He released his first extended play, Maiden Voyage, on February 23, 2017,[2] and gained further recognition after finishing as the second runner-up in Show Me the Money Season 777.

[3] Choi Won-jae was born on October 26, 1993 in Yeoui-dong, a neighborhood in the Yeongdeungpo district of Seoul, South Korea.

[4] His mother previously ran an entertainment company, which shut down after it went bankrupt.

To support his mother, Choi began to work from a young age.

He attended an academy to study for the High School Diploma Qualification Exam, a Korean equivalent of the GED, and earned his diploma after passing the test.