In 1996, YG Entertainment was founded by Yang Hyunsuk, who had already paved the way for the emergence of K-Pop since 1992 with “Seo Taiji and Boys”. YG Entertainment established itself early on as a leader of the Korean music industry with stars like Jinusean, Seven and Wheesung. Later the label also conquered the charts with idol groups like Big Bang and 2NE1 and still dominates the K-Pop industry today. Among YG’s more recent successes are, for example, Blackpink or Treasure! Beyond that, the company also manages actors and models and has its own cosmetics brand, a fashion line and more.
You have surely heard of the Big 3 before: SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment. The three labels carry this title because, since their founding, they have continuously produced successful K-Pop artists and, then as now, dominate the charts. On top of that, they helped create the K-Pop genre itself and have kept influencing the development of the music style over the years. Anyone interested in the history of K-Pop can’t get around the entertainment companies! That’s why we are introducing them to you one by one.
So far we have given you an insight into the history of SM Entertainment and JYP Entertainment, and now we turn to the third in the bunch:
YG Entertainment
The label is home to Big Bang, iKon, Blackpink, Treasure, AKMU and many other artists. It all began with its founder, who was once an active singer himself!
YG Entertainment’s Founder Yang Hyunsuk
Yang Hyunsuk became known in 1992 as part of the trio “Seo Taiji and Boys”. About a year earlier he had met Seo Taiji, who came to him to learn how to dance. Hyunsuk, in turn, was impressed by Seo Taiji’s musical talent and showed interest in working together with him. The two brought in a third member - top dancer Lee Juno - and together made their debut in April 1992 with their first album, which, just like the trio, is called “Seo Taiji and Boys”. Within a month of its release, more than 1.5 million copies were sold; to this day it is one of the best-selling albums in South Korea! Until Seo Taiji and Boys disbanded in January 1996, three more albums were released, all of which also sold over 1.5 million copies, two of them even over two million! That is a milestone that only a few artists have reached, then as now. Seo Taiji and Boys were also the very first in Korean music history who could call themselves double million sellers. Among the younger K-Pop stars on the list who debuted after 2000 are only Seventeen, NCT and BTS.
However, the greatest achievement of Seo Taiji and Boys is the fundamental change they brought to Korean music. Their debut song “Nan Arayo”, for example, was one of the first Korean rap songs. The trio also experimented with Western music and, among other things, added English lines to their lyrics. They then accompanied the new music with hip-hop choreographies and synchronized moves. K-Pop was born! Subsequent artists were inspired to experiment with their music as well, and so in 1996 the very first K-Pop idol group “H.O.T” debuted under SM Entertainment. H.O.T is called the first idol group because they combined the new music style developed by Seo Taiji and Boys with choreographed dances, coordinated outfits, catchy melodies and a focus on good looks.
Seo Taiji and Boys were also known for social criticism in their lyrics. This led to some of their songs being censored. The song “Kyoshil Idea”, for example, which criticized the Korean education system, was not allowed to be played on TV or radio. When the Ethics Committee for Public Performances rejected the song “Sidae Yugam” in 1995 because Seo Taiji and Boys criticized the government in it, Seo Taiji refused to change the lyrics and, in protest, put only an instrumental version of the song on the album. The complaints from fans were so strong that they helped, among other things, to get the “pre-censorship” law abolished in June 1996. This law had allowed the government to determine in advance what could be included in books, films and other media. Only one month after the law was abolished, Seo Taiji and Boys released an album titled “Sidae Yugam” containing the original version of the song. The trio had already disbanded in January 1996.
Two months later, Yang Hyunsuk founded his own record label: YG Entertainment!
In 1998 he also released his first and last solo album. One of the songs was composed by Seo Taiji.
