RM

Kim Nam-joon (born September 12, 1994), known professionally as RM (formerly Rap Monster), is a South Korean rapper, songwriter, and record producer.

He is the leader of South Korean boy band BTS.

Kim Nam-joon was born on September 12, 1994, in Sangdo-dong, Dongjak District, Seoul, South Korea, and grew up in Ilsan District, Goyang, where his family moved when he was aged four or five.

He has a younger sister and is part of the Gangneung Kim clan.

As a child, RM largely learned English by watching the American sitcom Friends with his mother.

As a student, he actively wrote poetry and often received awards for his writing.

He posted his work to an online poetry website for roughly one year, where he received moderate attention.

As a result, RM expressed interest in pursuing a literary career but later decided against it.

When he was twelve years old, he studied in New Zealand for four months.

At age 11, in fifth grade, RM became interested in hip-hop music after hearing Epik High's "Fly".

Finding that the song had provided him comfort, he decided to look further into the genre.

He was introduced to the music of American rapper Eminem by his school teacher, which first sparked RM's interest in lyricism.

He would print out lyrics that he felt were "cool" and shared them with friends.

RM began songwriting at that time, stating that his poetry became lyrics when combined with music.

He eventually convinced his mother to allow him to be a rapper, asking her if "she wanted to have a son who was a first-place rapper, or a 5,000th-place student".

In 2007, as a first-year middle school student, he began rapping in local amateur hip-hop circles, creating his first self-composed recording with the program Adobe Audition (then called Cool Edit) and later participating in his first concert in 2008.

RM became more active in the underground Korean hip-hop scene under the moniker Runch Randa, releasing several tracks and collaborations with other underground rappers such as Zico.

As a student, RM had an IQ of 148 and scored in the top 1% of the nation in the university entrance examinations for language, math, foreign language and social studies.

Because his parents had been strongly opposed to his interest in a musical career due to his academic achievements, RM initially decided to set music aside to focus on his studies.

In 2009, RM auditioned for Big Deal Records, passing the first round along with Samuel Seo but failing the second round after forgetting lyrics.

However, following the audition, rapper Sleepy exchanged contact information with RM, whom he later mentioned to Big Hit Entertainment producer Pdogg.

In 2010, Sleepy contacted RM, encouraging him to audition for Big Hit Entertainment CEO Bang Si-hyuk.

Bang offered RM, then aged 16, a spot at the record label, which he accepted immediately and without his parents' knowledge.

Bang and Pdogg soon began forming a hip hop group that would eventually become the idol group BTS.

RM trained for three years with fellow rapper Min Yoon-gi and dancer Jung Ho-seok, later known as Suga and J-Hope, respectively.

During this three-year trainee period, RM performed on five pre-debut tracks credited to BTS in 2010 and 2011.

RM released his first solo mixtape, RM, in 2015, followed by his second mixtape, Mono, in 2018.

The latter became the highest-charting album by a Korean soloist in the United States in history when it peaked at number 26 on the Billboard 200.

RM made his official solo debut in 2022 with the release of his studio album Indigo, which featured contributions from Erykah Badu and Anderson .Paak.

The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, becoming the highest-charting album by a Korean soloist of all-time.

He has also collaborated with artists such as Wale, Younha, Warren G, Gaeko, Krizz Kaliko, MFBTY, Fall Out Boy, Primary, and Lil Nas X.

He formally changed his stage name to "RM" in November 2017, as he determined that "Rap Monster" was no longer representative of who he was or the music that he creates.

In March 2019, after graduating from Global Cyber University with a degree in Broadcasting and Entertainment, RM enrolled at Hanyang Cyber University's Master of Business Administration program in Advertising and Media.

RM selected the name "Rap Monster" during his time as an idol trainee.

The name derives from the lyrics of a song he wrote, inspired by San E's "Rap Genius".

The lyrics contained a segment where San E declares he should be called a "rap monster" as he "raps non-stop".

He adopted the stage name because he felt it was "cool".

RM has described himself as having a love-hate relationship with the name, feeling that it was not selected for being of "incredible value" to him.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight in 2019, RM stated that the name "could symbolize many things" and "could have more spectrums to it."

One meaning that has been suggested is "Real Me".