When RM shared story of how his underground rapper name became ‘Runch Randa’ years before he joined BTS

BTS leader Kim Namjoon, known by his stage name RM, is celebrating his 28th birthday (international age, he’s 29 according to Korean culture). RM became a part of BTS in 2010 and debuted with group members Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook in 2013. But did you know that before joining BigHit Music, RM was an underground rapper under the name Runch Randa? The rapper revealed the same in 2020. (Also Read | BTS: Birthday boy Kim Namjoon changed his stage name from Rap Monster to RM for this reason)

Speaking on an episode one of BTS’ collaboration, The MapleStory Originals, Once Upon a Time, RM had said, “MapleStory was a game that influenced me the most. Many of you don’t know this but I changed my name to RM. I’m not Rap Monster anymore, I’m RM. Anyways, my name was Runch Randa before. Now, where did I get the name Runch Randa from?”

He continued, “I was looking to come up with a rapper name back in 2007. And I had a friend back then who taught me about rap, about Garion, Eminem, and Outsider. I shared a MapleStory account with that friend and the character’s name was Runch Randa. I was thinking of a name and just went with that.”

As RM finished his story, Jimin joked that BTS exists because of MapleStory. While the other members came up with their own reason on why RM chose that name, Jin told him, “You must have created that character during lunch.”

Under the name Runch Randa, RM released tracks with other underground rappers. RM met Untouchable’s Sleepy at the audition, who connected him to producer Bang Si-Hyuk and was asked to audition for BigHit Entertainment (now called BigHit Music). RM was the first one to be recruited into the seven-member group and has led BTS ever since. He was launched with the stage name Rap Monster, which he changed to RM in 2017. BTS has released several albums and won many awards worldwide.

On his birthday, the official Twitter account of BTS shared his picture and wrote a note wishing him a ‘happy birthday’. Earlier on Sunday, RM took to Instagram Stories and posted several pictures featuring the rapper and wrote, “(My) friend sent. Thank you.”