The first artist YG signed was a hip-hop trio called "Keep Six", which had no success, though. The label then went on to produce the hip-hop duo “Jinusean” in 1997 - the first Korean hip-hop artists to sell more than 700,000 copies of an album - and, in 1998, the four-member hip-hop group “1TYM”, whose debut album - One Time for Your Mind - was one of the best-selling albums of the year. With that, YG Entertainment successfully spread hip-hop in the mainstream music of South Korea at the time.
Many more acts followed during the 1st Generation of K-Pop, which is generally considered to have lasted from 1996 to 2002/03: the solo artists Masta Wu (2000), Perry (2001), Wheesung (2002), Lexy (2003), Gummy (2003), Digital Masta (2003) and Seven (2003), as well as the female groups Swi.T (2002) and Big Mama (2003) and the reggae duo Stony Skunk (2003). Quite a few of them made hip-hop, but there were of course exceptions, too. Wheesung, for example, is an R&B artist, and Gummy is still known today for her soulful drama soundtracks.
Seven was YG Entertainment’s first idol. The singer made his debut at the age of 19, and his first album “Just Listen” was so successful that he won a series of New Artist Awards at the end of the year. With his next releases, Seven’s popularity kept growing and he also won many fans in Japan. YG also tried to break into the American music industry with him, but didn’t manage to gain a foothold there.
With Seven, the 1st Generation of K-Pop came to an end for YG Entertainment, a period during which the label had already reached several major milestones and laid the foundation for a successful future.
Since its emergence in the 90s, K-Pop has been divided into “generations”. Each one is characterized by certain traits. The exact year in which a generation began or ended differs by one to two years depending on the source, because opinions differ there. The first generation, by general understanding, began in 1996 with the debut of SM Entertainment’s boy group H.O.T. It is considered the very first K-Pop idol group.
2003 - 2011: Big Bang & the 2nd Generation of K-Pop
After YG produced the rapper Brave Brothers (2004), the band Wanted (2004), the hip-hop trio 45RPM (2005) and the R&B group SoulStaR (2005) in the first years of the second generation, the entertainment company reached its next big breakthrough with the debut of its very first idol group, Big Bang, in 2006! Even the first three single albums that Big Bang all released in 2006 each sold over 30,000 copies. The boy group became one of the most successful K-Pop acts of the second generation and, for example, also drew international attention with their hit “Fantastic Baby” in 2012!
In 2009, the success of Big Bang was followed by YG Entertainment’s first girl group: 2NE1. The four-member group quickly developed into one of the most successful and most popular girl groups in South Korea! With them, YG Entertainment celebrated many more milestones. Among other things, 2NE1’s “New Evolution Global Tour” in 2012, which covered 11 cities in seven countries in Asia and North America, is considered the first world tour by a K-Pop girl group!
In 2010, YG Entertainment moved: from an old building that was barely distinguishable from the neighboring buildings to a much bigger and more modern building in Mapo-gu, a district of Seoul that is also home to many universities. The move was a reward for the label’s uninterrupted success in the previous years! The new headquarters remained the home base of the YG Family for 10 years.
Also in 2010, YG Entertainment signed a contract with Psy, an already established singer who had been releasing music since 2001. In 2012, Psy’s album “Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1” was released, including the title song “Gangnam Style”. The song catapulted Psy to the top of the charts, not only in South Korea but worldwide! Psy was the first Korean artist to top the American iTunes Music Video charts! Not only Psy felt the success, but YG as well. The value of the entertainment company’s shares had doubled!
2011 - 2020: YG fills the 3rd Generation of K-Pop with survival shows!
In 2012, YG once again signed an already established artist: the successful hip-hop trio Epik High, who debuted in 2003. Newer K-Pop fans in particular probably know the member Tablo best. The singer, rapper and producer is also active as a solo artist and appeared for two years with his daughter Haru on the popular entertainment show “The Return of Superman”.
