G-Dragon

2009–2011: Solo debut and commercial popularity

In 2009, G-Dragon was featured on singer Lexy's song "Super Fly" for her album Rush alongside Taeyang and T.O.P. He later collaborated with the Japanese boy band W-inds. for their single, "Rain Is Fallin'/Hybrid Dream". His first solo album, Heartbreaker, was released in August of that year. Featuring collaborations with several artists, including Teddy of 1TYM, Taeyang, Kush, CL and Sandara Park of 2NE1, and propelled by its lead-single of the same name, the album surpassed 300,000 copies sold, and went on to win Album of the Year at the 2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards. Shortly after Heartbreaker's release, G-Dragon was accused of plagiarism by Sony Music when his tracks "Heartbreaker" and "Butterfly" were alleged to be similar to Flo Rida's "Right Round" and Oasis's "She's Electric", respectively. However, EMI, the record label that distributed "Right Round" said that they saw no similarities between these two songs.

On March 6, 2010, YG Entertainment announced that they personally contacted Flo Rida's representatives requesting that he feature in G-Dragon's live album, Shine a Light, to which Flo Rida accepted. In support of his album, G-Dragon staged his first solo concert at Olympic Gymnastics Arena in December 2009. The name of the concert, Shine a Light, was derived from the lyrics to his song "A Boy". The concert subsequently sparked controversy following complaints of obscenity and suggestive content. The Korean Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs later asked the government prosecutors to investigate if G-Dragon or YG Entertainment violated laws on obscene performances in his concert. He was found innocent and was cleared of all charges on March 15, 2010.

In November 2010, G-Dragon and T.O.P released their collaboration album GD & TOP. Preceding the release of the album, the duo held a worldwide premiere showcase for their album at Times Square in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul, which was also broadcast live on YouTube. To promote their album, the duo released three singles: "High High", "Oh Yeah", and "Knock Out" (Korean: 뻑이가요; RR: Ppeogigayo). All three singles preceded the release of the album and achieved commercial success: "High High" scored number one on several music programs while "Oh Yeah" peaked at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart. The album was released on Christmas Eve, and debuted at number one on the Gaon Album Chart with pre-orders of 200,000 copies.

G-Dragon also formed a duo with Park Myung Soo for the Infinite Challenge Seohae Ahn Highway Song Festival 2011. They released their song "Having an Affair" featuring Park Bom from 2NE1 on June 2, 2011. The song later became the second most downloaded song on the Gaon Music Chart for the year 2011.

2012–2013: Breakthrough years and comeback with Big Bang

While working on new solo materials, G-Dragon made an appearance in the Japanese version of Pixie Lott's album Young Foolish Happy, along with T.O.P. His first extended play One of a Kind was released on September 15, 2012, drawing positive reviews, placing first on the Billboard World Album Chart and entering the Billboard 200 Chart at 161. Three singles were released to support the album: the top-five hit "One of a Kind", which earned him the Best Hip Hop and Rap Song of the Year awards from the Korean Music Awards and the Rhythmer Awards respectively; the number one "That XX" and the top-three hit "Crayon" that was ranked by Spin Magazine as the best K-Pop single of the year. The album sold over 200,000 copies, making it the highest selling solo album in Korea since the release of his debut album Heartbreaker in 2009. He won "Best Male Solo Artist" at the 14th Mnet Asian Music Awards and "Record of the Year" for One of a Kind at the 22nd Seoul Music Awards. G-Dragon also embarked on the One of a Kind World Tour in 2013, becoming the first Korean solo artist to hold a four-dome tour in Japan and the second Korean solo artist to have a world tour (the first being Rain). The production of the tour cost $3.5 million, making it the largest scale in Korean history at the time. The tour was held in 8 countries, visited 13 cities for a total of 27 concerts gathering 570,000 fans.

In August 2013, G-Dragon performed "Shake The World" as an intro to "One Of A Kind", "Feat. Missy Elliott" (Missy Elliott Ver.) and "Crayon" at the KCON 2013 concert in Los Angeles.

