- 7 minutes ago
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A mini-documentary about BIGBANG
A mini-documentary about BIGBANG
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TVTranscript
00:05I'm just wild and young, I'm just wild and young, do it just for fun.
00:10G-Dragon!
00:11He can write and dance.
00:13Everything about his fashion is amazing.
00:14G-Dragon, love you.
00:16He produces all his own music.
00:17I said G-D, G-D, baby, baby.
00:19G-Dragon, I think, represents the future.
00:22Is that a girl or a girl?
00:26He is currently the president of youth culture in Korea.
00:31Somewhere between a Ye and a JT.
00:34G-Dragon is the leader of Big Bang.
00:37Big Bang!
00:38Big Bang, it doesn't sound like a group.
00:40It sounds like some 40-year-old Korean dudes who are throwing out random names.
00:44Big Banger!
00:44And then they just ran with it.
00:46Who did they see in America that made them want to dress like that and dance like that?
00:51Fantastic.
00:51Oh, that is Lil Wayne.
00:56If you don't know them, you should.
01:04I think their name fits them perfect.
01:07Everything that they do seems to make a big impact, not just in Korea anymore, but internationally.
01:13Obviously, Big Bang is G-Dragon, T.O.P, Seungri, Taesong, and Taeyang.
01:25Let's keep going.
01:25Turn it up!
01:27Turn it up!
01:42Turn it up!
01:45Turn it up!
01:47Turn it up!
01:52G-Dragon, or GD, is the leader of Big Bang, and he really was like a prodigy.
02:00The first time I ever saw him was when he was 13.
02:03And he wasn't just any 13-year-old.
02:05He knew what he wanted to do, and he was focused on doing it.
02:12G-Dragon is known as a producer, a fashion icon, a rapper.
02:16He's a singer, he's a dancer.
02:18He's only 24 years old, he's a whiz kid.
02:20The average 24-year-old in America is on Twitter.
02:22Pretending to have the life that this guy G-Dragon is probably really living.
02:31Before he was G-Dragon as we know him, today he was Kwon Ji-yong.
02:39His name I always thought was dope.
02:41His name is Ji-yong.
02:43Yeong means dragon in Korean, so it's G-Dragon.
02:47I always thought it was a brilliant name.
02:50He started off in the music business at a very young age.
02:55When he was a third grader, he first heard Wu-Tang Clan's Cream.
02:59Yeah, probably at recess after he heard Cream, he fell in love with the record to the point
03:04that he kind of considers that almost like a holy piece of music.
03:10So G-D really got into rapping when there was this one summer.
03:15I think he begged his parents to go to this summer camp that was hosted by People Crew.
03:21He got noticed by a guy named Lee Hee-sung, one of the main producers for a compilation album series.
03:29And on that album, there was a song called My Age is 13.
03:36It was like Korea's answer to a little Bow Wow.
03:41Ji Nu-shun was the first artist out of YG.
03:44And Sean took notice of G-D from this album and told YG about it.
03:50And that's when YG thought, you know, I want this guy here.
03:56So G-D was signed to YG when he was 13.
04:00And even though he was super talented, he had to go through what everyone went through.
04:06Basically cleaning up after everybody, getting the water.
04:09That's a testimonial, he paid his dues.
04:11I remember me in the studio too, bringing drinks for people, rolling blunts for producers.
04:17Yeah, and myself.
04:24Well, Youngbae, aka Taeyang, as the world knows him now, signed with YG at the same age.
04:30He's 13.
04:31I think G-D was happy that, you know, he had a cleaning buddy.
04:35So, I mean, they hit it off pretty fast.
04:38I think YG wanted G-D and YB to be a duo called G-D-YB.
04:43G-D-Y-B, that's a terrible name.
04:45Like how you go to the G-Y-N, I gotta go to the G-D-Y-B.
04:48Like, this is more than a yeast infection.
04:50Shut up!
04:52But then as time passed on, YG just, you know, he was thinking bigger scale.
04:57So, instead of a duo, a group was something in a grander scale that he wanted to do,
05:02with G-D and YB being the centerpiece of that.
05:08They were just gonna have an open audition, and there was thousands and thousands of people.
05:12Out of all those people, they finally got down to four.
05:15Gangdaesong, Chae Seung-yeon, Lee Seung-yeon, and Lee Hyun-seung.
05:18Those are like the hardest Korean names I've ever heard in my life.
05:22What in the world?
05:23That just sounds like you were trying to whistle or something.
05:25I don't know, for some reason I heard Condoleezza Rice.
05:27I have no idea why.
05:28Talking about bullets passing by.
05:30Pyeong!
05:31Pyeong!
05:31What the hell?
05:34Daesong, when he first came, YG just, you know,
05:37at first kind of like introduced him as like the ugliest one.
