G2 is a 34-year-old rapper, singer, and artist from Lewisville, Texas. Growing up in northern Texas, he describes feeling caught in the perennial purgatory of his Korean American identity.
Throughout his youth, his older sister was a grounding presence; taking notice of his interests and talent for the arts, she encouraged him (and their parents) to chase creative pursuits. He also found a mentor in her friend, a local cell phone store owner, who happened to run a makeshift recording studio. Although he tells us that the rhetoric of affirmation was unfamiliar to him at the time, he recalls how experimenting with rap was an accessible and exciting outlet for expression and validation.
At 19, feeling tethered to a stagnant Texas life, G2’s father bought him to join his mother and sister in Korea, and what began as an escape quickly snowballed into a burgeoning music career; a stint making margaritas at a Mexican restaurant led to a weekly radio segment, a mixtape, and an eventual appearance on the hit rap competition Show Me the Money, as well as Tribe of Hip Hop. While mainstream success provided fleeting validation, the underlying search for identity persisted. After seven years in Korea, seeking to avoid complacency and prompted by the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, he returned to the United States to reconnect with his family and friends.
Today, as an artist navigating the all-too-familiar ebbs and flows of imposter syndrome, G2 reflects on his journey with a renewed appreciation for his younger, untainted ambition, finding his meditation and anchor in the enduring support of his community as he continues his path in music.
