Sunwoo

Sunwoo of THE BOYZ: The Main Rapper Who Writes His Own Story

Sunwoo is the main rapper and sub-vocalist of the South Korean boy group THE BOYZ, and honestly, he’s one of the clearest examples in K-pop of a trainee who turned raw potential into a fully-rounded artist. Born Kim Sun-woo on April 12, 2000, he grew up in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, and he didn’t start out dreaming of the stage — he was a soccer-playing kid who only picked up rapping a few months before auditioning for High School Rapper in 2017. That quick pivot says a lot about him: give Sunwoo a challenge, and he’ll figure out how to make it work.

From Soccer Fields to Sold-Out Stages

After his run on High School Rapper caught the attention of judges like Swings, Sunwoo joined Cre.Ker Entertainment’s trainee line and debuted with THE BOYZ on December 6, 2017, as part of their first mini album The First. He attended Hanlim Multi Art School, majoring in practical music, which lines up with how deliberately he’s built his craft ever since. Fans quickly nicknamed him “Raccoon” for his sharp, playful features, and the name stuck almost as firmly as his stage name did.

A Rapper Who’s Also a Songwriter

What sets Sunwoo apart from a lot of idol-rappers is that he doesn’t just perform lyrics — he writes them. He’s contributed to numerous THE BOYZ tracks over the years, and for the group’s seventh mini album Be Aware, he wrote lyrics for every single track. He was even the sole lyricist on “Survive The Night.” That kind of creative ownership is rare, and it’s part of why THE B (the group’s fandom) sees him as far more than “the guy who raps fast.”

Life Beyond the Group

Outside of group promotions, Sunwoo has built a media presence of his own. Since February 2024, he’s been a regular DJ on MBC FM4U’s IDOL RADIO Season 4, chatting with a rotating cast of artists every week. He’s also stepped into the fashion world as a global brand ambassador — first for AMIRI in 2024, then for Bring Green in 2025 — and he continues to push his hip-hop chops, appearing on Mnet’s SHOW ME THE MONEY 12 in March 2026 and landing a feature verse on the track “KISS KISS KISS” the very next day.

Steady Through the Storm

2026 has been a turbulent year for THE BOYZ as a business entity — in February, Sunwoo joined nine of his groupmates in notifying agency ONE HUNDRED that they were terminating their exclusive contracts over unpaid settlements, a move a Seoul court later upheld with an injunction. Through it all, Sunwoo has kept doing what he does best: making music, showing up for THE B, and proving that his growth from a nervous fourteen-minute rap trainee into one of THE BOYZ’s most versatile members was never a fluke.