongest K-POP Survival, marking his first acting appearance. In 2013, through auditions Mino was accepted into YG Entertainment as a trainee. The same year, he appeared on Mnet survival program WIN: Who Is Next as a contestant under "Team A". Initially, he was appointed as the leader, but due to an injury part-way through the show, he was replaced as leader by Kang Seung-yoon. On October 25, 2013 during the finale episode of the survival program, it was announced Team A won, thus will be debuting as Winner.Winner debuted with studio album 2014 S/S and lead singles "Empty" and "Colour Ring" on August 12, following debut performance at Inkigayo on August 17, 2014. Among the tracks on their studio album, a solo single by Mino titled "I'm Him" was released. Upon debut, "Empty" topped all South Korean charts as well as all ten tracks from their studio album dominated the top 10 spots in MelOn, South Korea's largest music streaming service further dubbing the group as "Monster Rookies". In October 2014, Mino was featured in Epik High's single "Born Hater" with Beenzino, Verbal Jint, and iKon's B.I and Bobby. The single was later performed together at the 2014 Mnet Asian Music Awards. At the same event, Mino had a collaborative stage with South Korean singer IU performing her single "Friday". In December 2014, Mino had a collaborative stage with 2PM's Nichkhun, CNBLUE's Yonghwa, Infinite's L and B1A4's Baro at the 2014 SBS Gayo Daejeon, where together they also co-hosted the event alongside South Korean actress, Song Ji-hyo.
2015–2017: ''Show Me the Money'', MOBB and ''New Journey to the West''
In April 2015, Mino appeared in Mnet rap survival program Show Me the Money 4. He joined as a member of "Team Zipal" competing under Zico and Paloalto. Mino finished the show as the series runner-up behind rapper Basick. Through the program, Mino released several solo and collaborative singles, namely Fear, Turtle Ship, Moneyflow, Okey Dokey, and Victim + Poppin' Bottles. The single "Fear", a track featuring labelmate senior Big Bang's Taeyang, went on to becoming one of the best-selling singles of the year as well one of the best-selling singles of the Show Me the Money series. The single went on to winning him the "Discovery of the Year " award at the Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards, also earning him a nomination for the "Hot Trend Award" at the MelOn Music Awards.In September 2016, Mino released the Hip-hop single "Body" ahead of his collaboration with labelmate iKon's Bobby to form the sub-unit MOBB. Together, they released a four-track single album titled The Mobb, with lead singles "Full House" and "Hit Me" on September 9. The Hip-hop duo went on to winning the "Best Hip-Hop/Rap Artist" at the Seoul Music Awards on January 19, 2017. In January 2017, Mino joined as a new cast member of tvN's variety show New Journey to the West along with Super Junior's Kyuhyun from season 2.5 onward.This marked Mino's first fixed appearance on a television series since debut. Through the show, Mino obtained the infamous names Song Mojiri and Song Garak. On December 5, 2017 Mino appeared on tvN's Kang's Kitchen as a cast member, a spin-off variety show of New Journey to the West.
2018–present: Burning Planet and solo debut
With the release of Winner's second studio album Everyday on April 4, 2018 Mino released the solo track "Turn off the Light". On July 20, Mino featured and co-wrote on label-mate Big Bang Seungri's sub-title track Where R U From from his studio album The Great Seungri. The music video for the song was later released on July 27. Ahead of Mino's solo debut, Mino launched an exhibition in early October called Burning Planet in collaboration with Gentle Monster. Notably, celebrities such as actor Lee Dong-hwi, Block B's P.O, Li Yi Feng and many others visited the exhibition. The exhibition was held for a month. Furhermore, Hypebeast critiqued the exhibition to have deep and symbolic forms, such as perfectly displaying being "burnt out" in life, touching on aspects where societies literally work themselves to death.On November 26, Mino released his first solo album XX, with the lead single "Fiancé". Mino described the song as a fusion of trot and hip hop that samples Korean trot song "소양강 처녀" from 1969. He made his first music show appearance on MBC Show! Music Core on December 1 and later achieved his first solo win on a music show on Mnet's M Countdown on December 6. His single went on to topping the month of December on the Gaon Chart as well as MelOn, also earning him the "Best Hip-Hop Award" at the Golden Disc Awards.
Artistry
Fashion, arts and photography
In September 2017, Mino, along with bandmate Lee Seung-hoon, was chosen as influencers most suited to being ambassadors of luxury brand Burberry appointed by previous creative officer Christopher Bailey as they exhibited a "Viktor Horsting & Rolf Snoeren-like approach to haute couture" and named as winning front row looks. The duo got early access to the Spring 2018 collection two days after they landed at Heathrow Airport.In October 2018, Mino collaborated with brand Gentle Monster in creating the Burning Planet exclusive package that included specialized Peek-a-Boo glasses Burning Planet edition. The package was only available to friends of Mino, and were seen worn by label mates Lisa of Blackpink and Donghyuk of iKon, Kwon twins of YG Hitech dance team, South Korean rapper and producer Code Kunst, and many others.
In November 2018, Mino was featured along with other professional photographers for “O! Leica, Spirit of the Times” exhibition that was held in S-Factory in Seoul, Korea from November 30 to December 9. Mino continued to expand further into the fashion industry as he teamed up with Vogue Korea for the "I AM REAL MINO" spread in the December 2018 issue as guest editor. Along with the spread, a fashion film for the track "Rocket" of his album XX is to be released.
On June 20, 2019 Mino walked down the runway of Louis Vuitton’s Spring 2020 menswear show held in Paris, France during Paris Fashion Week He was invited to participate through Virgil Abloh, the artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection.
In December 2019, Mino made his official debut as a painter at SEEA 2019 exhibition. The exhibition held at the Seongnam Arts Center's 808 Gallery from December 17 to 25. He submitted three paintings to the fine art show.
Other ventures
Endorsements
Mino alongside Block B's Zico were selected as the models for South Korean mobile game Penta Storm: The Strike Of Kings, owned by the largest South Korean gaming company Netmarble on March 15, 2017. An official from the company mentioned they believed the two fit the games image perfectly as both are influential in the target audience they aim for as well as the two being close friends in reality, further elaborating they wish for users to enjoy with friends anytime and anywhere.Lotte Chilsung, the largest beverage manufacturers in South Korea launched new products dubbed the "Let's Be" Coffee in February 2019. Mino alongside Block B's P.O were chosen as advertising models for the products. A representative from the company revealed their "Fresh and Youthful" image was one of the many key reasons they were chosen.
Philanthropy
In September 2018, it was reported that Mino donated his entire modelling fee for his appearance in the Balenciaga X Dazed collaboration to the United Nation's World Food Programme, a humanitarian organization that aims for a world without hunger.Discography
- XX
Filmography
TV show
Variety show
Hosting
Music videos
Awards and nominations
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