After touring extensively, G-Dragon went back into the studio to record his second studio album. YG Entertainment later announced that Grammy Award-winning musician Missy Elliott will be featured on the album. Coup d'Etat (2013) was released in two parts online, with the full album released physically on September 13, featuring collaborations with Diplo, Baauer, Boys Noize, Sky Ferreira, Siriusmo, Zion.T, Lydia Paek, and label-mate Jennie Kim. G-Dragon and Missy Elliott performed the song "Niliria" at the KCON 2013 in Los Angeles. Six tracks from Coup d'Etat placed within the top 10 of the Gaon Digital Chart, including the number one "Who You?". The best-performing single of the album was "Crooked", with over 1.8 million digital downloads, which was his first solo music video to surpass 100 million views on YouTube. The title track "Coup d'Etat" was chosen by Billboard as one of the game-changing EDM tracks of 2013. The album entered the Billboard 200, making G-Dragon the first Korean act to have multiples entries on the chart. The success of Coup d'Etat led to G-Dragon winning a total of four awards at the 15th Mnet Asian Music Awards: Best Male Solo Artist, Best Music Video for "Coup d'Etat", Best Dance Performance for "Crooked", and the highest award, Artist of The Year; he became the first and only solo artist to win the latter. He later took home the World's Best Entertainer and World's Best Album at the World Music Awards.

G-Dragon participated in the Infinite Challenge music festival again for the second time on October 17, 2013, in Imjingak, composing and performing the song "Going to Try" with comedian Jeong Hyeong-don.

2014–2016: New albums and rising success

In 2014, G-Dragon wrote and produced for other YG artists. He wrote the track "Good to You" from 2NE1's album Crush. He also worked on Taeyang's second album Rise, writing and producing the lead single "Ringa Linga" and "Stay With Me", and was a featured artist on the latter track. In November 2014, G-Dragon and Taeyang formed a duo to release the single "Good Boy", which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's World Digital Songs chart, the third time a Korean act topped the chart after PSY and 2NE1. The single had over 1.2 million downloads in South Korea, while its music video surpassed 100 million views on YouTube; this made BigBang the first Korean male group to have three videos with this many YouTube views. In December of the same year, G-Dragon collaborated with Skrillex and Diplo for the song "Dirty Vibe", which features labelmate CL. The single charted at No. 15 on Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and No. 21 on Dance/Electronic Digital Songs, making them the first Korean artists to land on the chart. In 2015, he wrote and produced a song for Welcome Back, the debut album of YG's new rookie group iKon.

G-Dragon spent the majority of 2015 and 2016 touring with his band for their third Korean album, performing for over 3.6 million fans in two years. In 2015, he participated in the Infinite Challenge music festival for the third consecutive time, and for the first time with bandmate Taeyang. The duo teamed up with ZE:A's Hwang Kwanghee and released the single "Mapsosa", which peaked at No. 2 on the Gaon Digital Chart, and sold 1.1 million copies by the end of the year, making it one of the best-selling songs of 2015. He appeared on the same show again the following year, for the Muhan Company special, in which he acted for the first time. Additionally, he featured alongside British rapper M.I.A. in Baauer's song "Temple" from his debut album Aa. The song charted at No. 36 on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Digital Songs and No. 26 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, making him the first Korean male artist to chart twice on both charts.

2017–2018: Kwon Ji Yong, record-breaking tour, and military service

On February 1, 2017, G-Dragon featured on Zion.T's song "Complex" which peaked at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart. He also served as a guest rapper for IU's lead single "Palette", off her album of the same name which topped the Gaon Chart for two consecutive weeks. After the promotional activities with his band wrapped up, G-Dragon began preparing for the release of his new album, along with a solo concert tour.