About a year after the beginning of the 3rd Generation of K-Pop, it was finally time for a new artist to debut under YG, three years after 2NE1 in 2009! The solo singer Lee Hi placed second in the finale of the casting show K-Pop Star, on whose jury Yang Hyunsuk sat in person. It aired from December 2011 to April 2012 and attracted a lot of attention in advance. Besides Yang Hyunsuk, the jury also included JYP Entertainment’s founder Park Jinyoung and the solo singer BoA, who debuted under SM Entertainment in the year 2000. That meant it consisted of members of the Big 3, and the winner of the show was promised a contract with a label of their choice! (BoA was replaced from season 3 onward by Antenna Music’s CEO Yoo Heeyeol.) The winner Park Jimin chose JYP, and YG signed Lee Hi instead. She debuted in October 2012 with her single “1, 2, 3, 4”. With that song, Lee Hi topped the Gaon Digital Chart, won on a music show and was awarded Gaon’s Song of the Year Award in November. So YG Entertainment continued to prove itself a hitmaker!
A year later, in April 2013, the second season of K-Pop Star ended with both the winners - the sibling duo AKMU - and the runner-up - the 10-year-old Bang Yedam - being signed by YG. AKMU’s first album “Play”, which was released in April 2014, not only topped the Korean Gaon charts but even reached second place on Billboard’s US World Album Charts! While the siblings climbed the career ladder, young Yedam trained under YG in order to make his debut as soon as he reached the necessary age.
Also in 2013, after K-Pop Star season 2, YG Entertainment introduced its first own survival show “Win: Who is Next”. In the show, two teams of the label’s male trainees competed against each other to debut. One of the trainees, Kang Seungyoon, had already successfully released three solo singles in 2013. The five-member Team A, including Kang Seungyoon, won in the end and debuted four months after AKMU, in August 2014, under the name “Winner”. They lived up to their name and took fans’ hearts by storm. Only five days after their debut they won first place on a music show, setting a record!
Although YG had added two popular new artists to the K-Pop scene in 2014, the label didn’t take a break and, before the year was over, produced its second survival show “Mix & Match”. In it, eight trainees fought for a spot in a new boy group; among them the five trainees who had competed a year earlier as Team B in “Win: Who is Next” and missed their chance to debut. All five came out as winners of the show this time and, together with one more trainee from the show, formed the boy group “iKon”. They debuted in September 2015 and topped several South Korean as well as Chinese charts!
In 2016, too, YG Entertainment continued its streak of success and perhaps even pushed it to the peak! For one, in May the label signed the boy group Sechs Kies, who debuted in 1997 and were among the most successful artists of the 1st Generation of K-Pop. The boy group had disbanded in 2000 but reunited under YG after 16 years. They released their new single “Three Words” in 2016 and proved with massive chart successes and sold-out concerts that Sechs Kies fans still stand behind the boy group.
In addition, in August the new four-member girl group Blackpink made their debut. They are one of only two girl groups YG Entertainment has produced to this day and debuted only seven years after 2NE1! Since 2NE1 disbanded in 2016, Blackpink is currently also the label’s only girl group.
The wait was definitely worth it, because starting with the very successful debut, Blackpink quickly developed into probably the most popular K-Pop girl group worldwide!
After the solo rapper One debuted in 2017, in 2018 YG once again produced a survival show to form the next boy group, as it had done for Winner and iKon before. Through the show called “Treasure Box”, after some back and forth - at one point two groups were actually planned - the twelve-member boy group Treasure came into being. Its members include Bang Yedam from K-Pop Star season 2! Treasure only debuted in August 2020. One of the reasons for the delay was the global Corona pandemic. In return, the boy group released four albums in the same year, three of them single albums, and had already sold over a million albums before 2021! Treasure was a badly needed success for YG Entertainment after a series of scandals in 2019 had severely damaged the label’s image.
2019: One scandal after another shook YG Entertainment
It began with one of the biggest scandals the K-Pop industry has ever seen! The Burning Sun scandal cost a number of famous idols their careers, and for good reason. In short, it came out that a well-known nightclub called “Burning Sun” was involved in prostitution, drug trafficking and police corruption. One of the club’s directors was none other than Seungri of Big Bang. He is currently serving a prison sentence that is expected to end in February 2023. He was found guilty of, among other things, arranging prostitution and distributing illegally filmed sexual content.
