MBLAQ Primer

What it is:  A K-Pop all-boy band 

How did they come about?: K-Pop Artist Rain (Bi or 비 in S. Korea) left JYP Entertainment in 2007 and established his own company, J. Tune Entertainment.  Its subsidiary company, J. Tune Camp, formed a boy group whose training was actively managed by Rain.

Where :

• Country of origin: South Korea
• Management company: J. Tune Camp
• When J. Tune Entertainment became part of JYP Entertainment (JYPE) in 2010, J. Tune Camp remained a separate entity.  MBLAQ is therefore not part of JYPE, although Rain maintains a producer/mentor relationship with MBLAQ.  
• Although Rain was the company's CEO when MBLAQ debuted, J. Tune Camp's current CEO is NOT Rain, but Jo Dong-Won, who had been with Rain since his start in JYPE.
• Website: http://www.m-blaq.com/ 
• Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/jtunecamp 
• GOM TV Channel: 277

When did they debut?: October 9, 2009.  They were the opening act in Rain's Asia Tour: Legend of Rainism..

Why MBLAQ?:

• It stands for Music Boys Live in Absolute Quality.  
• Seung-ho: Music Boys Live in Absolute Quality mean they are musicians who pursue absolute quality (Arirang TV: Pops in Seoul interview, Nov. 2009); boys who make music with absolute quality (Arirang TV: Showbiz Extra, Nov. 2009).
• Seungho: MBLAQ initially meant "Music Black" because their music is based on African-American music (Arirang TV: Showbiz Extra Nov. 2009; Star Interview 2009).  The spelling used to be M-Black but they changed it, and its the meaning, when they debuted because the word black conjured dark things.They replaced "ck" with "q" and looked for words with positive meanings to fit each initial (Star Interview 2009).

Who are in it?:

Seungho   Leader, Vocalist Born: October 16, 1987 More on Seungho	G.O.   Main vocalist Born: November 6, 1987 More on G.O.
Lee Joon Vocalist, Main dancer Born: February 7, 1988 More on Joon	Cheondung Rapper, Dancer Born: October 7, 1990 More on Cheondung
Mir Main rapper, Maknae Born: March 10, 1991 More on Mir	~*~

Almost made it:

Kim Sang Bae

• Actually appeared in the September 2009 Nylon magazine issue as part of MBLAQ.
• Supposed to be one of MBLAQ's 2 rappers. His vocals are part of MBLAQ's debut album.   
• Left J. Tune Camp 15 days before MBLAQ was scheduled to debut because of health reasons.
• Should have been the group's maknae (youngest)
• Born: April 29, 1991

What do MBLAQ fans call themselves?: A+

• All current five members of the group have Blood Type A (Art of Seduction, Ep. 1)
• More on the fandom

On Their Image:

• Labeled a chic-dol group because of their charisma on stage (Arirang TV: Showbiz Extra Dec. 2009); quickly transforms to gag-dol offstage (Star Interview 2009; OBS interview 2009)
• Consider themselves as honest, without fabrication (ETN Interview 2009)
• G.O.: MBLAQ has a "dual personality", i.e. they are chic and masculine on stage (when performing their songs), but show their true personalities off stage (Arirang TV: Pops in Seoul Dec. 2009); They are extremely normal offstage (Arirang TV: Showbiz Extra Dec. 2009). 
• Seungho: they immediately return to their regular/normal selves offstage (ETN Interview 2009)
• Joon: they reveal their "human side" during interviews (ETN Interview 2009)
• They want to be known as MBLAQ, the friendly group: professionals on stage but can step down and always be close to their fans (Pops In Seoul Dec. 2009)
• Labeled neighborhood babos (village idiots) by Jung Joo-Ri (Idol Army V Ep. 1)

Trivia:

• The five members are referred to as Blaquies.
• Their greeting/introduction during their early years was "Hello, we're MBLAQ. Please look on us prettily" which means "Hello, we're MBLAQ. Please look on us kindly".  According to Seungho, their debut image already looked tough so they need an introduction that would make them loved/look pretty/look bright (Star Interview 2009) 
• On having girlfriends: If they are serious enough to even think of marrying the girl, Rain would help them himself, otherwise don't even start (OBS Interview 2009).
• Rate their closeness to each other 10/10; as of Dec. 2009 they have never gotten into a fight before, and think the reason they get along well is that they're all blood type A (Pops In Seoul Dec. 2009)
• Rain rates their debut performance a disappointing 5/10; he thought they looked as if someone forced them onto the stage (AoS, Ep. 1).  According to Mir, Rain said they were the worst; the Blaquies admitted they were nervous (Arirang TV: Pops In Seoul Dec. 2009).
• They consider Rain more as an older brother than a boss; all of them consider Rain as their role model (Pops In Seoul Dec. 2009; Showbiz Extra Dec 2009)
• They like to perform in charity concerts and similar meaningful events when their schedule permits (Arirang TV Gift Concert w/ Unicef Dec 2009).
• They resolve things through "rock, paper, scissors" (AoS, Ep. 2)
• They think one should be wordless when eating (Joon in AoS Ep. 4; Celebrity goes to school).
• Like to nag/annoy/harass their stylist (AoS Ep. 4; Backstage @ Hanyeong's 2009Rock U Show)
• In 2009 Seungho, Joon and Mir shared the same room, sleeping on bunk beds. Seungho at the top bunk with Joon at the bottom bunk (OBS Interview 2009), Mir was in another bed.
• In 2009 G.O. and Cheondung shared one room with bunk beds: G.O. at the top bunk, Cheondung at the bottom bunk (Star Interview 2009).
• They practiced their "Oh Yeah" dance moves for 14hrs a day (Arirang TV: Showbiz Extra, Nov. 2009; OBS Interview 2009).
• Had a "vampire concept" when they debuted in 2009 to show off their "manly charm".  They did not use autotune in their debut album - G.O. (Arirang TV: Showbiz Extra, Nov. 2009).
• DJ Isak found them funny and quirky during their interview (Arirang TV: Pops in Seoul Dec. 2009).

On other K-Pop Groups:

• Think Beast is pretty similar to MBLAQ, would rather Beast and MBLAQ grow together instead of being rivals; consider Beast as good competition but they won't try to step on each other (Pops in Seoul Dec. 2009)

Note:  This page is a work in progress