Kang Hyung-gu ( ko, 강형구; born ), better known as Kino (), is a South Korean singer, songwriter, rapper, composer and dancer. He is best known as a member of the
boy group
A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Man ...
Pentagon, which debuted in 2016 under
Cube Entertainment
Cube Entertainment Inc. () is a South Korean entertainment company. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and concert production company, and music publishing house. Cube are known for h ...
. He releases solo music over on
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming s ...
under the name Knnovation.
Name
At his group debut showcase, he explained the meaning behind 'Kino'. He said, “My real name is Kang Hyung-gu. I wanted to find a name that could show myself as a singer and in the team in the future, so Kino became it. 키노 is Kino, 'INO' is an
acronym
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
for
innovation
Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entit ...
. K is from my original family name, Kang's K, Korea 'K'”.
Personal life
Kino was born in
Seongnam
Seongnam () is the fourth largest city in South Korea's Gyeonggi Province after Suwon and the 10th largest city in the country. Its population is approximately one million. Seongnam is a satellite city of Seoul. It is largely a residential ci ...
, South Korea, on January 27, 1998. He has a younger sister. He lived in the Philippines for 3 months when he was a kid. He can speak
Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula
* Korean cuisine
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl
**Korean dialects and the Jeju language
** ...
,
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
, and
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
. He graduated from
Hanlim School of Performing Arts in 2017 and got admitted into
Sejong University
Sejong University (SJU; ) is a private university located in Seoul, South Korea known for its standing in hospitality and tourism management, dancing, animation and rhythmic gymnastics. Founded as the Kyung Sung Humanities Institute, it was rename ...
as a practical dance major through non-scheduled admission. He is named as the dance master in the group. He's friends with
Park Ji-min of
15&,
Woodz
Cho Seung-youn (, born August 5, 1996), known professionally as Woodz (stylized in all caps), is a South Korean singer-songwriter, rapper, dancer, and record producer. He first rose to fame as the main rapper and sub-vocalist of South Korean-Chi ...
of
UNIQ
uniq is a utility command on Unix, Plan 9, Inferno, and Unix-like operating systems which, when fed a text file or standard input, outputs the text with adjacent identical lines collapsed to one, unique line of text.
Overview
The command is ...
, Vernon of
Seventeen, Nathan, and Hoho. Together they form a project group called M.O.L.A (Make Our Lives Awesome).
Kino was a former Power Vocal and
JYP Entertainment
JYP Entertainment Corporation () is a South Korean multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate founded in 1997 by J. Y. Park. It is one of the largest entertainment companies in South Korea, and operates as a record label, tale ...
trainee before joining his current agency,
Cube Entertainment
Cube Entertainment Inc. () is a South Korean entertainment company. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and concert production company, and music publishing house. Cube are known for h ...
. He also regularly uploads demos for other self produced tracks on his SoundCloud, "".
Career
Pre-debut: ''Pentagon Maker''
Before his
K-pop debut, he was a member of a dance team called Urban Boyz.
He appeared in
G.NA
Gina Jane Choi (born September 13, 1987), better known by her stage name G.NA, is a Korean Canadian singer, songwriter and actress based in South Korea. She released her debut EP, ''Draw G's First Breath'', on July 14, 2010.
As a solo artis ...
's "Secret" music video and promotional activities. He also appeared in
Rain
Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water ...
's "Rain Effect".
In 2016, he competed in the reality program ''Pentagon Maker''.
2016–present: Debut with Pentagon and solo activities
With the released of "Young", Cube Entertainment confirmed Kino to debut with Pentagon. He helped create the choreography for their debut track, "
Gorilla
Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...
".
Kino makes a cameo in the drama ''
Hello, My Twenties! 2
''Hello, My Twenties!'' () is a South Korean television series starring Han Ye-ri, Han Seung-yeon, Park Eun-bin, Ryu Hwa-young, Park Hye-su, Ji Woo and Choi Ara. It aired on JTBC from July 22, 2016 to October 7, 2017.
Synopsis
A slice-of-life s ...
'' with his bandmates as a member of Asgard.
In 2017, he helped choreograph the Pentagon songs "Like This" for the EP ''
Demo_01'' and "Runaway" for ''
Demo_02'', with the latter being alongside Jay Black.
