ARTIST AND FORMER MEMBER PROFILE

Mark Lee Profile: Solo Career, NCT History, Songs and Facts

Status: Active solo artist · Years active: solo 2022–present; NCT 2016–April 8, 2026 · Former units: NCT 127, NCT DREAM, NCT U

Mark Lee spent a decade being the human connective tissue of NCT, then left the project in April 2026 with a solo catalog sturdy enough to stand without the initials. He is a rapper, singer, songwriter and performer whose career runs from NCT’s earliest releases through the autobiographical architecture of The Firstfruit. Yes, he was in an unreasonable number of schedules. No, “busy” is not a musical genre. The interesting part is how he turned all that motion into writing material.

Profile
Early life and training
NCT career
Solo career
Music and songwriting
Discography
Reacts, rants and tea
Official Socials
YouTube video tracking history
Sources

Profile

Stage name	MARK (마크)
Birth name	Mark Lee
Korean name	Lee Min-hyung (이민형)
Born	August 2, 1999
Birthplace	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Career	Rapper, singer, songwriter and performer
Solo debut	“Child,” February 4, 2022
First studio album	The Firstfruit, April 7, 2025
Former groups and units	NCT 127, NCT DREAM, NCT U, NCT, SuperM

Early life and training

Mark was born in Toronto and grew up across Canada and the United States before joining SM Entertainment through a global audition. That geography later became more than a biography line. Toronto, New York, Vancouver and Seoul became the four-city structure of The Firstfruit, with each location representing a different stage of his life and identity.

He entered SM’s pre-debut system through SM Rookies and developed as an English-Korean bilingual rapper in a company better known historically for vocal groups. His delivery became identifiable early: clipped consonants, elastic rhythm, a nasal edge used as percussion, and the ability to sound conversational while sitting on production that is doing far too much.

NCT career: the member who connected the units

Mark debuted in NCT U in April 2016, NCT 127 that July and NCT DREAM in August. He became one of the clearest examples of the NCT Umbrella Project working as designed. The same performer could anchor a fixed Seoul unit, participate in a youth-focused unit, and rotate through song-specific NCT U lineups.

With NCT 127, he moved from “Fire Truck” and “Cherry Bomb” through “Regular,” “Kick It,” “Sticker,” “2 Baddies,” “Fact Check” and WALK. With DREAM, he lived through the original graduation concept, graduated at the end of 2018, then returned after SM abolished that system and restored the seven-member configuration. The emotional power of 7DREAM came partly from the fact that fans had watched the lineup be broken by design and then repaired.

On April 8, 2026, SM Entertainment announced that Mark’s exclusive contract had concluded and that he would end all activities as a member of NCT, including NCT 127 and NCT DREAM. That is why this page uses former-member history rather than placing him in either current-member carousel. His decade of work remains part of both group stories.

Solo career: from NCT LAB to The Firstfruit

Child and Golden Hour

“Child” opened Mark’s independent catalog in 2022 through NCT LAB. Instead of using the moment for a predictable victory speech, he wrote about pressure, expectation and the instability of growing up while being watched. “Golden Hour” followed in 2023 with humor, flexing and the infamous cooking-story callback, proving his solo voice did not have to stay permanently tortured to count as honest.

200 and the album runway

“200” arrived in 2024 as a rock-leaning pre-release and widened the palette. By then the catalog was starting to look less like isolated project singles and more like a deliberate route toward an album. “Fraktsiya,” featuring Lee Youngji, and “+82 Pressin’,” featuring Haechan, brought different kinds of chemistry: one built as a technical rap collision, the other using Seoul’s country code as a frame for hometown energy.

The Firstfruit

Released April 7, 2025, The Firstfruit is a full autobiographical album organized around Toronto, New York, Vancouver and Seoul. The title treats the record as the first real harvest of Mark’s life and work, not the beginning of his ability. He had already spent years writing and recording. The album’s point is that those scattered experiences finally became one authored object.

“1999” centers his birth year without turning the song into a museum display. The album moves between hip-hop, pop, R&B and rock textures while keeping the writing focused on place, ambition, family, fatigue, faith in the work and the problem of defining a self after years inside multiple teams.

Music, rap and songwriting

Mark’s most recognizable strength is rhythmic instinct. He can push ahead of a beat, drag behind it, or make an English phrase and a Korean phrase feel like parts of one percussion pattern. His writing is strongest when specificity replaces generic ambition: cities, meals, schedules, childhood pressure, private doubt and the weird comedy of being Mark Lee in public.

He is not only a rapper who eventually received solo songs. His principal-credit releases, full studio album and recurring writing involvement establish an independent artist career. That distinction matters on CVM Sekai because group-album solos, covers and features alone do not earn an Artist card.

Selected solo discography

“Child” (2022)
“Golden Hour” (2023)
“200” (2024)
“Fraktsiya” featuring Lee Youngji (2024)
“+82 Pressin’” featuring Haechan (2025)
The Firstfruit (2025 studio album)
“1999” (2025)

Reacts, rants and tea

Mark’s eligible NCT 127 and NCT DREAM group reactions belong to those group records and to his historical member context when relevant. His solo videos belong here. A dedicated Mark solo reaction should cover the city-by-city storytelling of The Firstfruit, not simply recycle an NCT group review and change the name in the headline.

Official Socials

Because Mark’s SM contract and NCT activities concluded in April 2026, legacy label channels are identified as archives rather than presented as his current management.

YouTube video tracking history

Official principal-credit Mark videos tracked for current and total views:

Sources

Tagged Former Member, Group Member, K-pop, Mark Lee, NCT, Person Profile, Profiles, Solo Artist