Don’t be surprised. Tremendous guys have appeared in the idol market. Consisting of 13 members, ToppDogg is the latest group that debuted with quantitative scale that no one can match. When you see current generation idols debuting new groups everyday, it’s [almost like a pit]. If you delay the momentum in this kind of excessively privileged state, you become underdogs who disappear without any traces, making it impossible to live with high, ambitious ‘top dog’ spirit to become the ultimate winners. Even if the beginning is only a petty journal of dogfights, through good-natured competition/rivalry we anticipate Topp Dogg’s prosperous future.
#IAMGROUND TOPPDOGG
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Nice to meet you. Let’s have a debut ceremony through your self-introductions
Gohn: I’m Gohn, in charge of Topp Dogg’s main vocal. My name comes from the word ‘gone’ as in ‘gone drunk for music’; it has that kind of meaning.
B-Joo: I’m B-Joo, in charge of vocal and dance. Everyone thinks the B-joo/biju comes from the word ‘visual/bijueol’, but it’s because my real name is ByungJoo. The B comes from Byung and it becomes B-Joo.
Xero: I’m in charge of rap and dance. I’m Xero, [whose name] means to become rank #0 in everything.
P-Goon: I’m ToppDogg’s leader, P-Goon. It doesn’t have a particular meaning, P-Goon comes from my last name Park and my gender (T/N: “-goon” is a suffix attached to male). It’s been my nickname since old days.
Hansol: I’m in charge of vocal and dance. Originally my stage name was Mad Light, ML. It’s a name that Jenissi hyung gave me but when it was about time to debut the members had many names written in english so I thought it was nice to just go as Hansol.
Seogoong: I’m the main vocal. My name Seogoong means a person who is as high as the sky and who unfolds a majestic dream.
Nakta: I’m a vocalist. Originally since when I attended school my nickname has been Nakta. There’s no such thing as because I’m as good-looking as a camel.
Hojoon: I’m in charge of vocal and dance. Hojoon is my real name but it also means ‘possessing a lot of talent’.
Kidoh: I’m in charge of producing and rap. Since my underground days I’ve been using Kidoh, made by combining ‘Kid’ like a young child and the exclamation ‘Oh’.
Jenissi: I’m in charge of rap. Jenissi comes from the Bible, it’s an abbreviation of ‘Jehovah Nissi’. Through the meaning ‘Jehovah is my flag’, it means ‘victory’ and ‘hope’.
A-tom: I’m in charge of rap. A-tom’s dictionary meaning is atom, but I will show you a colossal rap that is like an atomic bomb.
Sangdo: I’m in charge of vocals. I don’t look Korean and using a foreign name too was going to make me look foreign so I just used my real name.
Yano: I’m the maknae who’s in charge of rap. ‘Ya know about me?’, therefore it means ‘Do you know me?’. I’m named Yano so that everyone will know my name.
Weren’t you surprised when it was decided that you 13 would be made into one team? Since 13 people must have taken long to assemble.
Gohn: I was very surprised. But after seeing the practices I became used to it. Even if there’s one or two missing the vacuum is huge. Each of us have a distinct personality but we orchestrated it well so after this 1st mini album we will be able to show you a wide variety of music.
Yano: At first I was disconcerted. Because I thought we were going to debut as a 7-member idol group. During practices just like Gohn hyung said we would joke between us like ‘With 13 people how do we become singers? More people should join’, to that point.
Sangdo: When I entered our company, Stardom, I had heard there were many people in Topp Dogg but gosh, there’s 13 of them. I was surprised but looking at the members it was good to the degree that it wouldn’t work out if it weren’t for these people in the group. If someone had dropped out I think it would’ve been awkward. Of course because there are 13 people we have considered establishing sub-units too.
The person with the strongest first impression?
Sangdo: It’s already clear. It was me. All the members have fair skin but I think I’m the only one who stands out the most. My skin wasn’t as dark as it is now but after entering the company, I did tanning four times. Doing the tanning several times gave a surprising result. Even so, since I was able to change into a different image, I’m satisfied with my current image. But when people see me writing in Korean, they find it interesting. (laughs)
Gohn: While [the company] was creating Sangdo’s image, he became more and more scarier bit by bit. When there was a blackout in the dorm, Sangdo came in late and for a second we all blanked out. I really thought Sangdo was a robber.
