Thread by @prodK0YA, namjoon's work in songwriting and rapping from predebut until now

lex is a fan of grammy nominated artists bts⁷

namjoon's work in songwriting and rapping from predebut until now - an appreciation thread

namjoon started rapping in 2007, at age 13. he started under the name “runch randa”, mainly releasing under “jungle radio”, an underground hip hop forum. he started to write lyrics in june 2007 (according to his 2015 log).

he spoke about this passion for songwriting in "Voice" from his first mixtape (2015) (lyrics translation credit doolsetbangtan).

his work on jungle radio and hiphopplaya (another forum) were deleted by him around 2010 so only reposts are available, but he also did collaborations in 2007:

- with LUPE (now known as changmo)
- untitled collab - runch randa and Tailess (linked)

in 2008 namjoon began releasing more music, making two other names “largo”, “the nexist” alongside “runch randa”.

only 3 songs from the name “largo” remain, including a collab with Uglyduck (video) and a collab with Yanmo.

namjoon had already become quite well known within the underground scene by this time despite being active for a little over a year and being 14 years old. a song written by a fellow rapper writes “i’m more jealous of runch randa than nas or AZ”.

other artists on jungle radio also mentioned runch randa multiple times in their lyrics - “last year i listened to runch randa for the first time // at that time he was 1st year middle school? what was i doing then?”. he was well-respected and regarded in the underground scene.

in the first half of 2009, he and LUPE (changmo) formed a hip hop group (DaeNamHyup) with other similarly aged artists including Supreme B*i. the first song they released excluded namjoon (as he was busy), and people said: "There's no need for a 94 Line without Runch".

in august 2009 performed with a member of the Big Deal Squad, Dead’p. although namjoon said he “forgot most of the lyrics” when performing, sleepy from untouchable (a rap duo) asked for his contact information after the show.

pdogg and sleepy went out for drinks together, and sleepy asked pdogg if he wanted to hear from “this kid who was just an incredible performer, 17 years old, first year in high school”.

at the beginning when namjoon was signed, he was the first male trainee of bighit ever and bang pd mentioned in an interview that they had no trainee system in place.

in another interview, bangpd stated that “bts is a group that started with rm. i heard about the kid who was an amazing potential rapper, so i met with him and his skill was outstanding. i wanted to make the hip hop crew with this kid being the center…”

as one of the first trainees, namjoon and iron (another trainee rumoured to be in the lineup for bts) made songs which auditioning trainees had to use. yoongi used "seventeen" in his audition

jungkook also chose to join bighit because he thought namjoon's rap was cool (he's said this multiple times)

even from their very first album (2 cool 4 skool) namjoon had a hand in writing in all the songs

there are also a lot of uncredited + unlisted predebut songs but one of the least-known ones are namjoon's freestyles, where he would just sit and rap (some of them are unlisted on youtube, but this is the first one that he did)

warren g and rm collaborated in 2015 on a track "P.D.D", and namjoon speaks a lot about the inner conflicts that he faced going from a hip hop artist to an idol. warren g later says that "as an artist and producer, [RM] is one of the best rappers I know."

namjoon also released his mixtape "RM" (all tracks are written by him and him only, according to credits although slow rabbit and pdogg also helped in producing), continuing on the same themes of self-discovery.

(sorry but i have no idea how to describe rm as a mixtape...) but in multiple interviews and through reading the lyrics it's easy to see the passion that namjoon had for rapping and for songwriting.

https://btsdiary.com/2015/03/25/interviewtranshiphopplaya-rap-monster-even-if-its-to-say-bad-things-i-really-hope-you-would-listen-to-the-mixtape-150324/

(sorry but i have no idea how to describe rm as a mixtape...) but in multiple interviews and through reading the lyrics it's easy to see the passion that namjoon had for rapping and for songwriting. https://btsdiary.com/2015/03/25/interviewtranshiphopplaya-rap-monster-even-if-its-to-say-bad-things-i-really-hope-you-would-listen-to-the-mixtape-150324/

we are halfway through the thread! congratulations and thank u for reading so much already here is some tiny joonie as a present :]

wait i forgot to include one of the most iconic tweets namjoon has ever tweeted... even predebut: "if you're a rapper, you have to write your own lyrics" and namjoon is exactly that https://twitter.com/BTS_twt/status/306797633542967296?s=20

https://twitter.com/BTS_twt/status/306797633542967296?s=20

continuing in the thread let's move onto how namjoon participates in writing for bts. these are namjoon's writing credits (ss from wikipedia) and if you zoom in pretty much all of their songs are listed here

namjoon has a strong talent for writing lyrics, for example when he was speaking about how he wrote spring day - he sat in a park and saw leaves falling. and that inspired him to finish spring day's lyrics AND melody in just 2 days

he also often helps the other members with their solo releases, for example in break the silence where namjoon helped jimin with his lyrics for promise

namjoon's passion and dedication for writing lyrics is just amazing and it's all explained by him in his behind the album vlives... but for example he wrote singularity (taehyung's LY solo) right after he was discharged from a surgery

and often the books that namjoon read are incorporated into the concepts of bts lyrics - for example demian, a book namjoon recommended is referenced throughout the wings era and in blood sweat and tears

and one of namjoon's most notable and recent works is of course mono. namjoon left his lyrics without official translations so we could give it more meaning by interpreting it ourselves, and he's credited in writing as well as producing in all of the tracks

mono received so much critical acclaim

https://medium.com/@shadow_twts/the-triumphs-of-a-leader-with-mono-d252f7e9d211

it's also pretty much impossible to write about every single lyric he's ever written and the meaning of it but namjoon always does "behind the album vlives" where he explains how and why he wrote lyrics + gives a glimpse into the music creation process

outside of bts too namjoon received praise and acclaim from a hip hop critic for his rap style

tiger jk, another hip hop artist, also collaborated with namjoon on a song for his album and said that namjoon "breaks stereotypes for idol rappers"

namjoon also collaborated with wale, a well known hip hop artist on "change", and wale said that "he could be one of the best producer writers... he's that good"

also: namjoon's ability to rap in two different languages AND write lyrics in two different languages is amazing... for example he raps in all english in change (wale) and all night (juice wrld, suga), mixes english+korean in bts songs, and does all korean raps in his mixtapes

the vocal line are always praising namjoon's lyric writing skills too

most recently namjoon also reached 162 credits on KOMCA (becoming the youngest korean artist ever to reach this number)

and even though this isn’t really about songwriting and rapping, namjoon always uses his words to bring us comfort and happiness and i think that’s a big part of why we should appreciate him a lot more

and can we please talk about namjoon's versatility too... diss tracks, love songs, songs about social injustice, songs dedicated to armys, everything he writes is equally impactful and he really does it all (translation credits to doolsetbangtan)

there's an old thread that i loved (although the user closed) about the wordplay namjoon uses in his songwriting and i think it's important when talking about his skills https://twitter.com/hobuing/status/1154886284927746059?s=20

https://twitter.com/hobuing/status/1154886284927746059?s=20

and his artistic and stylistic growth is difficult to describe but also so very obvious when you listen to RM and mono, or read the lyrics to the songs (on the left: Life in RM, on the right: moonchild in mono) and it's incredible how his music has adapted

he always puts his all into everything he makes, even now

and when you put this all into perspective... namjoon started writing music as a teen and the ceo of an entertainment company found him so talented that he built an entire team around him, he's been writing for 13 years now with his old music being called legendary +

and his new music at the top of the charts... all the work and effort he puts into his writing and rapping for bts AND his solos on top of his leadership responsibilities... this man is only in his 20s... there's a lot more to come from him and it'll only be greater and greater