40 Fun Facts About Zico

Which singer features on 'Spot!', the 2024 Zico single that topped a US Billboard sales chart?

Jennie sings the hook of 'Spot!', released to mark ten years since Zico's solo debut. The Blackpink star first performed it live with him at his Seoul concert that November.

Zico's 2020 single 'Any Song' spread through a viral dance challenge that began on which app?

TikTok hosted the Any Song Challenge, whose clips drew over 100 million views in 10 days. The craze has been credited with restoring the app's popularity in South Korea.

Zico joined South Korea's delegation to a September 2018 summit with Kim Jong Un in which city?

Pyongyang hosted the third inter-Korean summit of 2018, and Zico travelled to North Korea as a cultural representative of the South.

Which singer features on Zico's 2018 single 'SoulMate', years after he rapped on her 'Marshmallow'?

IU sang on 'SoulMate' in July 2018, returning a favour: a teenage Zico had rapped on her early song 'Marshmallow' before Block B existed.

Which label did Zico found in January 2019, weeks after parting ways with Seven Seasons?

KOZ Entertainment launched in January 2019 so Zico could develop other acts alongside his own career. His first full-length solo album arrived on the label that autumn.

Zico debuted with the seven-member boy band Block B in 2011 holding which position in the group?

Leader of Block B from its April 2011 debut on Music Bank, Zico was just 18 and already an underground rapper with a mixtape to his name.

Which company agreed in November 2020 to acquire Zico's label, under two years after he founded it?

Big Hit Entertainment, the company behind BTS, bought Zico's label and renamed itself Hybe months later. The label still works independently while receiving creative support.

Which boy group debuted in May 2023 as the first idol group launched by Zico's own label?

BoyNextDoor debuted in May 2023 with the single album Who!, three months after Zico announced his plan to launch a boy band.

Which singer and actor features on 'Summer Hate', the title track of Zico's 2020 EP Random Box?

Rain joined Zico on 'Summer Hate' in July 2020, weeks before the rapper began his mandatory national service.

Zico co-wrote 'I Luv It', a title track on the 2017 album 4X2=8 by which veteran rapper?

Psy released 'I Luv It' in May 2017 as one of two title tracks from his eighth studio album, with Zico credited as a co-writer.

Zico, the Seoul-born rapper who debuted with Block B in 2011, was born with which name?

Woo Ji-ho took the stage name Zico, and his 2019 album explored the gap between the two: he said feeding 'Zico' had left the human behind the name worn out.

Which first full-length solo album did Zico release in two parts across the autumn of 2019?

Thinking arrived as two EPs in September and November 2019, his first work on his own label. Zico said it showed his vulnerability for the first time in his career.

Zico appears on a track from White Night, the 2017 solo album by which Big Bang singer?

Taeyang recruited Zico for the track 'Tonight', a guest spot announced in August 2017 while the rapper was busy as a producer on Show Me the Money.

Zico rapped on 'Just Follow', a track from which singer's 2011 debut mini-album Bubble Pop!?

Hyuna shared music-show stages with Zico in the summer of 2011, when he promoted 'Just Follow' with her only months after Block B's own debut.

Zico produced the 2018 song 'Kangaroo' for Triple Position, a sub-unit of which boy group?

Wanna One split into units for a 2018 special album, and Zico created 'Kangaroo' for Triple Position on the group's Mnet reality series.

Which singer-producer was Zico's partner on Show Me the Money 6, the season their team won?

Dean was making his first appearance as a producer on the rap contest in 2017, and the pair went on to coach the season's champion.

Which hip hop crew did Zico form in 2016 with members including Penomeco and Millic?

Fanxy Child brought six friends together, and in August 2019 the crew sold out two Seoul concerts timed to the release of its single 'Y'.

Which rapper finished as runner-up on Show Me the Money 4 as a member of Zico and Paloalto's team?

Mino finished second behind Basick, and years earlier he had trained alongside Zico for a place in the Block B line-up.

On which 2020 Mnet survival show did Zico mentor trainees alongside main producer Bang Si-hyuk?

I-Land put 23 trainees through tests judged by Zico and his fellow producers, and seven of them were chosen in the finale to form the boy group Enhypen.

Which R&B singer formed a producer team with Zico on Show Me the Money 12, coaching winner Haon?

Crush and Zico took Haon to the title in 2026, giving Zico a second winning season as a Show Me the Money producer.

