Kang was born on December 19, 1993, in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. He was raised in Ilsan, South Korea and moved to Toronto, Canada, to attend middle and high school at York Mills Collegiate Institute. Since sixth grade, he has not lived with his parents. During this time, he went by his English name, Brian Kang.
Kang moved to Korea in 2010 and became a trainee at JYP Entertainment (JYP). After he signed a contract with JYP, his father retired and moved to Toronto with his mother.
On October 5, 2017, he received his bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Dongguk University. He graduated from University on August 23, 2018.
During his time in high school, Kang pursued music in a three-member band called "3rd Degree". They performed at various locations in Toronto and put up videos on YouTube (including some original songs composed by Kang).
In 2010, Kang and his bandmate, Don Lee, were contacted by JYP Entertainment for an audition and were accepted as trainees. Lee later left JYP to pursue a career in dentistry. Kang went on to appear in the fourth episode of WIN: Who is Next? as a part of JYP's rapping team with Got7's Mark Tuan and Jackson Wang against the combined rapping teams of Team A and Team B, where he became known for the verse, "YG, get an attitude!" He was also a part of JYP's vocalist team alongside his eventual Day6 bandmates Junhyeok, Jae, Sungjin and Wonpil.

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