He also produced the song "Violet" in ''
Demo_02,'' which has both a Korean and Japanese music video and later became the title track for their second Japanese mini album, ''
Violet
Violet may refer to:
Common meanings
* Violet (color), a spectral color with wavelengths shorter than blue
* One of a list of plants known as violet, particularly:
** ''Viola'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants
Places United States
* Viol ...
''.
On July 14, 2018, Kino posted a video of himself doing the "
In My Feelings Challenge". Being the first celebrity in South Korea to do the challenge, the clip went viral and the challenge gained popularity in the country. On July 17, he was cast with
Gongchan
Gong Chan-sik (born August 14, 1993), better known by his stage name Gongchan, is a South Korean singer and actor. He is a member of the South Korean boy group B1A4.
Career
Pre-debut
Gongchan was discovered on Cyworld as a result of his winni ...
of
B1A4
B1A4 () is a South Korean boy band formed by WM Entertainment. The group debuted on April 23, 2011 with the single "O.K" from the EP '' Let's Fly'', after being introduced to the public through a webtoon. They have released nine studio albums ( ...
and
Yoo Seung-Woo
Yoo Seung-woo, also stylised Yu Seung Woo (, born February 26, 1997), is a South Korean singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is signed to Starship Entertainment's subsidiary label Highline Entertainment.
Career 2012-2014: Superstar K4 and de ...
as the MC for ''Bus King'', a program where musicians surprise bus passengers by performing series of songs.
M.O.L.A, a musical group consisting of Kino,
Park Ji-min of
15&,
Woodz
Cho Seung-youn (, born August 5, 1996), known professionally as Woodz (stylized in all caps), is a South Korean singer-songwriter, rapper, dancer, and record producer. He first rose to fame as the main rapper and sub-vocalist of South Korean-Chi ...
of
UNIQ
uniq is a utility command on Unix, Plan 9, Inferno, and Unix-like operating systems which, when fed a text file or standard input, outputs the text with adjacent identical lines collapsed to one, unique line of text.
Overview
The command is ...
, Vernon of
Seventeen, and Nathan, released an unofficial song "Chillin" on
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming s ...
. In September, he was featured on
Park Ji-min's "PUTP" (Pick Up The Phone) alongside M.O.L.A members Woodz and Nathan. The song was released on Jimin's second mini album ''jiminxjamie''. Later that month, he wrote the song "Crossroad" for
Jung Dong-ha
Jung Dong-ha (born Jung Jae-hwan on April 17, 1980) is a South Korean singer, musical actor, radio personality and a vocal major professor at Kyungpook National University. Jung joined as a vocalist of South Korean rock band Boohwal in 2005 ...
's first full album of the same name. In November, Kino participated in labelmate
A Train To Autumn's debut track "That Season You Were In" and "Bad" by KRIZ featuring
Woodz
Cho Seung-youn (, born August 5, 1996), known professionally as Woodz (stylized in all caps), is a South Korean singer-songwriter, rapper, dancer, and record producer. He first rose to fame as the main rapper and sub-vocalist of South Korean-Chi ...
. In late December, he wrote Jisu's debut single "Dear Dawn".
In January 2019, he co-wrote the lyrics for M.FECT's "Designer". On March 11, he contributed in writing and composing "Always Difficult Always Beautiful", for
Wooseok
Jung Woo-seok (; Hanja: 鄭禹奭; born January 31, 1998), also known by the mononym Wooseok, is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, model and composer. He debuted as a member of the South Korean boy group Pentagon in October 2016 and also ...
on
Wooseok x Kuanlin's debut extended play ''
9801
''9801'' is the debut and only extended play by South Korean duo Wooseok x Kuanlin. Wooseok is a member of Pentagon, while Kuanlin is a former member of Wanna One. Released on March 11, 2019, the album marks the first official collaboration betwe ...
''. The song was inspired by the episode "
San Junipero
"San Junipero" is the fourth episode in the third series of the British science fiction anthology television series ''Black Mirror''. Written by series creator and showrunner Charlie Brooker and directed by Owen Harris, it premiered on Netflix o ...
" from season three of British anthology series ''
Black Mirror
''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Individual episodes explore a diversity of genres, but most are set in near-future dystopias with science fiction technology—a type of speculative fiction ...
