Illionaire Records was an independent South Korean record label formed in January 2011 by rappers The Quiett and Dok2. The label also represents rapper Beenzino. Despite its small size, Illionaire Records was considered one of the most influential hip hop record labels in South Korea due to the popularity of its artists. As of 6 July 2020, Illionaire Records announced via their official social media accounts that they are now defunct.
History
Friends and rappers The Quiett and Dok2 formed Illionaire Records on January 1, 2011. They signed rapper Beenzino later that year. The Quiett later said in an interview with Complex that he wanted to start a small label to avoid the traditional k-pop major label system. "On major labels, the money made by the artists is first given to the company to pay the bosses, managers, and staff members. In our case, we’re the bosses," he said. The label has only one employee and none of the three rappers are bound by contracts. The label experienced a surge of popularity in its first few years due to Dok2's many collaborations with Korean-American singer and rapper Jay Park. Illionaire Records toured Korea in the summer of 2012. On November 11, the three artists released the free track "Illionaire Gang" to coincide with their "Illionaire Day Concert." In 2014, the label were the headliners for the "Asian Music Festival Summer Concert" in New York City on May 21. That summer the label also released a compilation album entitled "11:11." Dok2 and The Quiett represented Illionaire Records on the third season of the TV rap competition SMTM, where they were the producers of winning contestant Bobby of IKON. They, being famous only under-ground, became famous to people after they appeared in the Show Me the Money. Showing the genius recording ability, Illionare Records became even more spotlighted. On 6 February 2020, Illionaire Records announced via Instagram, founding member Dok2 and the label mutually agreed to terminate his contract. No official reason was given for the departure. Illionaire records announced on 6 July 2020 that they will close their record label via their official Instagram and Twitter account. They stated they will continue to support their artists in their future endeavours. No other reason was provided for their sudden departure.
Subsidiary Projects
Dok2 and The Quiett, founders of Illionaire Records, had established a new label under Illionaire in September 2016. The subsidiary company was named Ambition Musik; being true to its name. Subsequently, the newly-established record label had announced the arrival of a plethora of new artists, including Kim Hyo-eun, Changmo, Hash Swan, and later, Ash Island, Leellamarz and producer, Way Ched, through the official Ambition Musik Instagram account. New additions to the record label were to be listed under Ambition Musik, and not the initial record label Illionaire.
Prior to the establishment of Illionaire Records, the concept of showing off one’s wealth and social status was not widespread within Korean culture, unlike the prevalence of such issues in the Western music scene. A common misunderstanding amongst individuals was that rappers usually struggled financially, as seen in the first generation of hip-hop artists. However, Dok2 wanted to innovate. To establish his own brand, bringing a new meaning to the Korean hip-hop scene. Illionaire Records further proved the power of Korean rap and hip-hop music; becoming a major staple and leader in modern Korean music, popularizing the genre and spreading it worldwide. Modern rap artists, building on the grounds of this success story, have made themselves a well-known stakeholder in the future of Korean Hip-hop.
Towards the end of the Korean War, Korean people became more acceptable westernized culture. Especially, the biggest change was accepting Hip-hop culture. Since Korea had really conservative beliefs, it was hard to mingle with a culture that expresses freedom and criticizes society, like Hip-hop does. However, as people's thought has been changed, Hip-hop gained a lot of popularity. Dok2 is one of the pioneers of Hip-hop in Korea.
