About T.O.P

Choi Seung-hyun (Korean: ???; born November 4, 1987), better known by his stage name T.O.P (Korean: ? - "tap"), is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, model, and actor, best known as a lead rapper of the hip hop Korean boy band BIGBANG. He has branched out to act in various dramas and films, including I Am Sam, Iris, Nineteen,71: Into the Fire, Commitment and Tazza The High Rollers 2.

In 2010, T.O.P and bandmate, G-Dragon collaborated to record and release the album GD & TOP (2010). The album saw the release of three singles: "High High," "Oh Yeah", and "Knock Out", all of which have charted within the top three positions of the Gaon chart, with "High High" becoming a chart-topper. Jeff Benjamin from the American music magazine Billboard noted that T.O.P is well known for his low-bass timbre rapping.[2]

 

Birth name	Choi Seung-hyun (???)
Also known as	T.O.P, Tempo, Tabi, Bingu TOP
Born	November 4, 1987 Seoul, South Korea
Origin	Jamsil-dong, South Korea
Genres	Hip hop, K-pop, rap
Occupations	Rapper, singer, composer,lyricist, beatboxer, actor, record producer, model
Years active	2006–present
Labels	YG Entertainment[1]
Associated acts	BIGBANG, GD & TOP T.O.P's signature

2007–2009

Following the release of the band's albums and singles, T.O.P. began working on his solo career. In April 2007, he was featured with fellow BIGBANG members Taeyang and G-Dragon on singer Lexy's single "Super Fly" for her album Rush. Later that summer, he appeared as an actor in Red Roc’s "Hello" music video.[3] He later became the first member of BIGBANG to venture into acting, starring in the KBS2 drama, I Am Sam,.[1] portraying the school's top fighter, Chae Musin. He also took the role of MC of MBC's Music Core on November 10, 2007, only to resign in April of the following year. In 2008, he collaborated with R&B artist Gummy on the song "I'm Sorry" for her album Comfort, veteran singer Uhm Jung Hwa for her single "D.I.S.C.O." and ZiA for her single "I Only See You". That same year, he was also admitted to Dankook University, to the theater department.[4]

T.O.P later put his solo career on hold while he joined his group BIGBANG for their promotional activities. After more than a year of promoting BIGBANG's materials, he returned to acting, playing the assassin Vick in the critically acclaimed[5] Korean television drama Iris.[6] T.O.P. also recorded the song "Hallelujah" for the drama's soundtrack with Taeyang and G-Dragon. Following Iris, T.O.P. and his fellow Bigbang member Seungri appeared in the teenage suspense drama, My 19.[7]
 

2010–2011: GD & TOP

In November 2010, YG Entertainment announced the collaboration album from G-Dragon and bandmate T.O.P.[30] Preceding the release of the album, the duo held a world-wide premiere showcase for their album at Times Square in Yeongdeungpo of Seoul,[31] which was also broadcast live on YouTube.[1] To promote their album, the duo released three singles: "High High," "Oh Yeah", and "Knock Out".[32] All three singles preceded the release of the album. The singles attained commercial successes: "High High" was a chartopper[33] while "Oh Yeah" and "Knock Out" both peaked at number two and number three respectively.[34][35] The album was released on Christmas Eve, and debuted at number one on the Gaon Chart[36] with pre-orders of 200,000 copies.,[37] eventually topping 130,000 copies sold.

With a collaboration with Park Myung Soo, they created a duo called GG for the Infinite Challenge Seohae Ahn Highway Song Festival 2011. They released their song "Fired Up(????)" featuring Park Bom from 2NE1 on June 2, 2011, which became an 'All Kill' on various Korean music charts.

2010–2012

T.O.P appeared in the movie, 71: Into the Fire, released on June 2010. He received many good reviews and praises for his acting; and eventually won many actor awards at the end of the year. The movie hit 1 million views in a week, making it the first movie of 2010 to reach that number of views in South Korea.[8] He is also in preparation for his solo debut.[9] During BIGBANG's Big Show concert in January 2010, T.O.P. performed his new single "Turn It Up." YG Entertainment released a music video teaser for "Turn It Up" on June 14, 2010 which revealed the release date for the full music video to be June 21, 2010. The teaser itself received over 200,000 views within 48 hours of its original posting on YouTube. The official music video was released at noon in South Korea, with over 1,000,000 views and thousands of comments in just a few minutes.[10] He is also the first Korean artist to have his song release worldwide on iTunes. On 29 October 2010, he won the Hallyu Popularity Award in the 47th Grand Bell Film Awards.[11]

