Psy

Park Jae-sang (Korean: 박재상; pronounced [pɐk̚.t͡ɕεsɐŋ]; born December 31, 1977), better known as Psy (/ˈsaɪ/ SY; 싸이), is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has received numerous accolades, including an American Music Award, a World Music Award, 10 MAMA Awards, and the Okgwan Order of Cultural Merit. He is the founder of the talent agency P Nation.

After releasing his debut studio album Psy from the Psycho World! (2001), Psy gained international prominence 11 years later with the hit singles "Gangnam Style" and "Gentleman", both of which reached the top 10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. "Gangnam Style" was a global viral phenomenon upon its release, with its music video becoming the first YouTube video to reach 1 billion views and holding the record for most-viewed YouTube video from November 2012 to July 2017. In addition, the music video for "Gentleman" broke the record for most YouTube views in the first 24 hours.

Park Jae-sang was born into a wealthy family in the Gangnam District of Seoul on December 31, 1977, the son of Kim Young-hee, who owns several restaurants in Gangnam, and Park Won-Ho, who is the executive chairman of manufacturing company DI Corporation. He is a member of the Milyang Park clan. He attended Banpo (반포) Elementary and Middle Schools and Sehwa (세화) High School, but disliked school and was known as the class clown.

Park later told Alina Cho that he was introduced to foreign pop music by a Korean TV show he watched when he was 15 years old, with one particular episode showing the English rock band Queen's 1986 concert video Queen Live at Wembley Stadium, which he said sparked his love for music.

As part of preparations to take over DI Corporation from his father, Park had originally planned to study business administration at Boston University in 1996. However, upon his arrival in the United States, he lost interest in his studies, spending his remaining tuition funds on musical instruments and entertainment equipment, including a computer, an electric keyboard, and a MIDI interface. After attending an English-language summer course and studying for one semester, Park dropped out of Boston University and applied to study at Berklee College of Music instead. During his time at Berklee, Park took core curriculum lessons in ear training, contemporary writing and music synthesis, but he soon dropped out and returned to South Korea to pursue a career as a singer, without having attained a degree from either Boston University or Berklee.

Psy was found by South Korean rapper zoPD and featured in the song "카사노바" from his second album In Stardom Version 2.0 in 1999. In South Korea, Psy made his first appearance on Korean national television in 2000 after his dancing caught the eye of a TV producer.

In January 2001, Psy debuted his full-length album Psy from the Psycho World!, for which he was fined by South Korean government authorities due to his album's "inappropriate content". Psy was a rookie hip-hop singer that stirred up the Korean pop music scene with very blunt lyrics, peculiar dance moves, and an unconventional appearance that earned him the nickname "The Bizarre Singer" (엽기가수).

His second album Sa 2 also created controversy upon its release in 2002, earning complaints from civil groups due to the potentially negative influence his album would have on children and teenagers. Since then, Psy has been thought of as a controversial artist, and Sa 2 was banned in 2002 from being sold to the under-19 set. In September of the same year, Psy released his third album 3 Psy. The album's title song, "Champion", saw great success partly due to the hype from the World Cup games held in Seoul. Despite the significant amount of controversy surrounding his music, Psy was awarded songwriting accolades at the annual Seoul Music Awards, marking his breakthrough in the South Korean music industry.