Now, in this article, our main goal is to get better acquainted with Kino, which is why we are going to provide you with a rundown of his profile and all the interesting information about him. Each of the PENTAGON members held an important place in the group, including Kino, who filled the position of the main dancer, sub-vocalist, sub-rapper, and face of the group. So, are you curious to know more about him? If so, let’s scroll down the article below to find out all the facts!
Full profile
Stage Name: Kino (키노) Birth Name: Kang Hyung-gu (강형구) Position: Main Dancer, Sub-Vocalist, Sub-Rapper, Face of the Group Birthday: January 27th, 1998 Zodiac Sign: Aquarius Height: 177 cm (5’10”) Weight: 59 kg (130 lbs) Blood Type: B Nationality: Korean SoundCloud: knnovation
Facts
He has a younger sister, named Minju He can speak Korean, Japanese, English His birth name (Hyung-gu) means ‘light and solve’ in hanja but he has given it the meaning to have faith in his hyungs His Japanese name, Kei, means light He studied at Hanlim Multi Art High School and Sejong University (majoring in dance) He was admitted to art school as the #1 candidate He is one academic year older, even though he and Wooseok are the same age He briefly lived in the Philippines for three months He is a former trainee of Power Vocal His nickname is Kang Kino He is the first official member of PENTAGON, as he was the first to complete his pentagraph in Pentagon Maker He made an appearance in G.NA’s music video for “Secret” and other promotional activities He also made an appearance in Rain’s music video for “Rain Effect” He participated in the Rainbow Concert as the MC He’s a dancing machine He is extremely multi-talented He writes a lot of long, loving messages to his fans and he uploads his self-composed songs to his SoundCloud He has released 3 solo songs: “Lonely,” “Bad Timing,” and “La Di Da” He has helped in the production and writing of 13+ PENTAGON songs including “Violet,” “Spring Snow,” and “Happiness” He composed a song titled “Cupcake,” and it was inspired by the cupcakes given to him by Hongseok He is good at imitating dance moves He is s also a good choreographer, he helped in the creation of the choreography for “Gorilla” and he choreographed their dance for “Like This” He was also said to be the best at girl group dances according to E’Dawn He did a dance cover of Chris Brown’s “No Guidance” in Studio Choom He used to be a member of a dance team called Urban Boyz He is friendly with several idols from other groups such as GOT7’s Yugyeom, UNIQ’s Seungyoun, and SEVENTEEN’s Vernon (Vernon even bought Kino a phone case when he was in Japan) ASTRO‘s Cha Eunwoo is one of his classmates from high school On Mnet’s Road To Kingdom, it was revealed that Kino is friends with The Boyz’s Hyunjae Because he injured his leg, he had to halt promotions for “Sha La La” He said that he was the person that is most different in the dorm compared to his broadcast persona He was part of the group MOLA (Make Our Lives Awesome), which consisted of him, Jamie Park, UNIQ’s Luizy (Seungyoun), and Nathan, for the song “Chillin” He, along with Shinwon, Jinho, Yeo One, Yuto, and Wooseok are extras in the tvN drama, Age of Youth 2 He sang an OST titled “Miss U” for the drama One The Campus with Hui and Jinho He is said to like accessories according to Yuto He is part of Middletagon, which is comprised of the PENTAGON members in the middle of the height spectrum, such as Hongseok and Yeo One He is also part of PENTAGON’s maknae line, along with Yuto and Wooseok He was the roommate of Shinwon in PENTAGON’s dorm He shares a music production room with Jinho The members like to make fun of Kino for being sensitive Reading and playing billiards are his hobbies He likes to listen to music when he has free time His ideal vacation is anywhere his whole family is gathered If he could have any superpower it would be teleportation If he could only eat one meal for the rest of his life it would be gyukatsu “I’ll Be Alright” by Mura Masa is his favorite song His ideal type is someone with a cheerful personality and high energy
Pre-debut story
Prior to debuting with the group, Kino was known to be a dancer and a member of a dance team called Urban Boyz. He participated in the special dance stage in the 2013 KBS Song Festival along with Hui, E’Dawn, and Yeo One. He also participated as a dancer in Jirayu Tangsrisuk’s 1st concert and James Ji Monkey King Fan Meeting in February 2014 along with E’Dawn. The news of PENTAGON’s debut first circulated in 2015 and it was confirmed on December 31st, 2015, by Cube Entertainment that they would debut their third boy group, after Beast and BtoB. The group’s introduction trailer, “Come into the World,” was released on April 26th, 2016, and the group’s official Twitter, Facebook, and Weibo opened on the same day. Then, Cube Entertainment revealed that the group would participate in an idol-making survival variety show titled Pentagon Maker. The show ran in a survival format where each of the 10 members uploaded different clips of their singing, rapping, dancing, teamwork, variety talents, and mindset to compete for the audiences’ views and seats in the PENTAGON debut on July 16th, 2016. The team was divided into five categories (vocal or rap, dance, talent, mind, and teamwork) and judged either as a unit or individually. The show aired on May 2nd, 2016, through Mnet’s digital content brand M2 for 12 weeks every Monday and Tuesday. In the show, Kino showcased his talent in dancing as well as rapping. He performed a few songs and collaborations with different teams/members.
