For this week’s Rapper In The Spotlight we are diving into the solo career of a former idol, who has not stopped delivering incredible music since his solo debut. You may know him from his previous activities as a member of iKON, survival and variety shows as well. Let’s talk about B.I.
Before his official debut Kim Han-bin (aka. B.I/Hanbin) released the special fundraising single album ‘Midnight Blue’, his official debut solo in 2021 with the single ‘Got It Like That’ featuring Destiny Roger and Tyla Yaweh. Soon after this comeback he released his first solo studio album ‘Waterfall’, marking his official return to the music industry.
Before his solo debut, as an idol, he participated in ‘Show Me the Money’ for its third season, and was featured in Epik High’s legendary single ‘Born Hater’.
Going Viral
After his official comeback to music, he released the single ‘Lost At Sea’, and followed up this release with his first mini-album ‘COSMOS’.
B.I’s solo breakthrough happened in 2022 when his pre-released single ‘BTBT’ featuring DeVita went viral on social media. This song became one of the most listened to tracks during that period, and his performance gathered a lot of attention and turned into a viral TikTok dance.
After this single, Hanbin came back with the special digital single ‘lullaby’ featuring Chuu, this release was followed by his second EP ‘Love or Loved, Pt.1’, with the title single ‘Keep me up’.
At the start of 2023 he teamed up with Sik-K and REDDY for the special single ‘TTM’ with Esquire Korea.
Hanbin’s latest release was his second full length album ‘TO DIE FOR’ with the dual title tracks ‘Die for love’ featuring Jessi and ‘Dare to Love’ featuring BIG Naughty. For this release, instead of having a single music video, he created episode films for each single and released the full compilation of all of them, putting all the pieces of the story line for this album together.
B.I’s solo career has been incredible, in a short time he has released impressive music that shows his unique rapping style, rawness, and incredible writing and composing talent. If you have yet to dive into his music, check it out here, and here is his Instagram if you want to catch-up with his latest updates.
