In 2012, he and his brother Lee Can Hyuk formed the Akdong Musicians Group to participate in SBS TV station's "K-pop Star 2": Star Selection" singing competition; in 2013, they won the championship and signed a contract with YG Entertainment.

On April 24, 2013, the group sang the OST "I ??Love You" for the TV series "Everything I Love"; on May 13, Akdong Musicians released their first MV "I Love You", with Lee Hyun Woo starring in the MV; 7 On the 16th, the MV for the new advertising song "Ode to Double" by Aktong musician Olleh was released.

On April 7, 2014, the group officially debuted with the release of their first regular album "PLAY", and the album's sound source was released. The title song "200" occupied the first place in the real-time rankings of major music source websites; on April 20, it won the first number one after debut in "Inkigayo"; in early May, the third title song "Give Love" of the album "PLAY" "The MV was released. On the 7th, US Billboard published a news report introducing the MV for Akdong Musician's third hit song "Give Love"; on June 5, the group released the 2014 version of "Bean Cake Smoothie" - "Bean Cake Smoothie Summer Dance"; on June 16, the group sang a cover of BigBang Taeyang's song "Eye, Nose, Mouth"; on October 10, the sound source of the group's single "Time and Fallen Leaves" was released; on November 11, with artists from the same company Li Xiayi formed the limited group Hi suhyun and held their first Korean tour performance "AKMU CAMP" starting from Seoul on November 21.