05:41You know, in Korea, they tend to be a lot more blunt.
05:45He was like, yo, pretty boy, ugly dude, you got the bad breath.
05:48Come here.
05:49Round up.
05:50Don't think about it.
05:51When we first heard him sing, it was determined like,
05:54okay, that is a very, very nice voice.
06:01He became like the most popular.
06:02I remember fans dropping off gifts for him and everything like that,
06:06and we're like, oh, this is for Daesong?
06:07This is for Daesong too?
06:08Turn the lights off, make love to me, just sing.
06:13T.O.P.
06:14He actually went in the audition because he was GD's childhood friend.
06:19Top was an underground battle MC.
06:23He went by Tempo back then.
06:26At first, YG actually was against T.O.P coming in because
06:32at that time, T.O.P was a little bit overweight.
06:35If they're studying American culture so close, why wouldn't they want a fat rapper?
06:39Fat rappers prosper.
06:40Big Punt, Biggie Smalls, Rick Ross.
06:42You can get rid of weight, you know?
06:44I feel bad for the ugly one, you can't get rid of ugly.
06:48Well, you can in Korea, I guess.
06:52After being rejected at first, he went home and he worked his butt off
06:57and he actually lost 50 pounds.
07:03YG accepted him after that.
07:07Now, Seungri, his new real name being Lee Seungyeon,
07:10when he first came in, he was well known as being a predominant dancer.
07:15He even had his own dance crew.
07:19When Seungri was 14 years old, he was on this show,
07:22Let's Coke Play, Mnet Battle.
07:25Let's Coke Play.
07:27Listen, now you're really studying American culture.
07:29Because all our artists play with Coke.
07:33So on that show, Seungri was eliminated.
07:37So YG noticed that and became a trainee at YG.
07:40So it was set, GD, Taeyang, T.O.P, Daesong, Seungri,
07:46and the sixth trainee, Hyunseung, were accepted into YG.
07:50And they were all focused to make their dreams come true.
07:54But I don't think at the time they really knew
07:57how much their lives were going to completely change.
08:06So it was set, GD, Taeyang, T.O.P, Daesong, Seungri,
08:12and the sixth trainee, Hyunseung, were accepted into YG as a trainee.
08:18GD is the leader of Big Bang,
08:21and he really was like a prodigy from a really young age.
08:28So Taeyang also was signed to YG when he was 13,
08:31and when he first came in, he was this shy little kid.
08:34He was very religious even at that young age.
08:36He never even had a girlfriend,
08:38so his first kiss was even after he debuted,
08:41and it was on his music video.
08:43People are buying into that.
08:44It's helping him to sell records.
08:45That's probably the most BS marketer scheme I heard.
08:51Ah, Daesong.
08:52Ah, Daesong.
08:52Ah, Daesong's parents did not approve.
09:00His father's a pastor, and they weren't having it.
09:03In the beginning, Daesong, he had like a heavy heart.
09:19The Asian dads, uh, once you see like them kind of taking the guard down, emotional stuff. K-pop, man.
09:33T.O.P.'s real name, Chae Seung-hyun.
09:35He has this amazing vocal instrument.
09:36He was always into rapping.
09:37He has this great bass in his voice.
09:39He was even in the underground hip-hop scene doing his thing.
09:46Well, T.O.P., he was good at rapping.
09:49But one thing he struggled with in the beginning was dancing.
09:52I mean, that sounds about right.
09:53Most gangsters can't dance.
10:00You can be a gangster rapper and not be athletic.
10:03Does Gucci man look athletic to anybody in here?
10:06You need to start bringing the pistol in the studio.
10:08You're not going to tell him to lose weight.
10:10You're not going to call him non-athletic.
10:11Matter of fact, you're not going to say nothing to him, but let him go in that booth and rap.
10:14Actually, I think I'm really good at dancing.
10:17I think I'm really good at dancing.
10:18I think I'm really good at dancing.
10:19I think I'm really good at dancing.
10:23Yeah, definitely dancers are not the coolest.
10:25I would say they're the least coolest.
10:27Rappers are the most outspoken.
10:28You're not going to, like, diss me with a dance move.
10:31I'm learning so much about these Big Bang characters.
10:34It's like an onion, mad layers, slice-fire through it, you want to cry.
10:45The sixth member at that time was Hyunseung.
10:48YG, he liked the kid and knew that he loved to do music.
10:52But at that time, YG's biggest criticism was that he always had, like, this blank stare.
11:03No disrespect to any of the Koreans out there, but all of your faces look like blank stares.
11:09Every single one of y'all.
11:10Look at the emotion in my smile. I'm going to show you my happy face.
11:14And this is when I'm trying to be more intimidating.