The single "Bullshit" was set to serve as the lead single to precede the release of his second self-titled EP. Due to bandmate T.O.P's marijuana scandal, and the single's provocative name, "Untitled, 2014" was released to radio instead to avoid further controversy for the artist's record label. Forgoing the traditional method of releasing music on CDs, Kwon Ji Yong was released in USB flash drive format on June 8, drawing criticism from Gaon, which refused to regard it as an official album. Gaon reversed its decision later that year, acknowledging the unconventional format as legitimate. The release saw him topping iTunes charts in 46 countries, the most by any Korean album, including the US iTunes chart. Kwon Ji Yong also topped the iTunes worldwide album and European iTunes charts making him the first Korean soloist to do so. In the United States, Kwon Ji Yong became his best-selling album in just one day and his third entry on the Billboard 200 and first number one on the Heatseeksers Albums. Additionally, the EP became his third chart-topper and the first by a Korean soloist to spend multiple weeks atop the Billboard World Albums. In China, the album surpassed 760,000 digital units sold in a day on QQ Music, the biggest music site in the country. Six days after its release, it surpassed one million copies sold, becoming the fastest album to do so and the best-selling album of the year so far. His second world tour, Act III: M.O.T.T.E, began at Seoul World Cup Stadium on June 10, 2017 and visited 29 cities across Asia, North America, Europe and Oceania. The tour is the largest tour by a Korean artist in the United States and Europe, and is the largest concert tour ever conducted by a Korean solo artist, it was attended by 654,000 people worldwide. A behind-the-scenes documentary look at the tour was released by YouTube Premium in September 2018.

G-Dragon began his two-year mandatory military service on February 27, 2018, by entering the 3rd Infantry Division's boot camp in Gangwon province as an active duty soldier, where he was set to be discharged on October 26, 2019, after completing the requirements.

2020–present: Return from military and departure from YG Entertainment

After a four-year hiatus, G-Dragon made a comeback as part of BigBang with the song "Still Life" on April 4, 2022.

On January 1, 2023, G-Dragon announced he would be preparing a comeback album. In June of that year, YG commented that G-Dragon's contract had expired, though would be collaborating with him for activities such as advertising while discussing his renewal further. On December 20, it was announced that G-Dragon had officially left YG Entertainment. On the same day, Galaxy Corporation officially announced they had officially signed G-Dragon, with plans for him to make a comeback in 2024.

On the October 30 episode of You Quiz on the Block, G-Dragon introduced his first new song since 2017, a pre-release single titled "Power". It was officially released on October 31, alongside the announcement that G-Dragon had signed a deal to release music with Empire Distribution. Another new song, "Home Sweet Home" featuring Big Bang members Taeyang and Daesung, was released on November 22. The trio performed the song the next day at the 2024 MAMA Awards, along with "Power", "Untitled, 2014", "Fantastic Baby", and "Bang Bang Bang". "Home Sweet Home" reached number one on the Circle Digital Chart in South Korea, becoming his sixth number-one single. G-Dragon made further appearances at the 2024 SBS Gayo Daejeon on December 25 and at Le Gala Des Pieces Jaunes in Paris on January 23, 2025, alongside Taeyang.

On February 4, 2025, it was confirmed that G-Dragon's third studio album, titled Übermensch, would be released on February 25. Heralded as G-Dragon's inaugural solo entertainment show, the rapper collaborated with Kim Tae-ho, the renowned producer of Infinite Challenge (2005–2018), to create the music variety program, Good Day. It premiered on February 16, 2025, on MBC and Disney+.

Other ventures

Business

In 2012, G-Dragon built a pension hotel in Gyenggi-do as a gift to his family, putting in approximately 1 billion won (US$920,000 at the time) to help finance it. The pension includes 11 suites. On October 20, 2015, G-Dragon officially opened his first cafe on Jeju Island, under the name of "Monsant Cafe". The South Korean indie band Hyukoh was the first artist to play at the café in September 2015. In 2017, his second cafe named "Untitled, 2017", inspired by the title of his most recent single, was built, along with a bowling alley both designed by G-Dragon. It is located within YG Entertainment's YG Republique building complex YG Town of Jeju Shinhwa World resort, for which he is an ambassador.

