RM (Kim Nam Joon)

김남준

BTS

As of December 11, 2023 RM has enlisted for his mandatory military enlistment

Rap Monster is a South Korean rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He is the leader and main rapper of the South Korean boy group BTS, managed under Big Hit Entertainment. 

In 2015, he released his first solo mixtape, 'RM'. He has recorded collabs with artists such as Wale, Warren G, Gaeko, Krizz Kaliko, MFBTY, and Primary. Rap Monster is notable for his large input in songwriting and production in BTS's discography. He has over 60 songs accredited to his name by the Korea Music Copyright Association. 

Before his debut with BTS, he was an underground rapper under the stage name "Runch Randa". He released a number of tracks and once collaborated with fellow underground rapper Zico. He is part of the underground Korean hip hop crew called Daenamhyup, consisting of members Marvel J, l11ven, Supreme Boi, Iron, Kyum2, Kidoh, Samsoon, Illipse and DJ Snatch. The group had been active from 2009 until 2013, although Rap Monster has not participated in recent years to concentrate on BTS. The activities seem to have stopped with some members participating in a new crew.

Rap Monster has many notable academic achievements. He achieved an 850 on the TOEIC when he was in junior high. He was part of the top 1.3% of the nation in the preparatory university entrance exams for language, math, foreign language and social studies, and has an IQ of 148. Alongside his native language Korean, he is also fluent in English and Japanese. He watched the popular American sitcom Friends multiple times to help him learn English. While all members of BTS studied Japanese as trainees, Rap Monster continues to self-learn Japanese after debut. He has described himself as an atheist.

Rap Monster was recruited as BTS's first member back in 2010 during a Big Hit talent audition. Rap Monster trained for years with two other underground rappers, Jung Ho-seok (J-Hope) and Min Yoon-gi (Suga). On June 13, 2013, Rap Monster made his debut as a member of BTS on Mnet's 'M! Countdown' with the track "No More Dream" from their debut single album '2 Cool 4 Skool'. 

On March 10, 2015, a picture of Rap Monster was released on his blog, along with the words: "RM by Rap Monster. You do You, I do I". This picture helped announce that Rap Monster would be releasing his first solo mixtape: 'RM' on March 20. His first track, "Awakening (각성)" was released with a music video on March 12. Two more tracks from his mixtape, "Do You" and "Joke (농담)" also had music videos released on YouTube. The mixtape was ranked 48th on Spin's "50 Best Hip Hop Albums of 2015" 

On March 23, 2015, tvN released the preview for an upcoming variety talk show, 'Hot Brain: Problematic Men', which features Rap Monster as a panel member. During the show, Rap Monster and five other male celebrities discuss social topics with guests.

Rap Monster is a model for the coffee brand 'K'hawah', along with Iron and Jimin of AOA.

On November 13, 2017 Rap Monster wrote a message on the group's official fan cafe changing his stage name of Rap Monster to simply RM.