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DinDin announced he’s giving up being a rapper.
On the 30th, the singer appeared on the YouTube channel “Donghaemul and Baekdu Eunhyuk.”
He was greeted with quick jabs as soon as he walked on. Hosts Eunhyuk and Donghae teased him: “Why do you keep pretending to be an idol?” and “Why did you rudely sit down before the guest?” DinDin deadpanned, “I don’t really want to be here today,” and the room laughed.
After Lee Jun joked, “Don’t café part-timers make around 10 million KRW a month? (roughly $7,500), DinDin pushed back, criticizing entertainers for being out of touch. The comment made headlines and framed him as a thoughtful or ‘woke’ celebrity.
Eunhyuk shot back, “So you’re the only one getting called thoughtful while you push your colleague down?” DinDin said his remark had been misrepresented: “My words were taken out of context. Some of the edits made it sound more provocative. I meant that people should have a basic awareness of how the world works.”
Still, Eunhyuk grumbled that it wasn’t just editing — “you said it that way” — and added that if DinDin had always been clueless, he wouldn’t have stuck around him for so long.
DinDin, who first came to public attention as a contestant on Show Me the Money, was candid about the economics of his career. “When I release an album, I’m always in the red,” he said, laying out the costs of producing music and the realities of the album business. Unlike idol acts with predictable sales and loyal, measurable fanbases, independent artists can’t reliably forecast revenue. For him, putting out an album remains a significant financial burden.
He admitted he used to suffer from what he called an “artist syndrome” — insisting he had to write every song himself. Trying to handle lyrics and melodies alone often led to creative blocks and a limited palette, so he now accepts outside material.
Having declared he’s stepping away from hip-hop, DinDin said he no longer identifies with contemporary trends. “I can’t write lines like, ‘I wore a 300 million KRW watch,'” he said (about $225,000). “That kind of flex doesn’t feel cool to me anymore. I used to write boasting lines like that, but it doesn’t fit now. I don’t think I can do hip-hop the way it’s done today. I just want to make music that makes people feel good when they hear it.”
He also opened up about his approach to dating. He doesn’t believe in strictly platonic “guy friends” or “girl friends”; when someone interests him, he goes all in. He says his success rate is fairly high, but he tends to keep situations informal for about three months while assessing whether the person could be a long-term partner. That process sometimes prompts partners to ask, “What are we?” or accuse him of leading them on.
Kim Eun-jeong, TenAsia reporter
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