Zico's 'Any Song' broke a Gaon record for weeks at number one held by which group's 'Love Scenario'?

iKon held the mark with six straight weeks on top in 2018 until 'Any Song' reached seven, spread across two runs in early 2020.

Which Mamamoo singer danced with Zico and Chungha in the first 'Any Song' challenge videos?

Hwasa and Chungha helped Zico launch the challenge, and stars such as Lee Hyori and Sandara Park soon posted their own versions.

Which rapper won Show Me the Money 6 as the final contestant left on Zico's producing team?

Hangzoo, of the trio Rhythm Power, took the 2017 title on audience votes even though runner-up Nucksal drew more votes from TV viewers.

Which I.O.I singer released 'Flower Way', a song Zico improvised in under an hour on a variety show?

Kim Se-jeong took 'Flower Way' to number two on the Gaon chart; Zico drew its lyrics from letters she and a bandmate had written to their mothers.

Which Mnet Asian Music Awards prize did Zico win in 2016, days after releasing 'Bermuda Triangle'?

Best Male Artist went to Zico at the Hong Kong ceremony in 2016, and he collected the same prize again a year later.

Zico hosted a 2024 season of The Seasons, a late-night music talk show on which broadcaster?

KBS names each run of the programme after its host, and Zico's Artist took its title from his 2017 single 'Artist'.

Which Zico single featuring Babylon topped the Gaon monthly digital chart for November 2015?

Boys and Girls led the monthly chart just before Zico's first solo EP, and its success earned guest singer Babylon the nickname 'Zico's Man'.

Which 2014 track featuring rapper Don Mills was Zico's official debut single as a solo act?

Tough Cookie launched Zico's solo career in November 2014, three years after Block B's debut and four after his first underground mixtape.

Which future Block B member debuted alongside Zico in 2009 as the duo Harmonics?

Park Kyung rapped with Zico in the underground before the pair released the digital single 'The Letter', two years ahead of their group's debut.

Zico joined which veteran musician at the 2014 Mnet Asian Music Awards to play 'Come Back Home'?

Seo Taiji revisited the song he first recorded with his 1990s trio Seo Taiji and Boys, sharing the stage with Zico weeks after the rapper's solo debut.

Which veteran rapper created Zico's group Block B in 2011 on a reported 1.4 million dollar budget?

Cho PD said he was setting out to create Korea's answer to Eminem, and Zico had already rapped on one of his songs before the debut.

Zico and Block B sued which agency in 2013 over unpaid earnings before moving to Seven Seasons?

Stardom Entertainment had not paid the members for nearly a year, they said. A court sided with the agency, but the group still negotiated a move that August.

Which debut single by Zico's group Block B had its video barred from Korean television before 10 pm?

Freeze was judged too sexy for Korean television by a youth protection commission, so the single could not be sold to anyone under 19 either.

Which Japanese singer-songwriter joined Zico on 'Duet', a 2025 single with a video shot in Japan?

Lilas Ikuta, also the voice of the duo Yoasobi, was chosen because Zico wanted a singer who could hit high notes and handle fast, rap-like passages.

Before Block B, Zico rapped in the underground scene as Nacseo, a Korean word meaning what?

Doodle, or scribble, is what Nacseo means, and Zico used the name while rapping in Japan's underground hip hop scene before his Korean debut.

Zico's older brother Taewoon was a member of which K-pop boy group before going solo as a rapper?

Speed lost Taewoon in March 2015 when he announced his departure, and he then competed as a solo rapper on Show Me the Money 4 while Zico was a producer.

Which track did Zico produce for Show Me the Money 4 ahead of 'Moneyflow' and 'Fear'?

Turtle Ship outlived the contest: four years later it was one of the songs trainees were given to perform on Produce X 101.

Which song was the title track of Grown Ass Kid, the EP Zico released in 2022 after national service?

Freak fronted Zico's first EP after almost two years away, arriving in July 2022 alongside the pre-release single 'Seoul Drift'.

Zico produced 'Up All Night' for contestant Yuk Ji-dam on which Mnet competition show in 2015?

Unpretty Rapstar aired the song in its second episode, and its chorus caught on so widely that a Gag Concert comedy sketch borrowed it.

Zico featured on 'Traveler', the seventh track on 4 Walls, a 2015 album by which girl group?

f(x) released 4 Walls in October 2015, and months later the group's Luna returned the favour by singing on Zico's 'It Was Love'.