Jessi Shares How Many Years It Took Her to Succeed

Korean-American hip-hop artist Jessi shared that it took years for her to get to where she is now. 

On May 20 episode of KBS' television show 'The Joy of Having a Talk 3', Jessi made a guest appearance. 
During the talk, Jessi reminisced the time when she came to Korea to enter the music industry all the way from the United States. 

Jessi said, "After I arrived here, I joined a record label called 'Doremi Records'. I managed to make debut as Jessica H.O in December 2005." 

She continued, "The company spent like 800 million won (approximately 700,000 dollars) on me from training, but the outcome wasn't so good; me as well as my music didn't do well."

She went on, "So, I joined this group Uptown, but Uptown didn't do well either. I ended up taking a long rest after that. Then, my company told me that I had to release a song under our contract terms. I didn't want to do it, but I had to."  
Then, Jessi revealed that she went straight back to the States following the release. 

Jessi said, "Back in the States, I uploaded cover songs on YouTube. I got calls from agencies in Korea, and I decided to head back to Korea to give myself another go."

She resumed, "But then I had nowhere to go nor anyone to go to. I slept at those 24-hr saunas. When I was about to give up on everything, the producer of Mnet's 'Unpretty Rapstar' contacted me and I joined the show. Thanks to that, I was able to make it this far." 

Lastly, she commented, "At that time when things weren't going well for me though, I kept having bad thoughts. I seriously didn't want to live anymore. But I thought about my parents every time the thought came into my head. I thought to myself, 'What would happen to them if I disappear?'" 
(Credit= KBS The Joy of Having a Talk 3)

(SBS Star)