!G-Dragon: "I was hesitant to join an Idol Group"

Looks like the BigBang lineup might have looked quite different had G-Dragon and Taeyang had really decided not to give it a shot!


The YG trainee days were tough, long and sometimes upsetting, as Kwon Ji Yong, 23 (Stagename: G-Dragon) has revealed. G-Dragon had a friend with him to get through the hard times though, and that was none other than Dong Young-Bae, 23 (Stagename: Taeyang). During their trainee days, these two dreamed of forming a hip-hop duo together; but it seemed YG and his company had other plans, secretly in the works of making these two come together to form a group: “I think it was when I was in my second year of high school. They told me that they were planning to make a group called “Big Bang”. When I initially joined YG, I had signed my contract as an individual, so I practised as hard as I did thinking that I would eventually go solo or be part of a duo with Taeyang. Then out of the blue they go and tell us we’re to be in an IDOL GROUP called “Big Bang”. At this time, I had a prejudice towards “idol” groups, so it made me wonder “Why are we going to be idols from a company based on Hip-hop?”
After being told that he would debut as part of an “idol” group came as a huge shock to G-Dragon, who had hoped to debut “YG Family style”- the likes of Jinusean and 1TYM.
G-Dragon confessed: “I didn’t want to dance the same dance as others. I wanted to dance my own dance. I’m not prejudiced towards ‘idol’ groups now, but back then Taeyang and I both thought that we didn’t persevere through all those hard times to become part of an idol group, this isn’t what we wanted. ”
“The thought of wearing the same clothes, and dancing the same dance… I didn’t even want to think about it. The two of us (G-Dragon and Taeyang) talked a lot about the issue and asked questions like ‘Do we have to move agencies?’ and ‘is this really the right way for us?’”.
The first new addition to the group after Big Bang’s formation was confirmed was Choi Seung Hyun, 24 (Stagename: T.O.P/TOP), who would be the eldest of the group. G-Dragon played a large part in getting TOP to become a member of Big Bang:
“TOP hyung was my friend already before the formation of BigBang. He was a neighbourhood friend from intermediate. We became friends from dancing and rapping in the neighbourhood together; we grew apart when I moved however, but I contacted him again [about Big Bang]. Upon hearing about Big Bang, TOP hyung said “Awesome, that’s my dream”, and we made a demo CD together. TOP hyung would make it and then mail it to me, and then I would see if it fit the style of YG. After going back and forth a bit like that, I eventually took the demo CD to the President and he said he wanted to meet TOP hyung.”
Although YG Entertainment is known to recruit on talent rather than looks, it seemed even YG was too deterred by TOP’s then chubby appearance, eventually leading to YG to sadly draw the conclusion that he was unsuitable as a member of an ‘idol group’ and thus rejected TOP. Six months down the line, however, TOP returned to see YG, having changed beyond recognition.
Translation Credits: sjay.x @ BBVIP.net// source: asiae.co.kr