Jung Ho-seok (Korean: 정호석; born February 18, 1994), better known by his stage name J-Hope (stylized as j-hope), is a South Korean rapper, songwriter, dancer, and record producer. In 2013, J-Hope made his debut as a member of the South Korean boy band
BTS, managed under Big Hit Entertainment.
His stage name, "J-Hope (제이홉)", comes from his desire to represent hope for fans, as well as to be "the hope of BTS." It is also a reference to the myth of Pandora's box, as after the box was opened and all the evils inside were released to the world, the only thing left was hope.
J-Hope released his first solo mixtape, Hope World, worldwide on March 1, 2018. The album was met with a positive reception. His debut at number 63 (and subsequent peak at number 38) made him the highest charting solo Korean artist on the Billboard 200 at the time of the mixtape's release.
In 2019, J-Hope released a free collaboration single, "Chicken Noodle Soup", on September 27, featuring American singer, Becky G. The track debuted at number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100, with 9.7 million streams and 11,000 downloads for the week ending October 4, making J-Hope the first member of BTS to chart on the Hot 100 as a solo artist outside of the group, the third Korean solo artist to rank on the chart (after Psy and CL), and the sixth Korean artist overall to do so. "Chicken Noodle Soup" also debuted at number 1 on the World Digital Songs chart and is J-Hope's second song to achieve this after 2018's "Daydream".
-Wikipedia
: Gwangju, South Korea