Jay Park is a Korean American rapper who rose to fame as the leader of the South Korean K-pop boy band, 2PM in 2008. He left the group in 2010 and started working on his music independently. Park released his first independent album, Take a Deeper Look, in 2011 and since then has risen to popularity. Now he has his independent hip hop record labels AOMG and H1ghr. His love for the local beverage inspires the choice of his next business venture.
According to the 32-year K-pop star, he is in the early stages of setting up his own soju company. He is currently working on a marketing strategy as he wants something unconventional from it. He plans to keep it within hip-hop culture instead of hiring famous female models for advertisement. Most soju commercials star female artists like Red Velvet’s Irene, Suzy Bae, and UI. Park wants to break off this mold and work on something different.
While on the ‘Sexy4Eva’ tour in Chicago in November 2019, Park announced that his soju would come out next year. It will be called Won Soju, and the bottle will be clear with a white and light blue design. The naming has a lot of significance in Korean culture. “Won” can signify South Korea’s currency, victory, number one, and even a circle in the Korean language.
Generally, Korean celebrities only engage in advertisement part of any business and tend to not start a business on their own. But, Jay Park is following the footsteps of Western celebrities who have invested in their own liquor business like Jay-Z.
Park also has a song about soju, which has made the drink even more popular in the Western hip-hop world.
Ben Baller, a celebrity jeweler, created four custom diamond soju bottles for Park recently. These miniature bottles were encrusted with over 2000 green diamonds each.
Soju is the popular Korean national drink, and you can get to know more about it here. It is made by distilling alcohol from fermented grains such as wheat or rice. According to Drinks International, Korean Jinro Soju was the world’s best selling liquor in the world. If there is one thing Koreans love more than kimchi, its soju!
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