Jinusean (지누션)

From left to right: Sean and Jinu.

Jinusean are not currently active. They have said that they are preparing a comeback and aim to release a new song (or new songs) before the end of 2009.

Jinu

Real Name: Kim Jin Woo (金鎭宇/김진우), and he also goes by John
Nicknames: Jjanggoo-appa, J
Birthday: October 23, 1971 (Some sources say 1973)
Bloodtype: O
Height: 5’11″ / 180cm
Weight: 65kg / 143lbs
Family: Parents, younger sister, younger brother
Religion: Christian
Personality (according to himself): Self-assertive, strong, but a little impatient
Education: Seokyo Elementary School (Seoul), Walker Jr. High School, John F. Kennedy High School and 2 years of Business Major at USC

Jinu was born in Seoul, but his family moved to LA when he was 10. He is Paik Nam-June‘s grandson. Paik Nam-June (백남준) was a famous video artist who lived, taught and had his works shown all over the globe. He married a Japanese-American woman, which makes Jinu 1/4 Japanese (source). Jinu’s family has been living in the US for a while – the house in Wheesung’s With Me MV is actually Jinu’s American house.

After graduating high school, he went to USC for two years as a business major, which he dropped to go to Korea and pursue his dream of being a singer. In 1994, his first solo album came out, and he filmed a music video for the title track, 나는 캡이었어 (Na nun kaep ieosseo/I Was The Cap). He wrote all of the music and lyrics for the album. YG heard him sing, decided he had to recruit him, and arranged for them to meet in Los Angeles. It’s not known exactly when this took place, as YG was recruiting for his new label after Seo Taiji & Boys’s breakup in 1996 and Jinu’s album came out in 1994. Jinu was featured on Keep Six’s first album in July 1996, a year before Jinusean actually debuted. He was also featured with Sean in D.O’s Player Anthem song (and music video) before their official debut.

Beside rapping & singing in Jinusean, he also composed a few tracks and writes his own raps. His style was more pop/R&B-ish in the early years, but now he has more of a conventional gangsta rap style and doesn’t sing much. In addition to singing and songwriting, he directed 1TYM’s Nasty music video and did some photography for YG Entertainment (notably for Stony Skunk’s second album and for Big Bang’s Daum cafe). He’s also credited for some of the 3D animation in Jinusean’s Taekwon V music video.

Now Jinu works as an A&R manager for Big Bang (and Lexy before she left the label). He’s a fan of video games and unofficially the person to go to when a computer breaks down. He likes traveling and has said that his favorite place is Mexico. He also followed other YG artists to Jamaica (Stony Skunk), Africa (Lexy), France (Taebin) and Japan (Se7en).

He married Kim Junie (金晙熙/김준희) on May 14th, 2006 in the ball room of Seoul’s Hyatt Hotel. Junie used to be a singer and songwriter for the groups Mue (뮤) and Mountain from 1994 to 1996. Then she worked as an actress, and now she designs for and runs a women’s clothing boutique called Eva Junie. She also launched a men’s clothing line, Evamens, in November 2007. They filed for divorce in early 2008 due to irreconcilable differences.

Sean

Real name: Ro Seung Hwan (노승환)
Birthdate: October 10, 1972
Height: 5’11″ / 180cm
Weight: 70kg / 154lbs
Bloodtype: B
Religion: Catholic
Interests: Hip hop, sports, collecting shoes
Family: Daughter (Haeum, January 24, 2006), son (Harang, October 3, 2007) and another son (Hayul, June 14, 2009) with Jung Hye Young
Education: Namsung Elementary School (Seoul), Tamuning Elementary School, Agueda Johnston Middle School and John F. Kennedy High School (Guam)

Sean was born in Korea, but his family moved to Guam when he was 5 years old, and, as a result of growing up on the island, he learned English and later Japanese (due to the part-time job as a tour guide for Japanese tourists he had as a teen).

After graduating high school, he went back to Korea, wanting to make it as a dancer or b-boy, and spent his time in clubs and dancing competitions. That’s where he met Yang Hyun Suk (aka YG), who was at the time a member of Seo Taiji & Boys. Soon after, Sean was hired as a dancer for Seo Taiji & Boys and stayed with them until they disbanded in 1996.

In 1992, Sean founded the hip-hop clothing brand MF! (Majah Flavah). Seo Taiji & Boys wore it often and helped popularize it, and now it’s internationally-known. After Seo Taiji & Boys disbanded, Sean went back to Guam (because he missed it) and lived with YG for a while. YG decided to take Sean in to be part of his label. He started looking for a partner for Sean’s debut and eventually recruited Jinu, whom he’d seen on television during his solo career.

With Jinu, Sean and someone named James, YG planned to start a three-man dance group. Together they composed music and planned, but due to visa problems, the plan never came through, and instead YG produced his first group, Keep Six. Jinu and Sean wrote some of the music and were featured on a track. However, Keep Six’s album wasn’t a success, so the group disbanded.

Sean then decided to introduce YG to Perry, who was one of Guam’s first rappers/DJs/hip-hop producers. (Presumably, Sean knew Perry from high school.) Jinusean debuted in June 1997 with their first album Gasoline, which was produced by YG, Perry, Lee Hyun Do and Q. Sean wrote some of the music for it and their second album, but nowadays he only raps.

Sean got married on October 8, 2004 to actress Jung Hye Young, whom he had been dating since 2001. The wedding took place at Aston House, and Jinu, Taebin & Masta Wu were his best men. (YG himself caught the garter and Baek Kyoung stole it from him.)

Sean and Hye Young had a daughter named Haeum (Lydia) on January 24, 2006, a son named Harang on October 3, 2007, and a second son named Hayul on June 14th, 2009. Their names respectively stand for “하나님의 마음“, “하나님의 사랑“, and “하나님의 율법” (God’s Heart, God’s Love, and God’s Law).

After the promotion activities for Jinusean’s 4th album ended, Sean started doing manager-type work for YG. You can see him attending meetings in Big Bang’s documentary.