11:17It's because it's layers, man. You just don't know.
11:24Now, Seungri, when he first came in, he was the youngest.
11:28So, I think he was being a little hazed in the beginning by the older boys.
11:32Are you familiar with Tung Chim?
11:34Tung Chim is like when you go like this to some dude's butt hole.
11:37That's like a hazing technique in Korean.
11:39I could imagine a lot of that going on.
11:47So, even though he was being hazed, he was confident with his dancing.
11:51So, even in the dance studio, he would actually take the leadership role and even choreograph some moves for the
11:57other kids.
11:59YG, the CEO of YG Entertainment, was an artist himself.
12:04Young Hyunsuk had his fair share of being in the top of the game as a superstar.
12:10YG having a musical background, he didn't just take a seat and be the businessman.
12:15YG basically mentored Big Bang himself, hands-on.
12:19And not just developed them in music, but developed them in life.
12:24Just like we always say, even with the albums that we came out, YG, family, family.
12:29The reason we use that is because he is trying to make it a family.
12:33If American labels had that model, we wouldn't have shows like Celebrity Rehab.
12:40People wouldn't fall off and then have to reappear on Love & Hip Hop Atlanta.
12:44Everybody on Bad Boy needed some type of life coach.
12:47What you're describing with YG sounds more like a tribe.
12:50And that's pretty cool.
12:51I think it makes the artists feel more, you know, trusted in the company as well.
12:57YG is all about the tough love.
12:59He doesn't baby you.
13:00He really does not baby you at all.
13:01Even during their training days, he let them know from the beginning that just because they were there,
13:05it did not mean that all of them were gonna make it.
13:16So by the end of their training days, YG set a date to let them know what his decision was
13:23gonna be.
13:23If it was gonna be all six members or if it was gonna be even less.
13:26So when D-Day finally arrived, I know the boys were nervous but everybody in the office was nervous for
13:32them.
13:33And look at their faces.
13:34I can see what they're thinking about forging these bonds with their friends.
13:39It's supposed to be a family, right? YG family?
13:41So what happens when they see them in the street after?
13:43I'd be crying too.
13:52YG dropped Seungri and Hyunseung.
13:57Yo! Just like that?
14:03I'm not happy about this.
14:04But he explained that he didn't want to be too cruel to just cut him right on the spot.
14:08So they had a choice.
14:09They had a choice to pack their bags and leave.
14:11Or he would reevaluate them a week later.
14:27He just dropped him.
14:29Yo, that's not fair.
14:31That's not fair.
14:32Yo, K-pop?
14:33That's not right.
14:34Korea.
14:34They showed this s**t to kids?
14:36They showed s**t to teens?
14:37Yo, what is this show?
14:38A violent, oppressive tragedy?
14:41Actually, no.
14:42This was not the last we heard of Hyunseung.
14:56What happens?
14:57You stay focused.
14:58You work hard.
14:59You keep doing those little windmills.
15:01You can get the eyeliner.
15:02You can put the jacket on.
15:04You see, kids?
15:05You never give up.
15:08Let's get back to Big Bang though.
15:09So it was official.
15:10The final five.
15:11G-Dragon.
15:12Taeyang.
15:13T.O.P.
15:14Taesung.
15:15And Seungri.
15:16Big Bang!
15:18YG decided to throw them a party at the office with everybody there basically congratulating him.
15:25G-Dragon let everything go and he broke down.
15:27I'm sure the way he bawled out there, it just hit him all at once that there were that many
15:32people really supporting him.
15:33You know, sometimes you don't realize that, you know, as you're living out your dream or pursuing your dream, like
15:39that's a privilege.
15:39And he probably felt that all at once when he saw the people around him that was actually making that
15:44happen for him.
15:45It's the hardest thing.
15:49You're my friend.
15:51You are all I feel alone.
15:51Now we're through the trouble here and.
15:54Good luck.
15:55I'm so proud of you to make your love and happy.
15:59I can't do it.
16:00I don't think so.
16:03Wish me all is back.
16:05Push me right off.
16:13So it was official, the final five, G-Dragon, Taeyang, Seungri, T.O.P, and Taesung.
16:21Immediately, they went into production.
16:25The fans went crazy over it, and after that, they just never came down.
16:29They released a new mini album every single month after that.
16:34They were doing shows from morning till night because everybody wanted them.
16:40By the end of 2007, all of them were hospitalized for exhaustion and dehydration.
16:47Once again, that's what it takes, you know?
16:49Jackson 5 had their Joe Jackson, and the Korean labels, they're the Joe Jackson.
16:55So after their crazy 2007 year, they recorded their third mini album, Stand Up, with their title track Haruharu.
17:01They really solidified them as a powerhouse.
