Biography of Kino
Kang Hyung-gu popularly known as Kino is a South Korean singer, songwriter, rapper, composer and dancer. He is popular and best recognised as a member of the boy group Pentagon, who debuted in 2016 under Cube Entertainment under the stage name Knnovation. He releases his solo music over SoundCloud.
Early Life and Education
Kino was born on 27 January 1998 in Seongnam, South Korea. He has a younger sister. He speaks Korean, Japanese and English. He is a graduate of Hanlim School of Performing Arts. Later he was admitted to Sejong University as a practical dance major through non-scheduled admission.
He was the lead and the dance master in the Pentagon. He’s friends with Park Ji-min of 15&, Woodz of UNIQ, Vernon of Seventeen, Nathan, and Hoho. They formed a project group called M.O.L.A (Make Our Lives Awesome). He was a former Power Vocal trainee under JYP Entertainment before joining his current agency Cube Entertainment. He uses his stage name Knnovation and uploads demos for other self-produced tracks.
Career
Before becoming a K-pop artist, he was a dance team member of Urban Boyz. He was featured in G.NA’s ‘Secret’ music video and promotional activities. He appeared in Rain’s ‘Rain Effect’. He competed in the reality program Pentagon Maker in 2016.
Cube Entertainment officially confirmed Kino’s debut with Pentagon with the release of the album ‘Young’. As a talented choreographer, he choreographed the debut track ‘Gorilla’. He played a cameo role in the drama ‘Hello, My Twenties! 2’ with his bandmates as a member of Asgard.
As a versatile choreographer, his choreographed credits include, Pentagon’s songs ‘Like This’ for the EP ‘Demo_01’ and ‘Runaway’ for ‘Demo_02’, with the latter being alongside Jay Black. He produced the song ‘Violet’ in ‘Demo_02’ which later became the title track for their second Japanese mini album, ‘Violet’.
Kino was the first celebrity in South Korea to do the challenge ‘In My Feelings Challenge’ on 14 July 2018. The trending video gained popularity in the country. On 17 July 2018, he was cast with Gongchan of B1A4 and Yoo Seung-Woo as the MC for ‘Bus King’. As a member of the musical group M.O.L.A, they released an unofficial song ‘Chillin’ on SoundCloud.
He featured Park Ji-min’s ‘PUTP’ alongside M.O.L.A members Woodz and Nathan, which was released on Jimin’s second mini album ‘jiminxjamie’. His other song credits include: ‘Crossroad’ for Jung Dong-ha’s first full album, participated in labelmate A Train To Autumn’s debut track ‘That Season You Were In’, co-wrote the lyrics for M.FECT’s ‘Designer’, ‘Always Difficult Always Beautiful’, ‘Bad’ by KRIZ featuring Woodz and Jisu’s debut single ‘Dear Dawn’.
Kino produced the songs ‘Lost Paradise’, ‘Spring Snow’, and ‘Round 1’ for the Pentagon’s comeback mini-album ‘Genie: Us’. He joined in the promotional activities of the band like ‘Spring Snow’. His major co-productions include KRIZ’s ‘1 Sided Love’ and ‘What’s Going On With Me?’ by Han Seung-hee.
In 2020, he debuted as a radio host on Casper Radio’s radio program, Kino’s KiSingBooth. He co-composed ‘Die for You’ with Nathan for the release of Pentagon’s first studio album ‘Universe: The Black Hall’. He was inspired by the song Harley Quinn from the movie Suicide Squad’. In 2020, he co-produced ‘Shine Bright’ by Lee Soo-young for the comedy-drama Kkonda Intern’. He produced the song ‘Twenty-Twenty’ for the first OST web drama of the same name.
Pentagon released the 10th mini-album ‘We:th’ with Kino producing the two songs ‘Beautiful Goodbye’ and ‘Paradise’. As an artist who loves art, he drew the album cover as a gift to Pentagon’s leader Hui. Apart from his debut drawing, he also drew the teaser image and the inside pages of the album. With the song ‘Poison’, he became the first artist to participate in Unordinary Sunday’s project album.
In 2021, he hosted the DIVE Studios podcast Unboxing alongside Astro’s Jinjin. He participated in Unordinary Sunday’s second project album alongside Yumin with the song ‘Sunflower’. He was featured on Davii’s single ‘Don’t Play Me Love’.
For the EP ‘Siren: Dawn’ he wrote and co-produced A.C.E’s song ‘Atlantis’. He anchored for the FashionN original Follow Me – True to Your Taste program. On 9 August 2022, he released the special single ‘Pose’.
Along with the members of Yeo One, Yan An, Yuto, and Wooseok, Kino announced his departure from Cube Entertainment on 9 October 2023. He established a one-man agency called Naked. He performed a solo performance called ‘Kino’s Housewarming Party’ in Tokyo, Japan. He hosted his first solo concert in Seoul titled ‘Born Naked’.
Achievements
Kino has a great passion for art and is a versatile choreographer with dynamic and expressive talent in dance. As a multi-talented artist, he has co-produced, co-composed, and been featured in a myriad of tracks, both with the band Pentagon and as a solo artist.
- Kino was the first celebrity in South Korea to do the challenge ‘In My Feelings Challenge’.
Military Life
As of now, Kino has not enlisted in the military, and details about his potential enlistment details are not readily available.
Personal Life
Kino keeps his personal life private, and much about his life is not disclosed to the public. From the gathered information, it appears that he is not dating anyone and is currently single.
Net Worth and Lifestyle
Kino has a net worth of 1-2 million US dollars.
The majority of his income comes from being a recognized talent in the music industry. With his alluring vocals, he has stolen the hearts of people worldwide. He has achieved success in his career and remains focused on future endeavours.
Interesting Facts about Kino
- Kino said that his Japanese name is ‘Kei’, which means light.
- Kang Hyung-gu was admitted to art school as the #1 candidate.
- Kino writes a lot of long, loving messages to his fans.
- Kang Hyung-gu has released 3 solo songs: ‘Lonely’, ‘Badtiming’, and ‘La Di Da’.
- Kang Hyung-gu used to be a trainee at Power Vocal.
- Kino served as an MC at The Rainbow Concert.
- Kang Hyung-gu’s hobbies include reading and playing billiards.
- Kino said he’s not afraid of anything, except being tickled.
- Kino was part of a dance team called ‘Urban Boyz’.
- Kino likes the song ‘I’ll Be Alright’ by Mura Masa.
- Kang Hyung-gu’s favourite colour is purple.
- If Kino could have a different job for a day, he would be a kindergarten teacher.
FAQs
- When is Kino’s birthday?
27 January. - How old is Kino?
As of 2024, he is 26 years old. - What is Kino’s Instagram ID?
