RM

Stage Name: RM, his old stage name used to be Rap Monster (랩몬스터)

Full Name: Kim Nam Joon (김남준)

Position: Leader, Main Rapper

Birthday: September 12, 1994

Zodiac Sign: Virgo

Height: 181.68 cm (5’11”)

Weight: 67 kg (147 lbs)

Blood Type: A

Birthplace: Ilsan, Gyeonggi-d

Kim Nam-joon (Korean: 김남준; born September 12, 1994),better known as RM (formerly Rap Monster), is a South Korean rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He is the leader and a rapper in the South Korean boy group BTS, managed under Big Hit Entertainment. In 2015, he released his first solo mixtape, RM. As of October 2018, his second mixtape, Mono, is the highest charting album by a Korean soloist on the Billboard 200 chart, having peaked at 26. He has recorded with artists such as Wale, Warren G, Gaeko, Krizz Kaliko, MFBTY, Fall Out Boy, and Primary.

Early Life

Kim Nam-joon is the elder of two siblings and has a younger sister.

As a child, RM largely learned English through watching Friends with his mother. As a student, he actively wrote poetry and often received awards for his writings. He posted his work to an online poetry website for roughly one year, where he received moderate attention. Through this, RM grew interested in pursuing a literary career but decided against it. At the age of 11, RM became interested in hip-hop music after hearing Epik High's "Fly" in fifth grade. He found that the song had provided him comfort, and, due to this, decided to look further into the genre. Following an introduction to American rapper Eminem by his school teacher, RM grew interested in lyricism, printing lyrics he felt were "cool" and sharing them with his friends. RM transitioned to writing lyrics then, stating that his poetry became lyrics when it combined with music. In 2007, as a first year middle school student, RM began rapping in local amateur hip-hop circles, creating his first self-composed recording for the first time using the program Adobe Audition (then called Cool Edit). He later participated in his first concert in 2008. RM eventually became more active in the underground Korean hip-hop scene under the moniker "Runch Randa", releasing a number of tracks and collaborations with other underground rappers, such as Zico.

In school, RM scored in the top 1% of the nation in the university entrance examinations for language, math, foreign language and social studies and had an IQ of 148. RM's parents were strongly opposed to his interest in a musical career due to his academic achievements, and initially RM decided to set music aside to focus on his studies. In order to convince his mother to allow him to be a rapper, he asked her if "she wanted to have a son who was a first-place rapper, or a 5,000th-place student".

Name

RM selected the name "Rap Monster" during his time as an idol trainee. Though commonly misunderstood that the name means that he "raps like a monster", it actually derives from the lyrics of a song he wrote, inspired by San E's "Rap Genius". The lyrics contained a segment where San E declares he should be called a "rap monster" as he "raps non-stop". He adopted the stage name because he felt it was "cool". RM has described himself as having a love-hate relationship with the name, feeling that it was not selected for being of "incredible value" to him.

He formally changed his stage name to "RM" in November 2017, as he determined that "Rap Monster" was no longer representative of who he was or the music that he creates. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight RM stated that "[the name] could symbolize many things. It could have more spectrums to it." "Real Me" was provided as a possible current meaning.

RM Facts

• His IQ is 148.
• He speaks Korean, Japanese, and English fluently.
• He is 24/25 years old (International/Korean ages respectively).
• He was also called ‘Rap Monster’, ‘Rapmon’, 'Leader Mon' ‘God of Destruction’ by his fans.
• He was known to always end up breaking things that were repaired by Suga.
• He is also accident prone and often gets hurt saying that "The fans don't hurt me, I hurt myself".
• His favorite food is Korean knife noodles and he is a great fan of the computer game ‘Maple Story’
• RM's BT21 character is a Koala named Koya. Koya is always seen thinking with a sleepy expression. Koya has a purple nose because of the infamous saying V said in a concert, "I Purple you”, which shows their love and support to the ARMY.
• His favorite character is Ryan from Kakao Friends/Talk.
• He has lost his passport multiple times.
• BTS has been around since 2010, but they debuted in 2013 because of the constant member changeup. RM is the only member left from the original line up.
• His dog's name is Rap Mon.
• His ideal type is someone who is sweet, feminine, smart, and has a nice voice.
• RM had to quit Problematic Men because of how popular they got. However, he made a brief appearance for the 1 year anniversary of the show as the cast called him.
• RM revealed that he spent most of his life as 'RM' and barely got to be Kim Namjoon. He admitted being very occupied and busy with idol life is hard, barely being able to spend time with family, friends, and do activities as a "normal" person would be able to do. He also mentioned that he feels sad and lonely at times and a way to cope with it is to express his thoughts and emotions through music. (Burn The Stage EP. 3 & 6)
• He claims to have never been successfully able to blow a bubble with bubblegum. (Run BTS! EP.50)
• He is currently the only member who doesn't have a driver's license.
• His main goal in life is to truly love himself.
• Namjoon changed his stage name from Rap Monster to RM last year. He felt that he outgrew his old stage name and thought that it was childish. He changed it to 'RM' which still has the initials of his old name but it stands for “Real Me”.
• When asked what is his favorite hair color that he's tried before, he said he likes silver the most. (Buzzfeed Puppy Interview 2018)
• Namjoon owns his own studio officially called 'Rkive'. (Formerly Mon Studio)
• Namjoon likes to collect figures and toys of different kinds. They can be seen throughout his studio on shelves inside of glass cases or scattered about in his room.
• Namjoon doesn't like seafood.
• He has an interest and fondness for crabs. He always searches for them at beaches and near bodies of water.
• Namjoon's mixtape 'Mono' has received 87 #1's on iTunes charts
• RM is well known by ARMY for his great leadership towards the members
• Namjoon learned English by watching an American sitcom called 'Friends'