Nakta: He also has a lot of aegyo.
Gohn: He’s a guy with a foreigner look but Korean feel.
Seogoong: If I have to add, Sangdo may have the strongest (impression), but P-Goon hyung also has that impression with the quiet muscles. An unapproachable aura.
How did you get into music?
P-Goon: When I was in elementary school, I dreamed of becoming a singer after watching the music video of Shinhwa sunbaenim’s “Wild Eyes”. In my third year of junior high school, I applied for open auditions in internet and that’s how I became a trainee. For eight years I trained, there were concerns about when I was going to debut, and I couldn’t express just how much I felt at that time, so when I finally got to debut, I felt extremely happy.
Gohn: During my third year of junior high school, I wished to go on the pathway of practical music, but my family opposed to it. That’s why after I entered college I got the chance to do music for real, and after a year, I came across a good fortune and debuted. Right now, my parents support me.
B-Joo: Originally I used to be a ‘four-eyes’ who only focused on studies. When I was following my friend who wanted to go to an entertainment company, I said to that friend, “You’re going alone? I also want to try once,” and then I took off my glasses. After that, I became a trainee for three years.
Xero: I started with dancing. While performing in the underground scene for 2-3 years, I got a casting offer and then accepted it. After that, I went to Seoul and started doing music earnestly.
Hansol: During junior high school, I only had a vague idea of wanting to become a singer. Until the second year of high school while I was practicing, I was able to advance the 7th batch of JYP audition final round. Me and my friend, Evol’s Say then got an offer to audition in Stardom and after we passed, we then moved to Stardom.
Seogoong: I became a trainee for four years. When I was in the academy I saw an audition, and my dream of becoming a singer grew.
Nakta: I’m a Daegu native. When I was in Daegu doing music with my hyungs, I saw an audition by an agency. At first I walked in with the unconditional thought of learning, but I turned out to even debut.
Hojoon: I was a trainee for 6~7 years too. During middle school I danced, but after attending an academy I noticed I had the ability to copy [moves] faster than my friend. (Laughs) I’ve went through several places, now I’m here and that friend is doing dance activities.
Kidoh: Originally when I started composing since middle school I didn’t wish to become a singer but a producer. When I was a high school student, it was a hot issue, I introduced myself in ‘Brave Brothers’ cyworld mini homepage guestbook and he contacted me! I sent him a demo and he told me to go to their very own studio so I started making music.
Jenissi: Honestly when I started making music I didn’t have a point of view. I started since 3rd grade of elementary school with the violin, but since I didn’t have much talent for it starting from middle school I changed to a keyboard instrument. While focusing on the piano, at the same time I recorded rap. Until high school while mainly studying composition and piano I was in the under[ground] life. That life was very hard. I entered an agency because I wanted to make music at a bit more comfortable and non oppressive environment. After two years as a trainee for Stardom I debuted.
A-Tom: I liked dancing and singing very much. When I was in first year of high school I started dancing and starting from my second year (in high school) I became a trainee. My parents opposed strongly but eventually they encouraged me and now I’m in ToppDogg.
Sangdo: I usually went to the karaoke but I didn’t sing. During 3rd grade in middle school, I sang for the first time because a friend asked me to try it and I thought it was very fun. After entering high school I walked into a hip hop group and I totally fell for it. Towards the end of my second year of high school I attended an academy and before coming into Stardom I found a practice studio in Hongdae and practiced very hard for 2-3 months. Out of all the ToppDogg members I’m the one who had the shortest trainee life.
Yano: I remember it was probably around 3rd grade in middle school. One of my friends was listening to music with earphones on, I was bored so I unplugged one of them and we listened together. That was my first time listening to hip hop and it got stuck on me. Thoughtlessly I bought a headphone microphone and started recording. Later while preparing myself to enter the music department [on a college] I was watching TV by chance and I found out that Zico sunbae-nim who I liked was debuting in Block B. To be honest I lived listening to Zico sunbae-nim’s mixtapes.i I practiced for a period of 2 years and I got to debut in Topp Dogg. After I debuted I got to meet Zico sunbae-nim, I sincerely greeted him bowing my head.
How’s living with 13 people
Seogoong: At first making something to eat took really long to the point we’d be extremely hungry. And we had severe difficulties using the bathroom. We got tired waiting for our turn.
