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Not renewing contract, T.O.P leaves YG Entertainment


YG Entertainment confirmed that T.O.P did not renew his exclusive contract with the agency. T.O.P left YG Entertainment after 16 years under the agency.

"T.O.P will open his exclusive contract with YG Entertainment and will then have a career as an artist and businessman," YG Entertainment wrote, quoted from Tenasia via Naver on Monday (7/2).

"We respect T.O.P's decision that he wants to extend his personal activities and work well with the members of BIGBANG," YG continued.

no longer with YG Entertainment, T.O.P is still a part of BIGBANG and will join the idol group's activities if conditions are favorable.

On this occasion, YG Entertainment also announced that BIGBANG is preparing to make a comeback.

"We have finished recording a new song and are currently filming a music video," concluded YG Entertainment.

T.O.P is a member of the boy band BIGBANG. Prior to his debut in BIGBANG, he was also an underground rapper under the stage name Tempo. The man whose real name is Choi Seung-hyun is auditioning for YG Entertainment, which is currently holding auditions for a boy group.

Seung-hyun's journey to become a member of the YG Entertainment boyband has not always been smooth. He was rejected because he was considered to have excess body weight to enter the "ideal idol" criteria.

Despite being rejected, Seung-hyun still joins YG Entertainment. He tried to lose weight with diet and exercise to lose 20 kilograms in 40 days.

Seung-hyun auditioned for YG Entertainment again and passed. He was also given the stage name T.O.P by his senior at YG Entertainment, Se7en aka Choi Dong-wook.

T.O.P and G-Dragon are rappers in BIGBANG. They were then joined by other members, namely Taeyang, Daesung, and Seungri.

BIGBANG debuted in 2006 with the release of the album BIGBANG Vol.1 which sold 48,000 copies. BIGBANG's name skyrocketed after they released their first mini album, titled Always.

BIGBANG then released a number of Korean and Japanese albums, including Remember (2008), Number 1 (2008), BIGBANG (2009), BIGBANG 2 (2011), Alive (2012), MADE (2016), and Made Series (2016).

Apart from BIGBANG, T.O.P is also pursuing a solo career. He has several solo singles, including Big Boy (2006), Turn It Up (2010), Because (2010), Oh Mom (2011), Doom Dada (2013) and Hi Haruka (2015).