BTS's J-Hope Spills On The Unexpected Way His Pre-Debut Underground Dance Days Inspired His Solo Music

BTS‘s J-Hope released his first mixtape, Hope World, in 2018, five years after BTS’s debut. In the summer of last year, he made his official solo debut and released a full-length album, Jack in the Box, which showed a new side to the beloved BTS member and allowed him to express his feelings as a 9-year idol at the time.

Although it was five years before J-Hope released his solo music, he shared that the concept and approach to his solo music have been on his mind since his debut.

J-Hope will soon star in his own documentary on Disney+, which will give fans a backstage pass to his solo album preparations. According to reports from Naver, the documentary follows J-Hope for about 200 days as he prepares for his solo debut and a headlining performance at the 2022 Lollapalooza.

BTS’s J-Hope performing at “2022 Lollapalooza”

The documentary airs on Disney+ and is available for purchase on Weverse on February 17; ahead of the release, J-Hope sat down for a series of interviews with Disney+.

In his latest interview, J-Hope opened up about how his solo album came to be. He was specifically asked about his song “What If…” which samples “Shimmy Shimmy Ya,” a hip-hop track from 1995 performed by Ol’ Dirty Bastard and produced by RZA, both members of the American hip-hop group, Wu-Tang Clan.

J-Hope explained that when he was younger, he found a creative outlet through dance and was part of the underground dance group Neuron. Focusing on old-school hip-hop, he shared that he had listened to “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” since he was a kid.

The music he danced to growing up ended up becoming the inspiration behind his solo career.

His song “Chicken Noodle Soup,” which samples a song of the same name by Webstar and Young B, was also inspired by his youth. He shared that the song was special because he first learned to dance to it when he was younger.

J-Hope shared that when it came time for him to make his own music, he wanted to go back to his roots and create music that really helped him to express himself.

Hearing the piano at the beginning of “What If” transported him back to his childhood and the old-school hip-hop sound he used to dance to, and he knew it was the song for him.

J-Hope’s solo work was years in the making, and after sampling two of the songs he frequently listened to during his time as an underground dancer, it seems J-Hope’s debut as a beloved member of BTS was fate.

In the same interview, J-Hope also opened up about his unexpected feelings when he released “Arson.” Check out more on that in the article below!