YOSHI
the quiet-looking rapper whose tone arrives with a serrated edge. This page keeps the official facts separate from fandom shorthand and updates leadership to the 2026 NEW WAV era.
Profile
- Stage name
- YOSHI
- Born
- May 15, 2000
- Nationality
- Japanese · Kobe
- Group
- TREASURE
- Role
- Rapper, songwriter and producer
- Debut
- August 7, 2020
- Agency
- YG Entertainment
- Current era
- NEW WAV (2026)
Early life and training
YOSHI, born Kanemoto Yoshinori, entered YG from Japan and competed on YG Treasure Box. His Japanese-Korean cultural background and bilingual career are often flattened into one nationality line; the more useful story is how deliberately he built a Korean rap identity inside a multinational group.
The common mistake is to compress every TREASURE member into “survival-show trainee.” The show was the public gate, not the entire education. Training length, starting skill and the reason each member stayed visible were different. For YOSHI, the useful thread is continuity: the qualities visible before debut are still present, but they now carry the weight of six years onstage.
Career
Pre-debut · earning the lineup
YG Treasure Box asked trainees to compete across vocals, rap, dance and audience response. The final plan changed repeatedly—from separate TREASURE and MAGNUM units, to TREASURE 13, to one twelve-member group—but YOSHI remained part of the project that finally debuted.
2020–2021 · The First Step
TREASURE debuted with “BOY” on August 7, 2020 and released the First Step series at unusually fast speed. These stages established YOSHI’s base identity before the group had enough songs to specialize.
2022–2023 · ten-member reboot
After MASHIHO and BANG YE DAM left in November 2022, the group reorganized as ten. REBOOT and its units gave the remaining members more space, more credits and more responsibility. YOSHI has been central to the group’s self-writing story from the First Step era onward. In 2026 he joined CHOI HYUN SUK and HARUTO in the official HYUNHAYO unit for “NALLY-NA,” turning a fandom nickname into a credited unit identity.
2024–2026 · chapter two
Singles, PLEASURE and LOVE PULSE led into NEW WAV, the 2026 all-hip-hop mini album. Read the connected review of “IF I” for the current ten-member sound, formation work and rollout tea.
Skills and stage identity
His delivery is dry, precise and less explosive than HYUN SUK’s. That contrast gives TREASURE’s rapper line shape. He writes frequently and understands when a verse needs texture rather than extra volume.
What to listen for
Find the moment the arrangement gives YOSHI room rather than counting lines. In a ten-member song, impact matters more than raw seconds. Tone, timing and what happens immediately after the part tell you why it was placed there.
What to watch
Watch transitions and reaction shots, not only center time. TREASURE’s large formations depend on members remaining active when the camera is technically pointed elsewhere. YOSHI’s value often becomes clearest in that connective work.
Era map
| Era | Why it matters here |
|---|---|
| The First Step | Debut identity and the original twelve-member scale. |
| “JIKJIN” / “DARARI” | The split between YG-force performance and TREASURE’s softer viral side. |
| REBOOT | Ten-member redefinition, larger individual roles and unit work. |
| PLEASURE / LOVE PULSE | Fan-facing warmth, self-production and the road into chapter two. |
| NEW WAV | All-hip-hop framing, current leadership and the English title track “IF I”. |
Fandom file
He often looks calm until the verse starts. Fans clock the visual softness, the drawing and design interest, and the sudden change in his eyes when a performance needs bite.
The RaeRae take
YOSHI matters because the quiet-looking rapper whose tone arrives with a serrated edge. The page is not here to hand out a bias rating or reduce a person to three trivia bullets. The point is to show what changes when this member enters the song, the formation or the room.
The next step is evidence: every new TREASURE MV review will link back here with the exact vocal, rap, dance, writing or performance moment that belongs to YOSHI. Profiles should get deeper as the review library grows, not sit untouched after publication.
Official links
TREASURE does not list a separate verified public YouTube, Instagram and X account for every member on its official YG profile. These are the verified channels that officially publish YOSHI’s work; fan accounts are intentionally excluded.