Teddy Park (bornPark Hong-jun; September 14, 1978)^{[1][unreliable source?]} is an Americanrapper,songwriter, andrecord producer based in South Korea. He first gained attention as a member of the hip hop group1TYM and gained prominence as a producer forYG Entertainment and his own entertainment companyThe Black Label. Park has received several accolades including aGrammy Award and aGolden Globe Award, in addition to a nomination for anAcademy Award.Forbes magazine describes him as the "K-pop/rap star turned prolific music producer who has helped shape and aidSouth Korean music'sglobal crossover".

Born inSeoul, South Korea, Park moved to theUnited States with his family as a young child. When he was 17 years old, Park and his friendTaebin flew to South Korea during summer vacation to audition forYG Entertainment.^[1] Both were signed immediately, and after finishing high school in the US, moved to Korea to pursue music. In 1998, Park debuted in thehip hop group1TYM with his friend Danny, Jinhwan, and Baekyoung.^{[1][2][unreliable source?][3]} Together, the group recorded five studio albums with Park as their primary songwriter and producer.

After 1TYM went to indefinite hiatus in January 2006, Park became an in-house producer forYG Entertainment and co-foundedThe Black Label in 2016. He has co-produced and co-written songs for YG artists such asJinusean,Seven,Big Bang,2NE1,Lee Hi,Blackpink, andJeon Somi, as well asUhm Jung-hwa andSunmi.^[4][5] As a producer, he has achieved critical and commercial success for severalK-pop acts. For producing thesoundtrack of theNetflix animated musical filmKPop Demon Hunters (2025) including single "Golden", he won aGrammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media and aGolden Globe Award for Best Original Song, in addition to a nomination for anAcademy Award for Best Original Song.

Park was born inSeoul, South Korea, but moved toNew York City as a young child.^[1][2] He learned the piano as a child, but as he grew up, he was more interested in playing the guitar and beatboxing.^[1][6] After his father was transferred toDiamond Bar,California, Park attendedDiamond Bar High School and became friends with future bandmateDanny Im.^[2] Growing up, the two sang together at karaoke bars and tinkered with recording equipment.^[7] They were discovered when they were teenagers by a producer who worked withYang Hyun-suk, founder of YG Entertainment.^[1][7] After auditioning for Yang and sending in demo tapes, the two were signed to his newly established label, and moved to South Korea.^[8] Although Park enrolled in a university when he returned to South Korea, he dropped out to focus on his career.^[2]

Park andDanny Im were joined by rappers Jinhwan and Baekyoung and debuted as 1TYM in 1998 with the album,One Time for Your Mind.^[1] It became one of the best-selling albums of the year and won several major awards.^[1][2] After the first album, Park began to have more input into the songs, and had a more prominent role in producing. In 2000, 1TYM released their second album2nd Round. The songs "One Love"^[9] and "쾌지나 칭칭" (Let's Sing and Dance Together),^[10] which he wrote and produced, won first place on TV music programs. This was followed byThird Time Fo' Yo' Mind in 2001. In 2003, 1TYM released their fourth albumOnce N 4 All, which yielded two singles: "Hot 뜨거",^[11] an up-beat hip-hop track with reggae rhythms, and "Without You", an emotional R&B ballad.^[2] The group went on a two-year hiatus in which member Im embarked on a brief solo career under the name of Taebin. The group reunited for the albumOne Way in 2005, their fifth and last studio album, before going on hiatus due to Jinhwan'smandatory military service.^[2][8] Their albums have sold a combined total of 780,000 copies.^[1][8]

Though they were predominately hip hop artists, 1TYM was influenced byreggae andR&B. 1TYM along with the duoJinusean were credited for bringing hip hop music and YG Entertainment to the mainstream.^[2] At 22 years old, Park also began producing for other artists on the label, most of whom were much older and more experienced than him.^[12]

With 1TYM on indefinite hiatus, Park transitioned into the role of producer for otherYG artists, his first major contribution being "La La La" for Seven's albumSevolution.^[13] He also collaborated withBig Bang for several of their songs,^[3] most notably "Sunset Glow."^[4] When BigBang memberTaeyang embarked on a solo career in 2008, Park produced hisextended play,Hot.^[3] The following year, Park produced "Lollipop" for a collaboration between BigBang and2NE1. The song went on to top theGaon Chart during April.^[14]

Park would go on to have a hand in producing a majority of 2NE1's work, including their debutextended play,2NE1^[5] (2009) and studio album,To Anyone (2010). Two of the three main singles, "Can't Nobody" and "Go Away," from the latter were also composed by Park.^[13] To continue producing for 2NE1, Park rejected an offer to work withLady Gaga.^[4] He collaborated with Seven again to produce thepromotional single "Better Together," in addition to other songs for the EPDigital Bounce (2010)^[2] and was featured inG-Dragon's song "The Leaders."^[15] He also had a role in Taeyang's solo albumSolar, including the singles "Where U At" and "Wedding Dress."^[2] At the end of the year, Park also participated in the production ofGD & TOP'salbum, and co-composed both "High High" and "Oh Yeah".^[2]

In 2011, he wrote and produced 2NE1's second EP2NE1, scoring three number-one hits: "Lonely", "I Am the Best", and "Ugly". In the first half of 2013, Park producedLee Hi hit single "Rose," 2NE1's leader CL's solo debut single "The Baddest Female," andKang Seung-yoon's YG debut "Wild & Young." The following year, he wrote and produced 2ne1's second and final studio album,Crush. In 2015, he wrote and producedBig Bang's special project single albumsM,A,D, andE which became major hits. He is credited in shaping the YG Entertainment sound.^[16]

In 2016, Park began working with girl groupBlackpink and produced their first two single albumsSquare One andSquare Two, consisting of number-one hit "Whistle" and top-ten hits "Boombayah", "Playing with Fire", and "Stay".^[17] That same year, he foundedThe Black Label, asubsidiary ofYG Entertainment.^[1] The label initial includedZion.T, Korea's second bestselling artist of 2015 after BigBang. He also signed Korean-Canadian singer and formerI.O.I memberJeon Somi and K-pop girl groupMeovv.

