Jessi establishes her own company, UNNI, and signs a partnership deal with DOD

On September 20, 2024, MBC Entertainment reported that South Korean rapper and soloist, Jessi, established her company, UNNI, aka UNNI Co. THE BIG SISTER COMPANY. Marking a new chapter in her career, she also inked a management deal with the general entertainment business DOD.

Notably, DOD houses several renowned K-pop groups and artists like BTOB's Seo Eun-kwang and Lee Min-hyuk, aka Huta. It also manages MOMOLAND's Nancy, NMIXX's Jini, Lim Hyun-sik, and Korean-American rapper-songwriter Peniel.

DOD announced their full support for Jessi's independent label and said,

"We will do our best to support Jessi, who has diverse skills and talents, so that she can demonstrate her abilities in various fields as well as music."

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Jessi leaves a heartfelt letter underneath her label announcement

The NUNU NANA rapper also opened the official Instagram account for her company, @callmyunni. She posted a pink image with "UNNI" written in bold white and shared the news with her fans—JEBBIES. In the caption, she explained why she chose the name "Unni" for her company.

"I would like to express my utmost gratitude to my JEBBIES. You’ve been there for me through my highs and lows. It took a while but we are finally here baby! I am excited to announce my new independent label, Unni."

In Korean, "unni" means "older sister," who looks after everyone who is younger than her. She went on to say that an "unni" is someone who teaches others to respect themselves because if you don't, others won't respect you. She said,

"‘Unni’ means an older sister who will always look out for you. She taught you how to do your makeup, put you onto good music, and how to express yourself. But most importantly, she taught you that nobody will respect you if you don’t respect yourself. When I decided to finally start my own company, there was no better name for it."

She ended her caption with a promise to create new music that would be loved by her fans.

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Jessi debuted with her single album Get Up in 2005. She took a break in 2009 and returned in 2014 as part of hip-hop trio Lucky J under YMC Entertainment. Her contract ended with the company in October 2018. Following this, she signed up with Gangnam Style's PSY's company, P NATION, in January 2019. She dropped her single, Who Dat B, under P NATION on September 23, 2019.

The Cold Blooded rapper's contract with P NATION ended in June 2022. She joined K-pop soloist Jay Park's label, More Vision, on April 14, 2023. She terminated her contract with More Vision on January 31, 2024.