17:05Besides just touring in Japan, they actually had a global warming tour where they toured all over Korea and generated
17:11$24.5 million.
17:13That's a lot of money. I hope they actually put some of that money into global warming.
17:17They won the Artist of the Year Award at the 2008 Mnet Asian Music Awards.
17:22Favorite Male Singer at the Nickelodeon Korea Kids' Choice Award.
17:26The Korea Broadcast Award for Best Newcomer.
17:28Many more that I can't even name.
17:31In August of 2009, G-Dragon finally released his first solo album with the title song Heartbreaker.
17:37I saw his face everywhere, like in giant billboards and posters, and Heartbreaker was probably one of the biggest songs
17:44in the country that year.
17:46I guess, certain music critics and the reps in Sony thought that G-D just straight play-a-jack Flo
17:52Riders flow.
17:53I mean, the irony of Flo Riders suing somebody for plagiarism, like Nelly could sue Flo Riders for plagiarism.
18:00This was proving to be a difficult year for G-D because even at his solo concert, he was criticized
18:06for public obscenity.
18:09They brought a bed out and there was a backup dancer on that bed and he was kind of like
18:14on top of her dry humping, I guess.
18:16In Korea, everything is so conservative that that's all we have.
18:20We're the kings of dry humping.
18:21I mean, if he was found guilty by the Korean government, he would actually have had to spend a year
18:25in jail.
18:26Fortunately, G-D was cleared of both the obscenity charges and the plagiarism.
18:32Heartbreaker actually won Best Album of the Year at the 2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards.
18:44Daeyang finally released Where You At and Wedding Dress, which were also huge successes.
18:48T.O.P. was cast in the drama Iris.
18:51Seungri and Daesung were hosts of the music show Music Core, even musicals.
18:55Daesung starred in the famous musical Cats. They were getting really big at this time.
19:00After a nearly two-year hiatus as a group, Big Bang released the album Tonight,
19:05which became the first K-pop album to reach the top 10 in the US iTunes chart,
19:11and the only non-English song to crack the top 100.
19:17So that same year, the group started their Love & Hope tour in Japan
19:21to help support the reconstruction from the tragic Tohoku earthquake.
19:27This concerned a lot of the Korean fans, and they actually started a petition
19:32to stop the agency from them even touring in Japan.
19:35They're trying to do charity work, and they're trying to stop them from doing charity work.
19:39What's wrong with these demon children?
19:41I applaud GD for using his platform to try to get people focused on what really is important.
19:49A salute to GD. That was a very valiant thing, and now he has become almost a hero figure to
19:58me.
20:00So November 2011, Belfast, Germany, Big Bang took home the MTV EMA for Best Worldwide Act, beating out the likes
20:09of Britney Spears.
20:11To many kids out there, Big Bang is the greatest thing of all time, more so than Britney.
20:19Between 2012 and 2013, they released their fifth mini album, Alive.
20:24And with their first single, Blue, they topped all the major music charts.
20:28GD basically went on a hit craze.
20:30That XX, One of a Kind, Crayon.
20:34What impresses me the most is how they sustained it for so many years.
20:39The bar has been raised very high.
20:41I just think the songwriting is there, the beat selection is there.
20:46Just the fact that Driving Force is one of the members, like he really knows the art direction and the
20:52musical direction,
20:53and he's very particular with it. I respect that.
20:56Big Bang is already working with Laurieann Gibson, Pharrell Williams, Swiss Beats, Diplo.
21:02It's not like, damn, I drop a mixtape and I have this song and it became a hit and millions
21:06of people know who I am now.
21:08It's like, I sacrificed my prom life, you know what I'm saying, I sacrificed the high school life.
21:12I didn't have a boyfriend or a girlfriend for like six years and I'm finally on this stage, man, I
21:17ain't got time to wait.
21:17It's like, I'm trying to keep it moving.
21:19You actually want to put your money down for something like that.
21:24They're still very humble and they're still the same kids, you know.
21:29When I see them, I forget that they're so huge.
21:33And I think that's a testament to how humble and how much gratitude they have towards what they do.
21:40I commend them for that and proud of them for that.
21:44What's more emotional and passionate about students?
21:45That's the thing.
21:52What's more emotional about you?
21:52What's more emotional about you are feeling in?
21:54Like it's your happiness.
22:00And you know what I mean.
22:04You love how much joy it is.
22:06I'm like.
22:07You know what I mean.
22:10And I'm like, hey, I'm like.
22:14We got nobody on my way
22:19Hey, come on man, hey, come on boy
22:23Hey, come on, come on, get your come on, come on
22:27Hey, come on girl, hey, come on boy
22:30Hey, come on, come on, get your come on, get your come on
22:35Money again, on the bass way
22:45Hey, come on, get your come on, get your come on
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