Kim Won-sik , better known by his stage name Ravi, is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer, and CEO of record label GROOVL1N. He is a member of the South Korean boy groupVIXX and its sub-unit VIXX LR. He debuted as a solo artist on January 9, 2017, with the release of his debut mini album R.EAL1ZE.
Career
2012–2013: Debut with VIXX and Composing
Ravi was one of ten trainees who were contestants in Mnet's survival reality showMyDOL. He was also one of the six contestants selected to be part of the final line-up of the new boy group VIXX. The group debuted with "Super Hero" on May 24, 2012 on M! Countdown. During MyDOL, Ravi was featured in the music videos for Brian Joo's "Let This Die" and Seo In-guk's "Shake It Up". Ravi participated in writing "Super Hero", VIXX's debut single. In 2013, he appeared in episode 4 of SBS's television dramaThe Heirs alongside his group members.
2014–2015: Collaborations and debut with sub-unit: VIXX LR
In 2014, Ravi collaborated with American artist Chad Future with "Rock the World" from Future's first mini album. Ravi also appeared in the music video for the single. In 2015, after much deliberation, Ravi became a contestant of Mnet's television rap competition series Show Me the Money 4 but was eliminated in the second round. Ravi was featured as a rapper in Rain’s Chinese song "Diamond Love" from the soundtrack of the Chinese dramaDiamond Lover. On August 7, 2015, Jellyfish Entertainment released a video trailer on VIXX's official website after a mysterious countdown with a silhouette of VIXX's last special album Boys' Record. As time went by, members of VIXX disappeared until finally only Leo and Ravi were left behind, which caused fans to speculate that it meant another comeback for all six members. A video trailer of VIXX LR was then revealed. VIXX LR was confirmed by Jellyfish Entertainment to be VIXX's first official sub-unit composed of main rapper Ravi and main vocalist Leo. Their debut mini album, Beautiful Liar, was released on August 17, 2015. On the same day VIXX LR held their first showcase for Beautiful Liar at Yes24 Muv Hall in Seoul′s Mapo-gu. In December 2015, Ravi was featured in the ballad girl group Melody Day's single "When It Rains", as part of their Winter Ballad Project. On December 31, 2015, Ravi dropped a teaser on his Twitter and Instagram accounts for his first mixtape with tracks composed, written and produced by himself.
2016–present: ''R.EBIRTH'', ''DamnRa,'' solo debut with ''R.EAL1ZE, NIRVANA'', ''R.OOK BOOK''
On January 4, 2016, Ravi revealed the first pre-release to his mixtape ', with the track "Where Should I Go" featuring Microdot. The second pre-release "OX" featuring Basick, the winner of Show Me the Money 4, was released on January 20, 2016. The third pre-release "Good Girls" featuring Hanhae and Soulman was released on February 4, 2016. The fourth and final pre-release "Move" was released on February 22, 2016. All the mixtape pre-releases have been released on VIXX's official YouTube channel and on Ravi's official SoundCloud. On March 4, 2016 the track list was revealed on Ravi's Instagram. The full version of ' was released on March 12, 2016 available for free as streaming media also on SoundCloud and YouTube. To celebrate the release of , Ravi held a showcase, titled Ravi's 1st Live Party , on March 19 and March 20, 2016 at the Hyundai Card Understage in Seoul. Rappers Basick, Esbee, and DJ/producer SAM&SP3CK attended the show as featured performers and VIXX members Leo, N, Ken, Hongbin and Hyuk also attended as guests. On July 14, 2016, Ravi participated in Jellyfish Entertainment's new music channel project Jelly Box and released the single "DamnRa" featuring SAM&SP3CK, a DJ/producer duo. "DamnRa" was released along with a performance music video. On September 26, Ravi released a mixtape track titled "Who are U" and featuring Superbee. As of October 2016 with the release of Kratos, Ravi has contributed to the writing and composing of over 46 songs recorded by VIXX. On December 26, 2016, it was announced that Ravi would debut as a solo artist with a mini album titled R.EAL1ZE on January 9, 2017 and will hold a solo concert from January 6 to January 8 at the Yes24 Muv Hall in Seoul's Mapo District. On January 4, 2017, Ravi pre-released a single, "Home Alone" featuring Jung Yong-hwa from his upcoming first mini album R.EAL1ZE. On January 9, 2017 Ravi released his debut mini album R.EAL1ZE, which contains three tracks from his previous mixtape plus four new tracks including the title track “BOMB” featuring San E. He was the producer, and personally in charge of the composition, arrangement and writing the lyrics of every song. On February 7, 2019 Ravi and Chungha confirmed that they will release their collaboration on February 18. On the promised day the new single Live was released on various music streaming websites Later on Feb 22 Ravi's second mini album R.OOK BOOK was announced to be released on March 5 During March Ravi appeared in several music programs performing "Runway" and "Tuxedo". Ravi had his third solo concert REAL-LIVE R.OOK BOOK which took place at the Yes24 Live Hall in Seoul on March 22–24.
Ravi's own label
On June 27, 2019 Ravi revealed via his Twitter and Instagram account the name of his own hip-hop label name GROOVL1N a combination of GROOVE and GOBLIN which means "The cool folk of the orient". The label includes Cold Bay, Chillin Homie and Xydo whom he worked with in the past
