Hongjoong (홍중)

Within ATEEZ, Kim Hong-joong — known professionally as Hongjoong — occupies a role that extends well beyond performance. As the group's leader, main rapper, and in-house producer, he has been a central architectural force behind one of the most commercially ascendant acts in contemporary K-pop, a group whose thirteenth mini-album *GOLDEN HOUR: Part.4* debuted on the Billboard 200 and sustained that chart presence for five consecutive weeks while recording 1.54 million first-week sales.

Leader, Producer, and Creative Foundation

Hongjoong holds an unusually broad creative brief within ATEEZ. Signed to KQ Entertainment, he operates simultaneously as a rapper, lyricist, composer, and record producer — a combination that places him among the more hands-on creative figures in a genre where most performers have limited input into their own material. That dual identity, as both the group's on-stage leader and a behind-the-scenes music architect, has been noted in coverage of ATEEZ's expanding individual activities.

Music & Craft

His work sits at the intersection of K-pop and hip-hop, and his production and writing contributions have run alongside ATEEZ's catalogue across multiple release cycles. The group's continued commercial growth — reflected in the *GOLDEN HOUR: Part.4* sales figures — speaks in part to the coherence of a sound that Hongjoong has helped shape from within. Outside the main unit, he is also a member of MATZ, an ATEEZ sub-unit in which he serves as rapper and maknae.

Activities Beyond Music

As ATEEZ has broadened its footprint across industries, Hongjoong has been identified specifically as the group's music-focused individual, described in coverage as the "music architect" of the act's expanding creative enterprise — a role that complements bandmates working in acting and fashion. He is also credited with an interest in fashion design, adding another dimension to a profile that resists reduction to any single job title.