Kim Han-bin (; born October 22, 1996), known professionally as B.I () is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer. He debuted in the South Korean boy band iKon under YG Entertainment in September 2015. On June 12, 2019, he departed from the group due to substance allegations. During his time with the group, he played a significant role in the production and songwriting of their music, and is credited as the sole record producer for all of the group's releases. His contributions to iKon's second studio album, Return, for the lead single "Love Scenario", earned him the prestigious "Songwriter of the Year" award at the 2018 Melon Music Awards.
In 2021, he debuted as a solo artist under his self-founded label, 131, with the charity single album Midnight Blue (Love Streaming) and full-length charity studio album Waterfall. Cosmos, the first half of his second studio album was released in November 2021. In 2022, he launched his global album project Love or Loved, starting with the single "BTBT" in May, followed by the EP Love or Loved Part.1 in November. B.I released his second studio album To Die For on June 1, 2023, and the last part of the Love or Loved project, the EP Love or Loved Part.2, in November 2023. His third studio album, Wonderland, was released on June 1, 2025.
Early life Kim Han-bin was born on October 22, 1996, in Cheonan, South Korea.
In 2009, B.I made his first appearance by featuring and participating in promotions for MC Mong's single "Indian Boy", including live performances and accompanying the rapper to the TV show You Hee-yeol's Sketchbook. He also appeared in the music video for the song and had a cameo appearance in the music video of another song by MC Mong, "Horror Show".
B.I joined YG Entertainment as a trainee in January 2011.
Career 2013–2014: Career beginnings After over two years of training, in 2013, B.I participated in Mnet reality survival program WIN: Who Is Next as a contestant under Team B. However, his team's opponent, Team A, won the program, so B.I, together with the other members of the team, continued as a trainee under YG Entertainment. In 2014, B.I and his label-mate Bobby competed in Mnet's Show Me the Money 3, during which B.I released his self-written digital single "Be I", which became the first single from the show to top the charts. This was noteworthy as he was only 17 years old and still a trainee at the time.
While B.I was still competing on Show Me the Money 3, it was announced in September 2014 that Team B would return to compete on another survival program, Mix & Match. This show eventually led to the debut of Team B, with the addition of trainee Jung Chan-woo, under the group name iKon. In October 2014, B.I was featured in label-mate Epik High's lead single "Born Hater" alongside Beenzino, Verbal Jint, Bobby, and Winner's Mino, and they performed the song together at the 2014 Mnet Asian Music Awards.
2015–May 2019: Leader of iKon
B.I made his debut as the leader of iKon under YG Entertainment on September 15, 2015, with their warm-up single "My Type" (), followed by lead singles "Rhythm Ta" () and "Airplane" on October 1, 2015.
Throughout his leadership tenure, B.I played a significant role in the production and songwriting of iKon's music, This includes the group's full-length studio albums Welcome Back and Return, as well as the compilation album The New Kids, and singles and EPs such as "#WYD" (), New Kids: Begin, "Rubber Band" (), New Kids: Continue, and New Kids: The Final. He is credited as the sole record producer for all of iKon's albums.
In December 2018, B.I was awarded the "Songwriter of the Year" award at the 10th Melon Music Awards for his contributions to iKon's second studio album, Return, and specifically for his work on the lead single "Love Scenario" (). Deemed one of the "100 greatest songs in the history of Korean pop music" by Rolling Stone in 2023, "Love Scenario" topped the South Korean Gaon Digital Chart for the year 2018,. and received several awards in South Korea, including the Melon Music Award for "Song of the Year", the Golden Disc Award for "Song of the Year", and the Seoul Music Award for "Best Song".
While serving as the leader of iKon, B.I released one non-promoted solo track, "One and Only" (), as a B-side from iKon's album Return. In December 2015, he and fellow iKon member Jin-hwan joined the cast of JTBC's Mari and I (). He was also featured in label-mate Psy's studio album 4X2=8 in June 2017, on the track "Bomb" along with Bobby, and on the track "Mollado" () from Seungri's debut studio album, The Great Seungri, released on July 20, 2018.
In 2019, B.I was cast for JTBC2's variety show Grand Buda-guest. He was also featured on label-mate Lee Hi's single "No One" (), and co-wrote and co-composed the track "1, 2" () from her EP 24°C.
June 2019–2020: Departure from iKon and YG, hiatus On June 12, 2019, following drug allegations, B.I left the group iKon and terminated his exclusive contract with YG Entertainment. Despite his departure from iKon and YG Entertainment, B.I was still credited with writing and composing four out of five songs on iKon's 2020 EP I Decide, including the title track "Dive", which was released by YG Entertainment on February 6.
On September 28, B.I was appointed as the executive director of IOK Company.
2021: Return to music as a solo artist under 131, Waterfall, Cosmos On January 11, 2021, it was announced that B.I would feature on Epik High's tenth studio album, Epik High Is Here 上 (Part 1), on the song "Acceptance Speech", which was released on January 18, along with the rest of the album. This was followed by B.I's release of a charity single album, Midnight Blue (Love Streaming), on March 19, through B.I's self-founded label, 131 Label, an affiliate of IOK Music. The label's name was inspired by the shape created when the letters "B" and "I" are combined. The debut single album contained three self-written songs, and an animated music video for lead single "Midnight Blue" was released on the same day. All tracks had been previously released, partially, as demos via B.I's SoundCloud between 2020 and 2021.
