The rapper known as Mad Clown was born Jo Dong-rim on March 25, 1985, in the city of Evanston, Illinois. Shortly after his birth, his family moved back to South Korea. During his teenage years, he went back to the United States to study and discovered hip-hop through the music of West Coast rapper 2Pac, one of his earliest influences. Eventually, he dropped out of college in order to pursue a career in music and began performing under the pseudonym Mad Clown. His official debut arrived in 2008 through the singles “Luv Sickness” with Junggigo and “Farewell” featuring DC. In 2011, Mad Clown issued his debut EP Anything Goes, which climbed to Number 55 on the Gaon Albums Chart. After scoring his first Number 1 hit with “Stupid in Love” (2013), a collaborative single with Sistar’s Soyou, Mad Clown signed with the South Korean entertainment giant Starship Entertainment and delivered his second EP Ferocity in 2014. That same year, he served as a mentor on the survival show No.Mercy, which led to the formation of the idol group Monsta X. Mad Clown would go on to release two more EPs under Starship Entertainment—Piece of Mine (2015) and Love Is a Dog From Hell (2017), which went to Number 8 and 26, respectively—before terminating his contract in 2018. 0, his first release for new label Sameside Company, arrived in 2020. Subsequently, Mad Clown continued to collaborate with major players in the K-pop industry, most notably singer Punch on the 2021 single “I Miss You.”
