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J-Hope has tried to live up to the mantra of ‘Hope’ which his name and brand have come to represent. He is a young popular rapper with the BTS K-pop boy band who spent his childhood chasing his dream that ‘the dream’ didn’t have a choice but to catch up with him. He has established a strong musical career through his exploits as a singer, rapper, songwriter, dancer and record producer. If his successful solo career which he started in 2018 is anything to go by, J-Hope is a true star and definitely one to watch out for.

Who is J-Hope from BTS and How Old Is He?

His birth name is Jung Ho-Seok and he was born in Gwangju, South Korea on the 18th of February 1994, where he was raised alongside his elder sister. While in elementary school, he was an avid tennis player and was so good that he once won a bronze medal in a competition.

For his academic pursuits, he attended Gwangju Global High School and Global Cyber University. He has cited entertainers like A&AP Rocky, J.Cole, G.D and Beenzino as his role models.

Facts and Everything You Need To Know About The BTS Member

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  1. Before Fame

J-Hope found his love for dance very early in life and began to train in the Gwangju Music Academy. He was also a member of the underground dance team named Neuron. Moreover, he attained some form of celebrity status for his dancing, winning several local prizes and also coming first at a national dance competition in 2008. J-Hope soon began to incorporate singing into his act which enabled his audition to enter the stage as an idol trainee.

  1. Audition and Idol debut with the BTS

The formation of BTS began as far back as 2010 before their 2013 debut. J-Hope was the third member to join the group after RM the leader and Suga. They created lots of social media buzz around the group and themselves before their final debut. The group debuted as a seven-boy band with the album 2 Cool 4 Skool in 2013. The group is popular for their worldwide tour and their universal music which has broken several records and won them a series of awards. As a member of the group, he is a dancer, rapper, songwriter and record producer. He remains actively involved in the creative process of the group’s numerous outputs.

  1. Influence and Impact

As his name implies, J-Hope has strived to bring hope to their millions of fans all over the world. He is known for always wearing a smile and is always optimistic. Even his group members have shared that it is hard to stay mad at someone who is always so goofy and happy. In 2018, J-Hope had the most liked tweet in the world after he posted the “In My Feelings Challenge”.

  1. Awards and Recognitions

J-Hope has won several musical awards alongside his group members. Some of them include 15 Melon Music and Mnet Asian Music Awards, 14 Golden Disc Awards, 12 Seoul Music Awards, 4 Billboard Music Awards and 2 MTV Video Music Awards to mention a few. Alongside his bandmates, J-Hope was also awarded the fifth-class Hwagwan Order of Cultural Merit by the President of South Korea in 2018. And in 2019, their large social media influence has gained 10 Guinness World Records.

Read Also: 7 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Kang Seul-gi (Seulgi)

  1. Solo Career

In addition to being in the group, J-hope began his solo career on the 1st of March 2018 with the release of Hope World, his first solo mixtape. The mixtape made its debut on #63 on the Billboard 200 and peaking at #38. This feat made him the highest-charting Korean solo act up to that time on the chart. Three of his mixtape tracks; “Daydream”, “Hope World” and “Hangsang” made it to the World Digital Songs Chart at numbers 3, 16 and 24, respectively. The songs rose to numbers 1, 6, and 11 the following week which made J-Hope one of the 10 Korean groups or individual to reach number 1 on the chart.

With the success of his solo debut, he ranked number three on the list of Emerging Artist Chart and 97 on the Artist 100 chart before moving to number 91 the following week. The mixtape was on the chart of ten countries worldwide. In 2019, he released a collaboration single titled “Chicken Noodle Soup” featuring Becky G, an American Singer. The song had 9.7 million streams and 11,000 downloads in the first week. It also debuted in the World Digital Songs Chart at number 1.

  1. J-Hope’s Net Worth

With his many successes with his bandmates and solo career, J-Hope has been able to amass an impressive amount of money at a young age. His net worth has been estimated to be $12 million.
