Kang Hyung-gu (
Korean: 강형구; born (1998-01-27)January 27, 1998), better known as Kino (키노), is a South Korean singer, songwriter, rapper, composer and dancer. He is best known as a member of the
boy groupPentagon, which debuted in 2016 under
Cube Entertainment. He releases solo music on
SoundCloud under the name Knnovation.[1]
Name
At his group debut showcase, he explained the meaning behind 'Kino'. He said, “My real name is Kang Hyung-gu. I wanted to find a name that could show myself as a singer and in the team in the future, so Kino became it. 키노 is Kino, 'INO' is an
acronym for
innovation. K is from my original family name, Kang's K, Korea 'K'”.[2]
Personal life
Kino was born in
Seongnam, South Korea, on January 27, 1998. He has a younger sister.[3] He lived in the Philippines for 3 months when he was a kid. He can speak
Korean,
Japanese, and
English. He graduated from
Hanlim School of Performing Arts in 2017 and got admitted into
Sejong University as a practical dance major through non-scheduled admission.[4] He is named as the dance master in the group.[5] He's friends with
Park Ji-min of
15&,
Woodz of
UNIQ, Vernon of
Seventeen, Nathan, and Hoho. Together they form a project group called M.O.L.A (Make Our Lives Awesome).[6] Kino was a former Power Vocal and
JYP Entertainment trainee before joining his current agency,
Cube Entertainment.[7] He also regularly uploads demos for other self produced tracks on his SoundCloud, "Knnovation".
Career
Pre-debut: Pentagon Maker
Before his
K-pop debut, he was a member of a dance team called Urban Boyz.[8]
He appeared in
G.NA's "Secret" music video and promotional activities.[9] He also appeared in
Rain's "Rain Effect".
In 2016, he competed in the reality program Pentagon Maker.[10][11]
2016–2022: Debut with Pentagon and solo activities
With the released of "Young", Cube Entertainment confirmed Kino to debut with Pentagon.[12] He helped create the choreography for their debut track, "
Gorilla".[13] Kino makes a cameo in the drama Hello, My Twenties! 2 with his bandmates as a member of Asgard.[14]
In 2017, he helped choreograph the Pentagon songs "Like This" for the EP Demo_01[15] and "Runaway" for Demo_02, with the latter being alongside Jay Black.[16] He also produced the song "Violet" in Demo_02, which has both a Korean and Japanese music video and later became the title track for their second Japanese mini album, Violet.
On July 14, 2018, Kino posted a video of himself doing the "
In My Feelings Challenge". Being the first celebrity in South Korea to do the challenge, the clip went viral and the challenge gained popularity in the country.[17][18] On July 17, he was cast with
Gongchan of
B1A4 and
Yoo Seung-Woo as the MC for Bus King, a program where musicians surprise bus passengers by performing series of songs.[19] M.O.L.A, a musical group consisting of Kino,
Park Ji-min of
15&,
Woodz of
UNIQ, Vernon of
Seventeen, and Nathan, released an unofficial song "Chillin" on
SoundCloud.[20] In September, he was featured on
Park Ji-min's "PUTP" (Pick Up The Phone) alongside M.O.L.A members Woodz and Nathan. The song was released on Jimin's second mini album jiminxjamie.[21] Later that month, he wrote the song "Crossroad" for
Jung Dong-ha's first full album of the same name.[22] In November, Kino participated in labelmate
A Train To Autumn's debut track "That Season You Were In"[23] and "Bad" by KRIZ featuring
Woodz.[24] In late December, he wrote Jisu's debut single "Dear Dawn".[25]
In January 2019, he co-wrote the lyrics for M.FECT's "Designer".[26] On March 11, he contributed in writing and composing "Always Difficult Always Beautiful", for
Wooseok on
Wooseok x Kuanlin's debut extended play 9801. The song was inspired by the episode "
San Junipero" from season three of British anthology series Black Mirror.[27] That same month, Pentagon held the comeback showcase for their eight mini album Genie:us, which contained three songs produced by Kino: "Lost Paradise", "Spring Snow", and "Round 1". Kino participated in all scheduled activities with the exception of performances due to an ankle injury he suffered in January.[28][29] Pentagon continued promoting with "Spring Snow", and he was able to participate in the promotions for a week.[30] On April 30, he co-wrote, co-produced, and was featured on KRIZ's "1 Sided Love".[31] On September 1, he was featured on KRIZ's track "Hard to Love".[32] He produced "What's Going On With Me?" (이제와 무슨 소용 있겠냐고) by Han Seung-hee, which was released on October 30.[33]