In November 2010, YG Entertainment announced T.O.P and bandmate G-Dragon would release a collaboration album under the name "GD and T.O.P".[12] Preceding the release of the album, the duo held a world-wide premiere showcase for their album at Times Square in Yeongdeungpo of Seoul, South Korea,[13] which was also broadcast live on YouTube.[14] To promote their album, the duo released three singles: "High High," "Oh Yeah," and "Knock out."[15] All three singles preceded the release of the album. The singles attained commercial successes: "Knockout" was a chart topper[16] while "Oh Yeah" and "HighHigh" both peaked at #2 and #3 respectively.[17][18] The album was released on Christmas Eve, and debuted at number one[19] with pre-orders of 200,000 copies.[20]

In October 2011, it was announced that T.O.P. had been tapped as the male lead to star opposite Kim Ha Neul in Absolutely Him, the South Korean remake of Absolute Boyfriend, a Japanese manga about a perfect robot boyfriend that has already been adapted into both a Japanese and Taiwanese live action drama. However, the project was never confirmed.[21] T.O.P featured in English artist Pixie Lott's Japanese album along with fellow member G-Dragon. The song is titled "Dancing On My Own".[22]

T.O.P won the cover of 1st Look Magazine in 2011.[23] The photoshoot took place in Brooklyn, New York and was shot by renowned photographer Hong Jang Hyun. He modeled Calvin Klein's winter military jacket and black jeans. He had also filmed a video for the brand at that time.

In June 2012, T.O.P has been confirmed to star in the upcoming action film, Alumni, with actor Jo Sung-ha. He will play the son of a North Korean spy who is falsely accused.[24] Kim Yoo Jung will play T.O.P.'s little sister in the drama.[25]
 

2013–present

The filming of the movie Alumni took over more than a year to finish filming due to a change of the director and Choi Seung Hyun schedule with his group BIGBANG interfering. During filming of the movie T.O.P suffered an injury on the back of his hand. On September 21, T.O.P was filming a combat scene that took place near a piece of glass. He unfortunately hurt his hand on a glass fragment and is reported to have been admitted to the hospital for surgery on the same day. Filming of the movie had to be stopped for a few weeks, but despite his injury he continued to be with Bigbang throughout their world tour.[26]

The movie finished filming on January 21, 2013 in Yongin City, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. The climax between five actors in the movie was filmed on January 21 in Yong-In, Gyeonggido. It was an important scene where T.O.P tried to protect his little sister and his friend. He had to show his wide range of acting abilities as he had to take care of both the action and emotions in the scene. At the end of the filming, the main actors blew out candles on a cake to celebrate the end of the filming. T.O.P said, “Everyone worked hard for a long time. I’m happy it ended well. I was happy while I was a part of this ‘Alumni’ project“. Han Ye Ri commented, “All the actors and staff worked so hard“. Yoon Je Moon commented, “I had fun filming with young actors, the young staff in a fun and youthful environment“. Jo Sung Ha added, “I had fun filming with the hoobae actors. I hope the audience has fun watching the movie.” Kim Yoo Jung expressed her disappointment that the filming was over, and said, “I wish can act with these people again.” Alumni | The Commitment was released to cinemas in October 2013. 

On October 5, 2013 he won the Rookie Award at the Asia Star Awards the official party of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) for his character in Alumni. The only Korean actor that won an award in the ceremony, which gave away awards in four categories.

November 2013 saw the release T.O.P's solo single DOOM DADA which - without any promotion - peaked at #4 in the Korean charts. 

In December 2013 during BIGBANG's Japanese Dome Tour, T.O.P flew to New York for a week to produce a photobook entitled FROMTOP together with by renowned photographer Hong Jang Hyun. The book saw it's release in April 2014. It was followed by a week-long exhibition at Horim Art Center in Seoul showcasing some of the book's and some additional photos in the first week of June 2014. 

In the first half of 2014 T.O.P filmed Tazza The High Rollers 2 which wrapped on June 1st, 2014. The movie post-production was turned around real fast and movie promotion started as early as July 2014, followed by a press conference and the movie's VIP premiere on August 25th. Officially in the cinemas starting Sept. 3rd, 2014, the movie hit 1.000.000 viewers in only 5 days. After Chuseok Weekend the visitors had already risen to close to 1.5 Million.
 

Discography

Singles

 

Year	Single	Peak position	Album
		KOR [19]
2006	"Big Boy" (T.O.P solo)	—	Since 2007
2007	"Friend" (Feat. Taeyang)	—	MBC TV Drama [Friend, Our Legend] OST
	"Act Like Nothing's Wrong" (Feat. Kim Jieun)	—	Always
2009	"Hallelujah" (Feat. G-Dragon &Taeyang)	18	Iris OST
2010	"Turn it Up"	11	Digital Single
	"Because"	—	19 OST
2011	"Of All Days"	89	GD & TOP
	"Oh Mom"	27
2013	"Doom Dada"	4	Digital Single

 