The discovery of a chat room also played a major role in the Burning scandal, in which the singer and songwriter Jung Joonyoung secretly shared sex videos filmed without the knowledge and consent of the women being filmed. Seungri was also part of the chat, as were Yong Junhyung (Highlight), Choi Jonghoon (F.T. Island) and Lee Jonghyun (C.N.BLUE). All of them left the entertainment industry and with it their respective groups.
As if that weren’t bad enough, the next scandal followed in June 2019. B.I of iKon allegedly tried to illegally buy the drugs LSD and marijuana. As a result, B.I left iKon and YG Entertainment only a few days later. The scandal itself was relatively harmless, especially compared to the Burning Sun scandal. But it made waves when it was reported that YG’s founder Yang Hyunsuk had worked with the police to cover up the case. He and several other YG employees were later also convicted of illegal financial dealings and had to pay a fine.
The scandals led to Yang Hyunsuk and his brother Yang Minsuk, who had long been CEO of YG Entertainment, stepping down from all of their posts within the label in June 2019. It is suspected, however, that Yang Hyunsuk still holds most of the shares in the company and is thus still involved in decisions.
2020 to today:
Thanks to the artists’ activities and a series of successful albums, YG Entertainment slowly recovered from the image damage starting in 2020.
In September, the label then officially started the move into the new building, which was finally completed after four years. It stands right next to the old building and is considered the most luxurious and most expensive entertainment building in South Korea! Above all, though, it offers much more space. In the years before, YG had had to rent other buildings to accommodate all its employees.
Then as now, YG Entertainment is one of the most successful labels in the Korean music industry and will certainly keep influencing the K-Pop scene in the future.
YG Family
YG Family is simply the name for the music collective that includes all of YG Entertainment’s artists. Under that name, the artists go on tour together and release music videos. The first YG Family album was already released in 1999.
Subsidiaries
YG is not only a record label and a talent agency. Over time, the entertainment company has taken on more and more tasks such as event management, concert planning and the distribution of its music. To be able to achieve even better results, the label has founded a number of subsidiaries that operate independently.
These include, for example, the label “The Black Label”, which produces artists like Zion.T or Jeon Somi. Besides that, there is YGX Entertainment, which manages several dance crews, or YG Plus, a media and advertising company that, among other things, takes care of the distribution and licensing of merchandise items.
With YG KPlus, a model agency is also part of the YG empire. In addition, YG also has a number of actors under contract.
Furthermore, in 2014 the company founded a cosmetics brand called “Moonshot”, which revolves around the makeup and skincare of the stars. The brand is of course promoted by YG artists like Blackpink! On top of that there is the fashion line “NONA9ON” and, perhaps somewhat surprisingly: XGolf, an online golf platform. With XGolf, YG secured an additional source of income years ago.
As you can see, the entertainment company is broadly positioned and successful not only in the music business!
Social Media
If you are a fan of the YG Family, you can follow YG Entertainment’s official accounts on Twitter as well as on Instagram and YouTube:
YouTube // Instagram // Twitter
Currently (June 2022) YG Entertainment has the following artists under contract:
Groups: Sechs Kies, Big Bang, AKMU, Winner, iKon, Blackpink & Treasure
Solo singers: As solo singers, the entertainment company lists members of its idol groups who have released solo albums. These include Eun Jiwon of Sechs Kies, several members of Big Bang, Winner and Blackpink, as well as Lee Suhyun of AKMU and Bang Yedam of Treasure.
Of course we mustn’t forget KRUNK, either! Admittedly, KRUNK isn’t really a singer, but the mascot has its own YouTube channel on which it has been releasing music videos and dance covers, among other things, for 5 years. So KRUNK can somehow be called an artist after all, right?
