In speaking with Seattle-based podcast “The Glow Up”, former 2PM member Jay Park recently opened up about his days in JYP Entertainment, revealing that trainees would be hit if they make a mistake.
“The culture in itself was kinda like when you get certain lyrics or you get certain dance move wrong, they would like literally hit you. That’s kinda like the Korean way you know,” he said.
“They wouldn’t do that to me because I was very good at dancing, but I would see this dude next to me and he was getting some shit wrong and he getting his ass whooped,” the 29-year-old rapper continued.
Besides that, Jay also added that he trained under JYP for about 3 and a half years, saying that it’s “kinda like a bootcamp”. Although the training helped him in a lot ways, it also killed his passion and creativity.
“Kind of like programming. Sing it like this, do it like this. So you lose your individuality. At first it was really hard you know? I’m not gonna front. I like cried and I did all that you know? It was stressful,” he mentioned.
The idol eventually made his debut as the leader of 2PM in 2008 with the group’s debut single, “10 Out of 10” (10점 만점에 10점). Unfortunately, he officially left the group in early 2010 due to his MySpace controversy.
“You know I was in culture shock. I was very ignorant and naive. I said some comments. Someone dug up some of the comments that I said, ‘Korea’s wack’, ‘I don’t know what’s going on’. That’s how you talk when you’re young. Like ‘Korea’s gay’… Over here, everyone talks like that but if you translate it literally… They were like ‘Ahh, Jay Park’s racist. He doesn’t like Koreans’,” he explained.
Listen to the full podcast here (He starts talking about his trainee days on the 17:33 mark):
After he left the label, he moved back to Seattle and eventually made his return to South Korea. Now, Jay has released numerous solo albums and also founded his own company, AOMG (“Above Ordinary Music Group” or “Always On My Grind”), along with Simon Dominic.