''. That same month, Pentagon held the comeback showcase for their eight mini album ''
Genie:us'', which contained three songs produced by Kino: "Lost Paradise", "Spring Snow", and "Round 1". Kino participated in all scheduled activities with the exception of performances due to an ankle injury he suffered in January. Pentagon continued promoting with "Spring Snow", and he was able to participate in the promotions for a week. On April 30, he co-wrote, co-produced, and was featured on KRIZ's "1 Sided Love". On September 1, he was featured on KRIZ's track "Hard to Love". He produced "What's Going On With Me?" (이제와 무슨 소용 있겠냐고) by Han Seung-hee, which was released on October 30.
In 2020, Kino debuted as a radio host on the Casper Radio's radio program, ''Kino's KiSingBooth'' (Korean: ''키Sing부스'').
With the release of Pentagon's first studio album ''
Universe: The Black Hall'' on February 12, Kino co-composed "Die for You" with Nathan. He wrote the song using
Harley Quinn
Harley Quinn is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Quinn was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm as a comic relief henchwoman for the supervillain Joker in '' Batman: The Animated Series'', and debuted in i ...
from the movie ''
Suicide Squad
The Suicide Squad is an antihero/supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version of the Suicide Squad debuted in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #25 (September 1959) and the second and modern version, cre ...
'' as an inspiration. In June 2020, he co-produced "Shine Bright" by
Lee Soo-young
Lee Soo-young (Hangul: 이수영; born Lee Ji-yeon, Hangul: 이지연 on April 12, 1979) is a South Korean ballad singer. She debuted in 1999 with the hit album, ''I Believe'', and quickly gained popularity due to her strong singing skills. Duri ...
, which was the fourth OST for the comedy-drama ''
Kkondae Intern
''Kkondae Intern'' () is a 2020 South Korean television series starring Park Hae-jin and Kim Eung-soo. The workplace comedy-drama series is about what happens when a man finally gets a chance to lord over a previous boss, who made his life misera ...
.'' On September 16, Kino produced the Pentagon song "Twenty-Twenty", which was the first OST for the web drama ''Twenty-Twenty''. He and bandmate
Hongseok
Yang Hong-seok (Korean: 양홍석; born April 17, 1994), better known by the mononym Hongseok, is a South Korean singer and actor. He debuted as a vocalist of the group boy group Pentagon in October 2016. Aside from group activities as singer, ...
later made a cameo in the drama a month later.
On October 12, Pentagon released their 10th mini album ''
We:th'', for which he produced two songs: "Beautiful Goodbye" and "Paradise". Kino shared that the online album art cover was drawn by him as a gift to Pentagon's leader
Hui
The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...
. This marks Kino's "debut drawing". He also drew the teaser image and the inside pages of the album. In November, Kino participated as the first artist in Unordinary Sunday's project album with the song "Poison ( )". The
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
song describes one's conflicted feelings of leaving behind a toxic person even though he is still in love.
In March 2021, Kino began hosting the DIVE Studios podcast ''Unboxing'' alongside
Astro
Astro may refer to:
Entertainment and media
* Astro (South Korean band), a South Korean boy band
* Astro (UB40) (1957–2021), member of the British reggae band UB40
* Astro (Chilean band), a Chilean indie rock band
* Astro (Japanese band), ...
's
Jinjin
__FORCETOC__
Park Jin-woo (; born March 15, 1996), better known by his stage name Jinjin (Hangul: 진진) is a South Korean rapper, singer, composer, dancer, and model. He debuted as the leader of the South Korean boy group Astro on February 23 ...
. He participated in Unordinary Sunday's second project album alongside Yumin with the song "Sunflower", released on May 21. On June 19, Kino was featured on Davii's single "Don't play me love". He wrote and co-produced
A.C.E's song "Atlantis" from their EP ''Siren:Dawn'', released on June 23. Days later, he was officially announced as an MC for the FashionN original program titled ''Follow Me - True to your taste'', a beauty program that presents various ways to become pretty, covering fashion, beauty and life.
On August 9, 2022, Kino released the special single "Pose".
Discography
Other songs
Choreography
Filmography
Television series
Web dramas
Variety shows
Radio
Podcast
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
1998 births
Living people
South Korean pop singers
21st-century South Korean male singers
South Korean male idols
Cube Entertainment artists
Pentagon (South Korean band) members
Hanlim Multi Art School alumni
South Korean male singer-songwriters
Kino (singer)
People from Seongnam