Fashion and art

In 2013, G-Dragon partnered with Ambush for a special collaboration release which includes apparel and accessories. The collection highlights G-Dragon's signature crest by utilizing the design throughout the entire release. In 2014, he partnered with Chow Tai Fook Enterprises jewelry and launched a collection designed by himself. G-Dragon opened an art exhibition in 2015 under the name Peaceminusone: Beyond the Stage. The exhibition features 200 works of art from 12 domestic and international artists including Michael Scoggins, Sophie Clements and James Clar. Having worked on the exhibition for over a year, its aim is to bring the modern art and pop culture together in order to "introduce domestic artists to the public, who are unfamiliar with art or who find art unapproachable". The show was held at the Seoul Museum of Art from June 6 to August 23. He also launched a collaboration with Giuseppe Zanotti and designed two unisex shoe styles. G-dragon is an avid art collector, being included in ARTnews' 2019 list of 50 art collectors to watch. His collection includes Millionare Nurse by Richard Prince, which sold at a Sotheby's auction in 2014 for $3.3 million. He also owns the George Condo pieces Big John and the four-piece set Jean-Louis, Jean Louis with One Ear, Jean Louis' wife and Jean Louis' Wife's sister. He organized an auction of some of his possessions through Pharrell Williams' Joopiter auction house in September 2024: included were pieces of clothing, artwork and furniture. The auction was accompanied by an exhibition at the Daelim museum.

In 2016, he collaborated with the brand 8 Seconds, part of the Samsung C&T Fashion Group, designing his first street fashion collection. The collection featured innovative "genderless" designs, suitable for both men and women. He went on to design three collections for the brand. In October the same year, G-Dragon launched his personal fashion brand Peaceminusone with his long-time stylist Gee Eun. The first collection included tees, caps, jewelry, and in-ear headphones. Initially an online-only line, it was launched as a physical store at the Dover Street Market in London and in Seoul. Peaceminusone collaborated with Ambush in November for a capsule collection of denim pieces, marking his third collaboration with the label. The same year, he starred in the official campaign for Seoul-based fashion label Juun.J's FW16 collection with Taeyang. He also became a brand ambassador for French fashion house Chanel, and starred in the label's Gabrielle bag campaign during 2017, alongside Pharrell.

In 2017, G-Dragon launched pop-up shops for his brand Peaceminusone, starting in Seoul, and continuing with Miami, Osaka and Hong Kong. Later that year he collaborated with Vogue to do another pop-up shop in Seoul, selling limited edition Peaceminusone X Vogue apparel. He also launched a collaboration with French retailer Colette which was made available to purchase on his online store. In 2019, he collaborated with Nike, releasing PEACEMINUSONE Para-Noise Air Force 1 shoes. A second version of PEACEMINUSONE Para-Noise Air Force 1 shoes in white color was released in 2020. Further collaborations, the PEACEMINUSONE x Nike Kwondo 1 and PEACEMINUSONE x Nike Kwondo 1 "Panda", were released in December 2021 and April 2023, respectively.

He contributed to the self-titled AMBUSH book due to be published by Rizzoli on March 4, 2025.

In 2025, G-Dragon debuted a $1 million watch co-designed with Jacob & Co. at a Seoul store opening.

In 2026, G-Dragon collaborated with Jacob & Co. on the "Bandana Royale" collar, inspired by his signature scarf aesthetic and modeled after Chanel scarves.

Alleged drug use

G-Dragon tested positive for marijuana in 2011. Though a urine test back in August came back negative, a weak positive for marijuana was detected from testing the content of his hair in October. Since it was his first recorded offense with a minuscule amount of the drug, it resulted in an indictment and he was not charged. He later claimed to have accepted a cigarette offered by a fan in Japan during a party back in May, throwing it away after realizing it was not a normal cigarette. He made his first public appearance after the scandal at the 2011 MTV EMAs with his group.

On October 25, 2023, G-Dragon was booked by the Incheon Metropolitan Police and was under investigation for alleged drug use. The case was closed on December 13, 2023, due to a series of negative drug tests and insufficient evidence.

Real estate

G-Dragon's real estate portfolio includes multiple apartments: one in Cheongdam-dong (valued between 15 and 18 billion won), one in Seongsu-dong (valued at 3 billion won) and one in Hannam-dong (valued at 16.4 billion won). He also owns a mixed-use six story building in Cheongdam-dong which he purchased in 2017 for 8.85 billion won.