Featured and collaboration singles

Year	Title	Peak positions	Album
		KOR [19]
2006	"Forever with You" (with G-Dragon Ft. Park Bom)	—	Bigbang Vol.1
	"We Belong Together" (with G-Dragon & Vxp Ft. Park Bom)	—
2007	"Buckwild" (NBK Gray Ft. T.O.P)	—
2008	"I'm Sorry" (Gummy Ft. T.O.P)	—	Comfort
	"D.I.S.C.O" (Uhm Jung Hwa Ft. T.O.P)	—	D.I.S.C.O
	"All I See is You" (ZiA Ft. T.O.P)	—	Road Movie
	"Forever with You" English version (with G-Dragon Ft. Park Bom)	—	With U
2010	"Digital Bounce" (Se7en Ft. T.O.P)	—	Digital Bounce
2011	"High High" (with G-Dragon)	1	GD & TOP
	"Oh Yeah" (with G-Dragon Ft. Park Bom)	2
	"Knock Out" (with G-Dragon)	3
	"Intro" (with G-Dragon)	—
	"Baby Goodnight" (with G-Dragon)	13
	"Don't Go Home" (with G-Dragon)	22
2012	"Dancing On My Own" (Pixie Lott Ft. T.O.P & G-Dragon)	—	Young Foolish Happy (Deluxe Edition)
2013	"Bubble Butt" (Major Lazer Ft. Bruno Mars, G-Dragon, T.O.P, Tyga and Mystic)	78	Free the Universe (Asian Edition)
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.

 

Filmography

Movie

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Story of Men	Himself	Cameo appearance
2009	Nineteen	Seo Jeong-hun
2010	71: Into the Fire	Oh Jang-beom
2011	Iris the Movie	Vick	Film adaption of Iris for Japan
2013	Commitment	Lee Myeong-hoon / Kang Dae-ho
2014	Tazza 2	Ham Dae Gil	Sequel of Tazza: The High Rollers

Drama

Year	Title	Role	TV Network
2007	I Am Sam	Chae Mu-sin	KBS2
2009	Iris	Vick

Music video appearance

Year	Title	Role
2007	Red Roc - "Hello"	Himself
2008	Gummy - "I'm Sorry"	Himself
	Uhm Jung Hwa - "D.I.S.C.O"	Himself
2011	Gummy - "I'm Sorry" (Japanese version)	Himself

 

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
2010	47th Grand Bell Awards	Hallyu Popularity[28]	71: Into the Fire	Won
		Best New Actor[29]		Nominated
	8th Korean Film Awards	Best New Actor[30]		Nominated
	Style Icon Awards	New Icon (Movie) [31]		Won
	31st Blue Dragon Film Awards	Best New Actor[32]		Won
		Popularity Award[32]		Won
	Max Movie Award	Best New Actor [33]		Won
	5th Asian Film Awards	Best New Actor[34]		Nominated
2011	47th Baeksang Arts Awards	Best New Actor [35]		Won
		Popularity Award[35]		Won
2013	Soompi Awards	Best Music Video	Doom Dada	Nominated
	allkpop Awards	Best Idol Turned Actor	T.O.P	Nominated
	17th BIFF Asia Star Awards	Rookie Awards[36]	Commitment	Won
2014	50th Baeksang Arts Awards	Popularity Award		Nominated
	Singapore Entertainment Awards	Most Popular K-pop Music Video	Doom Dada	Nominated

 

Music programs

SBS's Inkigayo

Year	Date	Song
2011	January 9	"High High (Feat G-Dragon)"

Mnet's M! Countdown

Year	Date	Song
2010	December 30	"Oh Yeah (Feat G-Dragon)"
2011	January 6	"High High (Feat G-Dragon)"

 

TV commercials / advertisements

• North Face [37]
• Endoser Reebok
• Endoser Millet
• Sunny Ten Sparkling Ade [38]
• G-market[39]
• NII[40]
• Baskin Robbins 31[41]
• French Cafe
• LG
• Calvin Klein Jeans
• Millet
• Reebok 

 

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Band Members

Read more about BIGBANG ??: BIGBANG 빅뱅 Biography
 

Stage name			Birth name		Date of birth
Romanized	Hangul	Japanese	Romanized	Hangul
T.O.P	?	T.O.P	Choi Seung-hyun	???	November 4, 1987
G-Dragon	????	G-Dragon	Kwon Ji-yong	???	August 18, 1988
Taeyang	??	SOL	Dong Young-bae	???	May 18, 1988
Seungri	??	V.I.	Lee Seung-hyun	???	December 12, 1990
Daesung	??	D-Lite	Kang Dae-sung	???	April 26, 1989

 

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Source: 

Taken from Wikipedia, amended and updated by BIGBANG 빅뱅 music.

T.O.P (entertainer). (2014, September 8). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 08:52, September 9, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=T.O.P_(entertainer)&oldid=624623924

Reference Notes, click here.