In 2017, Park wrote and produced the hit single "As If It's Your Last" for Blackpink. In 2018, he wrote and produced their debut EP,Square Up, including the number-one single "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" as well as "Forever Young". Park also wrote and produced Blackpink memberJennie's number-one hit song "Solo". Park produced for the first time for a non-YG Entertainment artist with "Just Dance," the theme song for thereality television competitionMix Nine.^[18][19] Participants singing and dancing to the song was released^[20] and three versions of the song were released overall: a male version led by Hyojin ofONF, a female version led by Lee Sujin from Fave Entertainment, and a co-ed version performed by both teams.^[21] He produced two songs for singerSunmi: "Gashina" and "Heroine".

In 2018, there were concerns thatSunmi's "Heroine" has plagiarizedCheryl's debut solo single "Fight for This Love".^[22] Sunmi's agency said that they were investigating the issue.^[23] It later concluded with stating, "We unequivocally reveal that 'Heroine' is 100 percent an original creative work with absolutely no reference to the song that has been named in the controversy."^{[24][unreliable source?]} In 2019, Park wrote and produced Blackpink's second EP,Kill This Love. He also wrote and produced singerJeon Somi's debut single "Birthday".

In 2020, Park played a major role in writing and producing Blackpink's debut studio album,The Album, which consisted of the number-one song "How You Like That" as well as hit singles "Ice Cream" and "Lovesick Girls". In 2021, Park wrote and produced Blackpink membersRosé andLisa's respective debut solo singles "On the Ground" and "Lalisa". He also wrote and produced many of the songs on Jeon Somi's debut studio albumXOXO, which included top-ten single "Dumb Dumb".

Park produced majority of thesoundtrack of theNetflix animated musicalKPop Demon Hunters (2025), which was a major worldwide commercial and critical success, with one of the singles, "Golden", topping theBillboard Global 200 and reaching the top of the charts in many countries, including the United States.^[25] His work onKPop Demon Hunters earned Park numerous accolades, including theGolden Globe Award for Best Original Song, and nominations for theAcademy Award for Best Original Song andGrammy Award for Song of the Year.^[26][27] "Golden" is the first K-pop song to win a Grammy.^[28]

He produced Blackpink's comeback single "Jump" in 2025.^[25]

Park's production style often incorporatescontemporary R&B, especially when working with Taeyang and Seven.^[2] He also featuresreggae in his songs,^[2] acknowledging the genre's influence on 2NE1'sdebut EP.^[29] His work with 2NE1's firstfull-length album and2011 EP contained songs that arepop anddance, in addition to featuringhouse elements.^[30] The song "Lonely" by 2NE1 was praised for itsacoustic sound.^[2] Park also experimented withelectronic music when working with BigBang.^[2]

At the end of 2009, 10Asia named Park as one of the top 10 people of 2009 for his participation in some of the year's biggestk-pop hits.^[31] In 2018,Seoul Sports published a list of "Most Influential Power People of K-pop," which was ranked by music industry executives. Park placed fifth in the category of best producer.^[32] That same year, he andG-Dragon tied for the most earned royalties for lyrics writing and song composition within the field of popular music from the Korean Music Copyright Association.^[33] Park gets paid about US$850,000 a year from the Korean Music Copyright Association.^[34]

After becoming an in-house producer forYG Entertainment in the mid 2000s, Park has shied away from public life; he has refused to appear on air and is known to skip award ceremonies.^[35]

In 2026, Park won aGrammy Award – the first for anyK-pop act – for producing the single "Golden" and did not attend the event.Forbes magazine described him as the "K-pop/rap star turned prolific music producer who has helped shape and aidSouth Korean music's global crossover for over two decades". His fellow producer Jeong Hoon-seo (stage name 24), in his acceptance speech, gave a special shoutout to Park calling him "Pioneer of K-Pop".^[36]

In 2014, he purchased a building inHongdae, Seoul worth US$9 million and opened his own cafe called Twosome Studio in that building.^[1] In 2016, he purchased a US$6 million house inHannam-dong, Seoul fromHyundai Group founder's nephew.^[37]

• 1978 births
• Living people
• 1TYM members
• 21st-century South Korean rappers
• American people of South Korean descent
• Golden Globe Award–winning musicians
• Grammy Award winners
• Melon Music Award winners
• Myongji University alumni
• Rappers from Seoul
• Record producers from California
• South Korean emigrants to the United States
• South Korean hip-hop musicians
• South Korean hip-hop record producers
• South Korean hip-hop singers
• South Korean male rappers
• West Coast hip-hop musicians
• YG Entertainment artists

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