Vasco’s Profile
Vasco, or currently active as Bill Stax, is a Korean hip-hop artist who was born on December 18, 1980, with Shin Dong-yeol as his birth name. He is known for being one of the participants who competed in Show Me The Money 3, where he secured his place in the semi-finals only to be defeated by IKON’s Bobby. He is a divorcee and has a son named Shin Seop. He had signed with Swings’ music company, Just Music, and performed under them since March 2014, but recently left the company to establish his label called ATM Seoul. Currently, the artist who is working under his label is Coogie, one of the contestants who participated in Show Me The Money 777. If you want to learn about his label, you can visit ATM Seoul official Instagram account @atmseoul or their official Youtube channel. You can also check out Vasco’s latest activities on his Instagram account @trapdaddybill!
Vasco’s Discography
Here is the full discography of Vasco’s works throughout the years! Apart from releasing albums and mixtapes, Vasco has also released various singles and collaborated with other artists as well. A few of his singles were released while he was participating in Show Me The Money 3, such as “Guerilla’s Way, 187″ (featuring Im Sung-Hyun), and “Unfinished Story” (featuring Kim Na-young). In 2014, he released a single titled “Breathe,” together with Shannon and Giriboy. The next year, he released another single titled “Royal Roader” and collaborated with C Jamm who was also one of the contestants who participated in Show Me The Money 3. He also collaborated with Black Nut, C Jamm, and Genius Nochang in 2016 to release the single titled “Indigo Child.”
Vasco’s Appearance in Show Me The Money 3
Vasco came out in Show Me The Money 3 as one of the many contestants participating in the show. Him taking part in the show was his first appearance after taking a hiatus for a few years, but this didn’t make him any less dangerous for the other contestants. He immediately proved himself as a serious threat to the other contestants by demonstrating his rapping skills from the old days. The other contestants showed much respect for him, and it turned out that some of them were even his fans. Many had very high expectations of his participation in the contest and even made predictions that with his exceptional skills he will be the winner of Show Me The Money 3. Unfortunately, IKON’s Bobby defeated him in the semi-final round and won one hundred million KRW as prize money. During the competition, Vasco was surrounded by controversy. At the time, he had been coming off as a rocker, rather than a rapper, which made other contestants and even the production team feel that it’s not exactly right because Show Me The Money 3 is indeed a hip-hop competition, not a rock competition. In response to this, in one of his interviews in the show, Vasco said that he is a hip-hop artist who has been making hip-hop music for 14 years already. To this, he added that everything that he has done on stage has been and will be hip-hop, even though other people might think otherwise. This remark, of course, brought about various reactions, and many don’t agree with this statement of his. Many even viewed him as arrogant, because he mentioned that he has been doing hip-hop for 14 years. After the controversy sparked, he immediately apologized in another episode of Show Me The Money 3 and continued his journey on the show. Unfortunately, he had to end his journey at the semi-final round after battling with IKON’s Bobby.
Vasco’s Love Life
Coming off as a surprise to all, Vasco married actress Park Hwan-hee who acted as one of the nurses in Descendants of The Sun back in 2011. They even had a son from their marriage named Shin Seop. But, the truth is Park Hwan-hee had been pregnant before their marriage. The family of three lived together for a year and three months until Vasco and Park Hwan-hee divorced in 2012 due to irreconcilable personality conflicts. Currently, he has a girlfriend called Ms. Lee. After his marijuana controversies that had spurred recently, it seems that he lost custody of his son to Park Hwan-hee. Nevertheless, in one of Ms. Lee’s posts on Instagram, she calls out to Park Hwan-hee telling her not to bother Vasco and leave the family alone. From the caption of her post, it seems that she is currently fighting back for the custody of Vasco’s son. Despite the scandals surrounding them, let’s hope that Vasco can be happy together with his new girlfriend!
Vasco’s Drugs Scandal
Vasco was booked for marijuana use together with former contestant of Show Me The Money 3, C Jamm, and six other people including producers and trainees. On May 29, the Drug Investigation Unit of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency stated that the cases of Vasco and the others violating drug laws had been forwarded to the prosecution, while the police continued their investigation of the drugs’ suppliers. While C Jamm was arrested and was held at the Suwon Detention Center, Vasco had been booked by the police. Both of them were charged for using marijuana several times at their homes from May 2015 until the police arrested them, and they had admitted to the charges. In response to the controversy, Vasco’s former label Just Music immediately released a statement with an apology for the displeasing incident. The label stated that the two artists had admitted to their actions and are in the middle of taking responsibilities of their action. They also said that Just Music would show even more thorough care for their artists and apologize for the concerns they caused to everyone who loves Just Music. But after the controversy died down, Vasco left Just Music in June of 2018 to focus on his label and drew the public’s attention to the case. His departure from Just Music also brought sharp reactions from many people, even though Just Music had released a statement that said they had decided to part ways while still supporting each other’s activities.