Nakta: Everyone talks a lot so it’s never boring. I guess it feels like you’re being healed at a retreat camp everyday.
Jenissi: Right now we live in two dorms, one for six people and the other for seven people, but in the past we lived in the same dorm. There was one time when I came back to the dorm late, and as I opened the door, without realizing I shouted, “I wish I could become deaf for just five minutes.”
A-tom: Whenever someone plays some beat, we’ll start mucking around and doing freestyle rap with each other.
# ‘Say It’, say anything
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Title Track ‘Say It’ part distribution criteria
Kidoh: We made the rap line stand out. Gradually the vocal line will stand out as well.
Yano: For ‘Cute Girl’, the vocals of the hyungs are charming and very much animated.
Choreography’s name is called ‘Slap Dance’
B-Joo: The dance is a very violent dance. In fact when you practice it, you unintentionally slap and hit one another a lot.
Sangdo: It was originally called the ‘pitching dance’ but since the dance seemed as if we were slapping, we thought it would be appropriate to call it the ‘Slap Dance’.
For this album, you prepared a solo unlike the other members.
Kidoh’s ‘A Girl Like You’, how would you describe the song?
Kidoh: “A Girl Like You” is a song that I wrote a year ago. It had never been published before but Cho PD CEO-nim decided to put this song in the album and he told the team that there’s a guy [in ToppDogg] who can do producing. In the future I’ll surely reveal [the song] one by one. There are about 10,000 songs left to be revealed. (Laughs)
For your album, 4 kinds of concepts stand out. Lion, Dragon, Wizard, and Knigh.
Jenissi: Me, Yano, Gohn and Seogoong are lions. The lions’ courage and also their unknown feel of offense are an amazing combination. For Yano’s look, he was wearing a lion’s mane in his shoulders. This team is composed of the main vocals and main rappers which makes it a substantial team.
B-Joo: As you can see, the hair color of the wizards is splashing as we’re people from the visual line.
Yano: Except for Xero hyung, I think [the wizards] look like smurfs, that’s a dangerous statement.
Hansol: [What Yano said] was a joke. The wizards are a team who can show music through their performance. Together with Hojoon hyung and Xero.
Sangdo: Dragons are composed of me and P-Goon Hyung, because before we go on stage we get sprayed on to make our skin look darker. We are in charge of the strong image and we are a team that considers solo activities for each member.
Nakta: Kidoh-hyung, A-tom, and me in the Knight team have clean-looking faces and Kidoh’s is big yet chiseled. When we wear school uniform, the feeling of handsome men can come out from guys like us. If the wizards are the shortie visuals, we are the long-legged visuals.
Gohn: You can see it like that, but we’re definitely not going by this pattern. Although Stardom has a strong hip-hop image we’d like to be acknowledged for our diverse music.
If so, what music would each unit want to do
Gohn: Since we are individually learning to compose, I wonder if I’d be able to show my own music in the next album. Even so, being the main vocalist I want to focus on powerful music that emphasizes on vocals. Each of us enjoy listening to neo-soul and R&B music.
Kidoh: To be honest, I want to make music that would rank #1 in the melon charts.
Yano: My answer is I want to make music that would be top one in the billboard charts.
Gohn: Just the kind of music that can conquer the whole space. (Laughs)
Do you have any greed for activities other than musical activities?
Seogoong: <We Got Married>. I welcome anyone to be paired with me. Just the thought of it makes me excited.
Jenissi: I want to appear in <Quiz That Change The World> that my parents love the most. If I appear in it, my parents will greatly approve it.
Yano: The corner “Night Shop” in <Happy Together> seems fun.
Gohn: Even though it’s not aired anymore, I want to appear in programs like <Splash> that’s related with physical exercise. When I was younger I also did diving so I like anything regarding physical exercise.
Nakta: I want to show off my character in talk shows.
As an example of your external activities, not to long ago, you volunteered for UHIC’s ‘Beneficial Space’
P-Goon: We did cooking and serving, washing dishes and more, everything accompanied by our fans. Even if we’re rookies we thank the people who supported us a lot.
A-tom: Note that all the proceeds were donated to Tanzania.
# Now is only the foundation/Basis
Source: STARAZ
Translated by: Topp Dogg Intl
TAKE OUT WITH FULL CREDITS
