Jay, his given name is Jeon Jihwan. Jihwan is the maknae, main dancer, lead rapper, and vocalist of The Boss (or DGNA). He's known to be one of the shortest males in the kpop industry at 170cm (some sites say 171cm, others say 170cm [making him about 5ft 6in). He was born March 31, 1994.
Keep in mind his youth when I tell you this next tidbit.
At the young age of 13, Star King deemed him a Poppin' Prodigy, before debut.
In early 2008, Jihwan joined the upcoming, rotating-member, boyband XING (for the 3rd and 4th generation) under the stage name Kipalang along with the other The Boss members. Xing had already been around since late 2006 (having orginally debuted members like U-Kiss's Kevin, Allen Kim, Beast's Junhyung, X-5's Zin, X-5/Lu:kus's Sulhu/Jinwan, A-Peace's Wanchul, A-Peace's Doohwan, Ulzzang Gwangchul, and others). Jihwan was still 13 years old at the time, and he stayed with group until it disbanded in late 2009 when he was 16.
Afterward he and the remaining members of the 4th (and last) generation of XING joined a rather unfortunate company and planned to debut all 7 (the current The Boss members, Ulzzang Gwangchul, and Kim Jisang) as The Boss. Gwangchul and Jisang pulled out for personal reasons. Leaving Jihwan (age 16) and the other four members to debut as a quintet in early 2010.
Being under Open World Entertainment didn't let Jihwan and his new group shine. Everything was visibly cheap and the quality was low. Regardless, The Boss managed to make an impression on many, and they found themselves very sucessful in Japan causing their korean audience to decline as they released the bulk of their music in Japan. Finally after releasing more successful music at the very beginning of 2012 in Japan, their company had some scandals come out regarding their CEO. The Boss had to cancel all preparations for their long awaited korean album that was set in mid-2012, their first korean comeback since mid-2010 (not including the sub-unit activity Jihwan did with two other members in early 2011).
Since that time the group stayed quiet and most fans, like myself, were unaware if the band was going to continue. Officially, they had not disband, but with their labelmate and brother group X-5 later disbanding, hope to see Jihwan and The Boss together again, dwindled.
Jihwan, who had worked very hard and had amazing talents since a young age seemed to have very bad luck.
After nearly two years, cutting it close, news from them was heard again. Under a new company, The Boss was set to have a comeback late November of 2013. And all five of the members were still there.
This new song was considerably mature compared to their previous work. Jihwan, especially seemed to mature physically, immensely. Instead of his previously rather cute, refreshing, natural, and young looks, Jihwan appeared with great charisma and a chic look, much like the one he carries when he dances. I suppose its only natural, considering he is now 19 years old compared to what I'm used to which is seeing him as teenager, and here he is now almost 20 years old. Here he is, only 19 years old and yet he has about 6 years of music industry experience, and even more years of dance experience.
But wait! I haven't finished.
-Jihwan has also been in a few films in his youth. In 2009, he had a small part in "Coin Boy". He also starred in the movie "Themselves" in 2011.
-Among his group and he continuously describe him or rank him as the most timid in the group, the most persistent in the group, and the most honest in the group.
-He started to dance after seeing H.O.T's Jang Woohyuk dance on TV.
-Predebut, he was called Poppin' Hyunjoon's Prodigy after Poppin' Hyunjoon.
-Other than Jang Woohyuk and Poppin' Hyunjoon, Jihwan admires Rain the most
Honestly, in my opinion, Jihwan is one of the best dancers of the kpop industry. I won't say he is the best because I only know so much about dancing. But seeing him, he makes some complicated movements seem like magic. Sometimes I watch him making a movement and I wonder how he even moved for it looked impossible. I'm not sure if I can call him naturally gifted, but this boy, Jihwan has worked nearly his entire life for dancing. He's rigorously practiced and at his young age gained recognition. I only wish for more people to recognize his abilities, especially his dance abilities.
Jihwan today
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