Aside from that, he also showcased his unique talents and personalities.
In the end, he won the viewers’ hearts with his multitude of talents and good attitude. He won his seat in PENTAGON along with seven members who were selected from the show (Kino, Jinho, Hui, Hongseok, Yeo One, Yuto, and Wooseok), although the group eventually included three members who had been eliminated previously, namely E’dawn, Shinwon, and Yan-an. Thus, PENTAGON officially debuted with 10 members in the line-up!
Debut with PENTAGON
Originally, the group was set to debut on July 16th, 2016. But later it was postponed. On September 29th, 2016, CUBE Entertainment finally announced the date of Pentagon’s debut, which was October 10th, 2016. Furthermore, PENTAGON officially introduced the 10 members through an individual teaser of every member, which was released on October 4th, 2016. They debuted by releasing their first mini-album titled Pentagon with the main song “Gorilla.” They held their first showcase in Yeongdeungpo on the same day as the release of their mini-album.
Although the group didn’t hit mainstream success in the chart right away from their debut, the group was quite active in their early years. Shortly after their debut, the group continued to prepare their next mini-album. Before the comeback by releasing their second mini-album, PENTAGON held their first solo concert titled PENTAGON Mini Concert TENTASTIC Vol. 1 on December 6th, 2016, at Yes24 Live Hall, Seoul. The concert tickets were sold out in just 8 minutes. An impressive record for a new group. After the success of their inaugural concert, the group launched their second mini-album titled Five Senses on December 7th, 2016, with the title track, “Can You Feel It?”
On March 7th, 2017, PENTAGON announced their fandom name, UNIVERSE (유니버스). The name Universe itself comes from the lyrics of their song “Pentagon” which is on their first mini-album. Their third mini-album, titled Ceremony then was officially released on June 12th, 2017, with the title track “Critical Beauty.” But unfortunately, Yan-ann did not participate in the promotion in this comeback because he was injured. Only three months later, the group made a comeback with their fourth mini-album Demo_01 in September 2017, with full members, and after two months, their fifth mini-album was released with the lead song “Runaway.”
On April 2nd, 2018, the group released their sixth mini-album titled Positive, which contains six songs with the main song “Shine.” With the song “Shine,” Pentagon finally received a good reception from music lovers, especially from Korea. The song “Shine” made it to the Melon chart, which they have had a hard time achieving with previously released songs. Even the music video has been watched more than 70 million times as of September 2018, becoming the most-watched music video of PENTAGON. Even though the song is pretty good on Korean music charts, the group still hasn’t got a trophy on the weekly music stage.
After five months, finally, PENTAGON came back with their song “Naughty Boy.” The song is part of their 7th mini-album Thumbs Up! which was officially issued on September 10th, 2018. However, E’dawn and Yan-an did not make a comeback on this occasion. E’dawn has been on hiatus for a while because there was a bit of controversy when it was revealed that he was in a relationship with former 4minutes member and solo singer HyunA. Meanwhile, Yan-an was having problems with his health and had to take a break from all PENTAGON activities. On November 14th, CUBE Entertainment confirmed that E’Dawn officially left the group as well as the company. On March 27th, 2019, PENTAGON made a comeback by releasing their 8th mini-album titled Genie-us. However, on this comeback, Kino did not participate in promotions because he was injured while practicing for the promotion of the album.
