Suga (슈가) / Agust D (solo)

Min Yoon-gi was born on March 9, 1993, in Buk-gu, Daegu, South Korea, the younger of two sons in a working-class family. He developed an early fascination with music, learning piano as a child and later gravitating toward hip-hop and beat-making in his early teens. Before joining the entertainment industry, Yoon-gi was already an active underground rapper and beatmaker in the Daegu hip-hop scene, performing under the name “Gloss” and selling self-produced beats to support himself financially while pursuing music.

He moved to Seoul to pursue a career in music and was eventually scouted by Big Hit Entertainment (now HYBE Labels), joining as a trainee. The CEO reportedly gave him the stage name “Suga” — a nod to his pale complexion and sweet smile, as well as a reference to the “shooting guard” position he played in basketball during his school years.

Suga debuted with BTS on June 13, 2013, taking on the role of lead rapper. From the earliest BTS albums, he was heavily involved behind the scenes — composing, arranging, and producing tracks, a rarity for an idol at the time. His reputation as one of K-pop’s most respected in-house producers grew steadily, and he became known for lyrics that addressed social pressure, mental health, classism, and personal trauma with unusual candor.

In 2016, he released his first mixtape, Agust D, independently and for free, surprising fans with raw, autobiographical content discussing his struggles with depression, social anxiety, and a serious motorcycle accident he suffered as a trainee that nearly ended his career due to a shoulder injury. This injury would later require surgery in November 2020.

He followed up with D-2 in 2020, expanding his solo identity further, before making his official solo debut under HYBE’s own label structure with the full-length album D-DAY on April 21, 2023 — completing what fans call the “Agust D Trilogy” (Agust D → D-2 → D-DAY).

Suga began his mandatory military service on September 22, 2023, serving as a social service personnel due to his prior shoulder injury, and was officially discharged on June 21, 2025, becoming the final BTS member to complete service. With all seven members discharged, BTS has been preparing for a full group comeback reportedly targeted for 2026, following an extended hiatus that began in 2022.

Throughout his career, Suga has also built a reputation as one of music’s most thoughtful advocates for mental health awareness, openly discussing his own struggles in interviews, lyrics, and the documentary “SUGA: Road to D-DAY.” He has contributed production work for other HYBE artists and is widely regarded as one of the most influential producer-idols in modern K-pop.