In 2020, Kino debuted as a radio host on the Casper Radio's radio program, Kino's KiSingBooth (키Sing부스).[34] With the release of Pentagon's first studio album Universe: The Black Hall on February 12, Kino co-composed "Die for You" with Nathan. He wrote the song using
Harley Quinn from the movie Suicide Squad as an inspiration.[35][36] In June 2020, he co-produced "Shine Bright" by
Lee Soo-young, which was the fourth OST for the comedy-drama Kkondae Intern.[37] On September 16, Kino produced the Pentagon song "Twenty-Twenty", which was the first OST for the web drama Twenty-Twenty.[38] He and bandmate
Hongseok later made a cameo in the drama a month later.[39] On October 12, Pentagon released their 10th mini album We:th, for which he produced two songs: "Beautiful Goodbye" and "Paradise".[40] Kino shared that the online album art cover was drawn by him as a gift to Pentagon's leader
Hui.[41] This marks Kino's "debut drawing".[42] He also drew the teaser image and the inside pages of the album.[43] In November, Kino participated as the first artist in Unordinary Sunday's project album with the song "Poison ( )". The
jazz song describes one's conflicted feelings of leaving behind a toxic person even though he is still in love.[44]
In March 2021, Kino began hosting the
Dive Studios podcast Unboxing alongside
Astro's
Jinjin.[45] He participated in Unordinary Sunday's second project album alongside Yumin with the song "Sunflower", released on May 21.[46] On June 19, Kino was featured on Davii's single "Don't play me love".[47] He wrote and co-produced
A.C.E's song "Atlantis" from their EP Siren:Dawn, released on June 23.[48] Days later, he was officially announced as an MC for the FashionN original program titled Follow Me - True to your taste, a beauty program that presents various ways to become pretty, covering fashion, beauty and life.[49]
On August 9, 2022, Kino released the special single "Pose".[50]
2023–present: Departure from Cube Entertainment
On October 9, 2023, it was announced that he had left Cube Entertainment alongside fellow Pentagon members
Yeo One, Yan An,
Yuto, and
Wooseok.[51] Following a private listening party event in November, Kino established a one-man agency called Naked in December. He held a solo performance called "Kino's Housewarming Party" in Tokyo, Japan on December 22.[52]
On January 8, 2024, Kino released his first single with Naked called "Fashion Style".[53] He held his first solo concert in Seoul titled "Born Naked" on January 27.[54] In March, he released the single "Freaky Love".[55]
^
ab"[잠깐만났어] 신인 그룹 펜타곤 "데뷔 무대에서 웃을 수 있었던 이유는…"" [[Wait a minute] Rookie group Pentagon "The reason I was able to laugh on the debut stage..."]. Kukinews (in Korean). 14 October 2016.
Archived from the original on 27 August 2021. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
^
ab"펜타곤 키노, 캐스퍼라디오 DJ 발탁‥13일 첫방송(공식)" [PENTAGON Kino, Chosen as CASPER RADIO DJ‥First broadcast on 13th (Official)]. Newsen (in Korean). January 7, 2020.
Archived from the original on December 15, 2023. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
^Choi Hee-jae (November 5, 2020).
펜타곤 키노, 레이블 프로젝트 앨범 오늘(5일) 발매…프로듀싱 참여 [Pentagon Kino releases label project album today (5th)... Participation in producing]. XSportsnews.
Archived from the original on August 31, 2022. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
^
abHwang, So-young (June 29, 2021).
[단독] 펜타곤 키노-하성운-권은비-송지아, 新시즌 '팔로우미' MC [[Exclusive] Pentagon's Kino, Ha Sung-woon, Kwon Eun-bi, and Song Jia, new season 'Follow Me' MCs] (in Korean). Daily Sports.
Archived from the original on 2021-06-29. Retrieved 2021-06-28.
^Ji, Min-kyung (July 29, 2022).
"펜타곤 키노, 8월 9일 스페셜 싱글 'POSE' 발매..작사·작곡 참여" [Pentagon Kino, special single 'POSE' released on August 9th.. Participated in lyrics and composition] (in Korean). Osen.
Archived from the original on July 29, 2022. Retrieved July 29, 2022 – via
Naver.
^Ha Suna (December 14, 2020).
펜타곤, 첫 온라인 콘서트 'WE L:VE' 성료… 미공개 신곡 '불꽃' 최초 공개 [Pentagon, first online concert 'WE L:VE' successful... First unreleased new song 'Fireworks']. TV Report.
Archived from the original on November 4, 2021. Retrieved December 14, 2020.