2winS

2winS (pronounced Twins)

Member : TopBob
Real name : Choi Seok-yong
Height : 173 cm
Weight : 63 kg
Blood type : A
Debut : Through group TBNY in 2006
Hobbies : Collecting things
Religion : Christianity

Member : Bumkey

Debut : Through 2wins in 2010

They say success can be achieved with talent, hard work, and a little bit of luck. It's safe to say that looking back on the lives of the two members of 2wins, that last ingredient was definitely missing. 2wins is made up of TopBob and Bumkey. Many may recognize TopBob because he had debuted before through a group called TBNY. He sacrificed his college admission fee to contribute to the making of their album. And before the group hit the market, there was quite the hype surrounding them. However, there were no real promotional opportunities to get their name and music out there. They didn't receive any big broadcasting opportunities and eventually, their entertainment company even shut down. Their album that they poured their blood, sweat, and tears into eventually were cleared off the shelves and now, the group TBNY is just a whisper of a memory in kpop's history.

That's just half the team. Bumkey's story is even worse. Bumkey was blessed with an incredibly beautiful falsetto style voice. In fact, he's even collaborated with many big names such as Brown Eyes, Dynamic Duo, and Epik High, being featured on some of their tracks. On the underground scene, he was considered to have a "voice from heaven". However, he often had sore throats and finally after getting it medically checked out, the doctors declared him in need of surgery for problems with his vocal chords. Post-surgery, when trying to speak, Bumkey couldn't get anything to come out of his mouth. It turned out that it was a case of malpractice and it took him two years of hard work to get his voice back and be able to sing again.

However, they're refusing to let the world and all of its lemons bring them down. Their name is symbolic of their attitude as it's the TWO of them hoping to WIN in the end, hence 2wins. Before their album officially hit the shelves, arguably Korea's biggest star, Rain, created a video message supporting 2wins urging fans to give their new songs a listen. He went as far as to call them "musical geniuses". You may think that perhaps it's because they're close friends or they're signed under Rain's agency, but none of those reasons are the case. Somehow, Rain got a hold of their recordings and gave them a listen. Right away, he said that the duo was incredibly talented and that Bumkey's voice in particular was very compelling.

TopBob and Bumkey both expressed how the kpop industry is dominated by many instant-success-formula artists with songs that all fit the same mold. The two seek to bring their hip hop flair and create music that stands out and breaks the current kpop pattern. They've already displayed their ability to potentially do that through their first mini album where there are pianos and brass sounds that blend perfectly with soul and strong hip hop beats. Bumkey quite poignantly said that rather than being number one, they prefer to be a team that's around for a long time.

2winS (mini-album, July 1, 2010) : "2winS Muzik", "피가나“ or "Bleeding", "별놈” or "Star", “눈물이 핑” or "Ping", "Lady Is Mine" · close