RM (Born 12 September 1994) is a 29 year-old South Korean songwriter, music producer, and rapper best recognized as a member of BTS. RM was a stellar student who excelled in all facets of academics, but he took to rapping like the proverbial duck to water. Before joining BTS, he was a solo artist performing with several local groups.
After he joined BTS, RM emerged as the leader of the group as well as the songwriter and lead rapper. He has gone into collaborations with both Korean and foreign rappers, releasing tracks that eventually went viral on social media.
The Korean native is also involved in endorsements for big names such as ‘K’hawah’ coffee. He gained popularity on TV with his talk show titled Hot Brain: Problematic Men and has graced the pages of several magazines as one of the most promising rappers of South Korean origin.
RM Profile Summary
- Full name: Kim Nam-joon
- Nickname: RM, Rap Monster
- Gender: Male
- Date of Birth: 12 September 1994
- RM’s Age: 29 years old
- Zodiac Sign: Virgo
- Place of Birth: Dongjak-gu, Seoul, South Korea
- Ethnicity: Korean
- Nationality: South Korean
- Education: Global Cyber University
- Sexual Orientation: Straight
- Marital Status: Single
- RM Height in Inches: 5 feet 11 inches
- RM Height in Centimeters: 181 cm
- Weight: 68 kgs
- RM Net Worth: $20 million
Childhood and Early Life of the BTS Leader
Being born in Ilsan-gu, Goyang, South Korea makes RM a South Korean national; he was born on the 12th of September 1994 and was given the birth name Kim Nam-Joon. His parents’ identities are not known, but the famed rapper spent his formative years in Seoul alongside, Kim Geong Min – his younger sister by a few years.
During his days in the primary school, the emerging rapper was quite taken in by uniforms and thus dreamed of becoming a security guard in a housing society.
He is a Broadcasting and Performing Art major from Global Cyber University. RM ranked among the top scores in the South Korean national school exams with a TOEIC score in excess of 900. The exceptional student is known to have an extraordinary IQ of 148.
His days in school saw the famed rapper mastering both Japanese and his native tongue; his fluency in English is all thanks to American sitcoms like Friends which he loves to watch. His English was enhanced when he self-taught himself while studying in New Zealand
With his stellar academic performance, RM’s parents wanted him to join a regular profession, but the kind of company he kept and his natural love for music prevailed and he managed to get the better of his parents who later endorsed his career as a full-time-rapper.
Facts and Everything You Need To Know
What Did RM Do Before Fame?
His interest in hip-hop was sparked at the age of 11 after the budding musician heard Epik High’s “Fly. He discovered that the track brought him comfort which made him decide to into the genre. After his school teacher introduced him to famous American rapper Eminem, RM’s interest in lyricism was heightened, he was hard at work printing and sharing lyrics with friends regularly.
He became hooked on writing lyrics, according to RM; poetry turns into lyrics when combined with music. During his debut year in middle school in 2007, the rising star commenced rapping in several local amateur hip-hop circles with his debut self-composed recording created with the aid of Adobe Audition.
His first concert was accomplished in 2008 as he started performing more in the underground Korean hip-hop scene with the identity Runch Randa, releasing a handful of songs and also collaborated with fellow underground rappers, like Zico.
His Career with BTS
RM became part of the famous K-pop group BTS in 2013 and later became known to fans as Rap Monster. He wasted no time in making his debut in June of the same year with his first single album called 2Cool 4 Skool featuring the hit number No More Dream. The songwriter takes the credit for a good number of lyrics which he wrote for the group, later emerging as the group leader as well as the main rapper.
Between 2014 and 2016, the young rapper partnered with both local and foreign talents to release some popular singles that went viral on the internet. Such songs include the likes of Bucku Bucku with MFBTY – the hip-hop group, Please Don’t Die’ with Warren G, and Fantastic Four’s soundtrack with Marvel.
How Did The Rap Monster Nickname Come About?
RM took on Rap Monster as a name during his idol trainee days. Though fans take it to mean that the young star raps like a monster, he in actual fact derived the name from the lyrics of a track written by him and inspired by San E’s Rap Genius.
In a verse of the lyric, San E opted to be referred to as a rap monster since he wraps without stopping. Feeling that it was really cool, the famed rapper assumed the moniker but later adjusted it to RM in November 2017, after deciding that the name no longer represented who he was and the music he makes.
His On-screen Appearances
The adept rapper has also depicted his intelligence in a South Korean television program titled, Hot Brain – Problematic Men, which began airing on 26th Feb 2015. However, Nam-Joon left the program after his appearance on the 22nd episode due to the BTS Red Bull World tour. Other television shows he has featured in are 4things Show – Rap Monster, KCON New York, M Countdown, and many others.
The creative rapper has also dabbled as an actor in some short movies such as Reflection #5, an animation intro titled, O!RUL 8,2 and has equally featured in many music videos including Perfect Christmas, Do You, Joke, among others.
His Collaborations with other Artists
In 2015, Nam-Joon released a single with Warren G titled, Please Don’t Die. He followed it up with another great collaboration with a Korean hip-hop group known as My Fans Are Better Than Yours with the acronym MFBTY, alongside EE and Dino J in a song titled, Bucku Bucku. Nam-Joon additionally featured along with Kwon Jin-ah on the song, ‘’U’’ from the album titled, Primary and also collaborated with Marvel for the soundtrack of the film, Fantastic Four in Korea. In 2017, the brilliant rapper moved on to collaborate with the American rapper, Wale in a great song titled, Change.
Kim Nam-Joon’s Body Measurements
Kim Nam-Joon has a well-structured slim body and he is quite tall as he is standing at the impressive height of 5 feet 11 inches (1.81 m). He weighs 66 kg (145 lb). His other body measurements are 40-12-34 inches for his Chest, Biceps, and Waist respectively.
His Net worth
Kim Nam-Joon has been active in the music industry since 2007 as a rap artist and has accrued through his career an estimated net worth of $8 Million which is still on the rise, on the other hand, the BTS group is worth around $60 million.
