G-Dragon Flies High as Digital Cover Story of "Complex" Magazine

On September 10, Big Bang member and solo artist G-Dragon posted photographs onto his Instagram account with the following captions: “G-DRAGON Complex mag  http://www.complex.com/covers/g-dragon-interview-september-2013” and “It’s G-Dragon week at complex #gd #gdragon#giyongchy #complex.”  

G-Dragon posed for a photo shoot and an insightful interview that was  featured as the digital cover story for the September issue of the style magazine “Complex.” The articled was titled “G-Dragon: Frequently Flier.”  In a promotion entitled “Coup D’Etat” Week, the style magazine promises a week full of exclusives from the star.  In the interview, G-Dragon touches upon a variety of subjects including how American taste makers view G-Dragon, how he got into rapping and signed to YG Entertainment, his trainee years, and K-pop’s entry into foreign markets.  

Key G-Dragon quotes from the interview: 

“Just to put it real simply, [American taste makers] are taking notice because I’m doing well,” says GD in Korean, smiling. “If I didn’t do well, they wouldn’t even have noticed me or cared. So I don’t put too much meaning behind it.”

“I was a trainee for about seven years. Those were really difficult times,” he says. “I was stressed out a lot. I have a lot of dark and painful memories. But for some reason, those days were the most fun, because we didn’t have anything.”

“When I create a song, I immediately think about what I’m going to wear when I perform that song,” he says. “I think about the music video treatment and about how I’m going to look on stage when I perform the record. The connection is so obvious that it’s a single package. An outfit to me is almost a tool to express the music.”

“Unfortunately, in Korea, I feel like some people are just seeing the dollar signs and sending out artists into the foreign markets who aren’t fully prepared,” he says. “This is my personal opinion, but there are some acts that I’m a little embarrassed to look at. Since the people here don’t know much about Korea, their perceptions about its music will be restricted to those acts.”

Be sure to check out the interview on Complex’s website to read more about G-Dragon’s new album “Coup D’Etat” and to read Diplo, Skrillex, Missy Elliott, and Ben Baller‘s comments on working with the idol.