Taeyang’s first appearance in the entertainment industry was with Maddie in the hip-hop group Jinusean’s music video “A-yo”. The collaboration eventually lead him to successfully auditioning into the group’s record label YG Entertainment, where he became one of the rappers alongside fellow trainee G-Dragon. The two were later coined as GDYB.
Although Taeyang was scheduled to debut alongside G-Dragon as the duo GDYB, the plan was scrapped by their record label. Instead, they were joined by three others to form the group Big Bang. Choosing the stage-name Taeyang, meaning sun, Taeyang abandoned the idea of rapping to focus on singing. Taeyang’s first full-length solo album Solar was released on 7.1.2010, with the main focus being R&B music.