On May 7, 131 Label announced the release schedule for B.I as a solo artist. This included a global single "Got It Like That" featuring American artists Destiny Rogers and Tyla Yaweh, released on May 14, and his first full-length studio album, Waterfall, released on June 1. Waterfall featured former label-mates Lee Hi and Tablo of Epik High. A cinematic music video for the title track "Illa Illa" was also released alongside the album. The music video surpassed 12.7 million views on YouTube within the first 24 hours of its release, breaking the record for the most viewed K-pop male solo artist debut music video within the first 24 hours.
On August 25, B.I was announced to feature on Lee Hi's upcoming third studio album, 4 Only, on the song "Savior", which he wrote and co-composed. The music video for "Savior" was released on September 3. Supposedly distributed on August 27, the song was officially released on all platforms on September 9, along with the rest of the album. On October 1, B.I released the digital single "Lost At Sea (Illa Illa 2)", a reinterpretation of "Illa Illa", featuring British artist Bipolar Sunshine and Indonesian singer Afgan.
B.I held his first-ever solo concert online on October 3. During the virtual concert, which was exclusively streamed on LiveXLive, B.I performed the tracks from his debut studio album, Waterfall. Pink Sweats, Afgan, Destiny Rogers and Epik High joined him as guest performers. On November 11, B.I released the first half of his second studio album, Cosmos, including the lead single of the same name. South Korean singer-songwriter Colde was featured on the album. On November 25, he made an appearance on TV5's Lunch Out Loud, a Philippine variety show.
2022–present: Love or Loved, To Die For, Wonderland In January 2022, B.I became the first K-pop and Asian act to participate in the digital performance series by The Recording Academy called Grammy Global Spin, that aims to showcase artists from around the world. He performed a live band version of his song "Nineteen", which was originally released on his album Cosmos.
In April, B.I announced his global album project Love or Loved. He launched a pre-release single in collaboration with Soulja Boy titled "BTBT", featuring DeVita, on May 13. Also in May, B.I's label 131 unveiled the record production and songwriting team White Noise Club, which includes B.I and other South Korean producers Millennium, Sihwang, Padi, and Kim Chang-hoon. B.I later featured on Padi's digital single "Handsome", alongside South Korean rappers Nucksal, Kid Milli and Gaeko.
From April to August, B.I performed "BTBT" and some tracks from Waterfall and Cosmos through a series of offline fan meetings in Seoul, Singapore, Bangkok and Manila. On June 26, he held his second online concert, BTBT Performance Online Fancon, which was exclusively streamed on LiveOne. During the event, he unveiled two unreleased tracks from his upcoming EP Love or Loved Part.1, "Tangerine" and "Endless Summer".
On June 27, B.I released the digital single "Lullaby" with Chuu as a collaboration with Dingo Music.
B.I announced his resignation as an executive director of IOK Company on October 11. Following his departure, his label 131 confirmed that it would operate as an independent label. The label had undergone a rebranding earlier in January 2022, from 131 Label to 131 (One Three One), or simply 131. It had also signed its first artist besides B.I, Reddy, on September 30.
The first part of B.I's global album project, the EP Love or Loved Part.1 was released on November 18, featuring the pre-release single "BTBT" and a new lead single titled "Keep Me Up". Following the release of the EP, B.I held his first standard in-person concert as a soloist, titled L.O.L: The Hidden Stage, in Seoul on December 10. He performed a selection of songs from all of his albums, and was joined on stage by special guests Lee Hi and the Epik High trio.
On February 3, 2023, B.I's record label, 131, announced that he would be stepping down from his position as the head of the label in order to focus on his music work as an artist and producer, while the label would be managed by a team of entertainment business professionals. The label also announced a change in B.I's release schedule for 2023, stating that his second full-length studio album, the continuation of Cosmos, would be released first, so as to express his take on "love" to a full completion. The second part of his Love or Loved project, with stories about "loved" in the past tense, would be released later on.
On February 10, B.I and the record production and songwriting team White Noise Club produced A Tempo, the debut EP of the South Korean R&B singer-songwriter Soovi, as a part of their "New Voice Project". B.I contributed to writing and composing two of the songs, including the title track "Missing You".
In March, B.I embarked on the L.O.L: The Hidden Stage tour. The tour included six stops across Southeast and East Asia, with local special guests joining him on stage at some of the shows. It concluded on May 20, with an additional concert in Bangkok. B.I collaborated with Sik-K and Reddy for the single "TTM" that was released while he was touring, on April 27. In an interview with Esquire Korea, B.I shared that he was inspired by a scene from the movie Taxi Driver, in which the protagonist repeatedly asks "You talkin' to me?" in front of a mirror.
B.I's second studio album, titled To Die For, was released on June 1, including the lead singles "Dare to Love" (featuring Big Naughty) and "Die for Love" (featuring Jessi). Through an exploration of love and resistance, the album brought to a close the project about youth that B.I had started with Cosmos.