Choi Seung-hyun (Korean: 최승현; born November 4, 1987), better known by his stage name T.O.P, is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He performed as an underground rapper before joining the record label YG Entertainment and debuted as the main rapper for the boy band Big Bang in 2006. The group became one of the best-selling groups of all-time in Asia and one of the best-selling boy bands in the world. In 2010, while the group was on hiatus, T.O.P and G-Dragon collaborated to release the album, GD & TOP. As a solo rapper, he has released two digital singles, "Turn It Up" (2010) and "Doom Dada" (2013), that have peaked at number two and four, respectively, on the Gaon Digital Chart.
T.O.P made his acting debut in 2007 through the TV series I Am Sam (2007), followed by Iris (2009) and the TV movie Nineteen (2009). He made his film debut with 71: Into the Fire (2010), for which he received praise and won multiple accolades including Best New Actor at the 2010 Blue Dragon Film Awards and the 2011 Baeksang Arts Awards. Subsequently, he garnered lead roles in the films Commitment (2013), for which he was awarded New Asian Actor of the Year at the Busan International Film Festival and Tazza: The Hidden Card (2014).
Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Choi Seung-hyun is the great nephew of Korea's pioneering abstract art artist Kim Whanki and grew up in contact with art due to his family. Choi became interested in hip hop at a young age. He and fellow future Big Bang member Kwon Ji-yong were "neighborhood friend[s] from middle school" and often danced and rapped together. Although Kwon later moved away and the two "became distant", Choi was contacted by Kwon when YG Entertainment, Kwon's record label, was scouting for possible candidates to create a boy group. By then, Choi had already performed on many underground stages at hip hop clubs and established a reputation as an underground rapper with the stage name Tempo. In 2003 under the name of Tempo, he was the winner of KBS Radio's Rap Battle. After contact,
Choi subsequently recorded several demos with Kwon and sent them to Yang Hyun-suk, CEO of YG Entertainment, who later asked he to audition. Choi was initially rejected by the record label, which deemed him too "chubby" to fit the "idealistic version" of an idol. He later "went home and exercised really hard because [he] wanted to join YG Entertainment," losing 20 kg in 40 days. Six months later, Choi returned for another audition and was signed.

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