Thaitanium: Gangsta Rap straight outta Phuket, Thailand

"What's Up," by Thaitanium. This is the country that invented Muay Thai boxing, so have no doubt that there are indeed genuine badasses among the citizenry. (thanks, Alex Ringis!)

• [joeyjoeyjoey]

  Lulz at the token

• [Anonymous]

  Here’s some more extremely old school isaan’hip-hop’ from thailand

• [Anonymous]

  forgot link: http://monrakplengthai.blogspot.com/2011/01/prasan-wiangsima-lam-phloen-choi-mak.html

• [dubzee]

  I wasn’t on board until the BubbleGun. After that it was all gravy.

• [Anonymous]

  cool! a vestax vci100 at 1:30 !

• [Anon]

  Here’s some great traditional hip-hopish Thai Molam:

  http://monrakplengthai.blogspot.com/2011/01/prasan-wiangsima-lam-phloen-choi-mak.html

• [Crashproof]

  I am white guy who plays taiko, so the badassery of Asians is a daily fact of life for me.

  Look for “Thai fisherman’s pants” on eBay. About 60% of the listings say they’re good for yoga, maternity, days at the spa, etc. and about 60% of them show a dude in a kickboxing stance ready to snap somebody’s femur. (I’m not sure any of them mention fishing per se.) If you’re going to cram Asian culture into a nutshell there are worse ways than that.

• [Anonymous]

  These guys are faking their Thai – must be U.S. born kids sent back home to make some bucks rapping.

• [Anonymous]

  I don’t speak Thai, but they look like they’re just having fun. Being a bit abrasive is just part of growing up, so if their music irks you, then you know they’re doing it right. Their sound is quite modern, too. Score another point for the internet.

  As an ATL boy, I do hope they don’t romanticize the sort of thuggish culture found in parts of my city (and other big US cities). It’s one thing to revel in the music and other cultural symbols, but it’s another thing entirely to dismiss your own self-worth to the point of BEING a common thug.

  /old man mode off

• [Anonymous]

  A Chattanooga Lookouts hat in Thailand! Incredible!

• [Anonymous]

  Dear Thailand,

  We are sincerely sorry. Truly and deeply. We are sure that you have a fantastically rich and wonderful history and culture that will unfortunately be consumed by this unfortunate export of ours.

  Again, we apologize from the deepest part of our bastard culture-less hearts.

  -The USA

  • [Mister44]

    re: “Again, we apologize from the deepest part of our bastard culture-less hearts.”

    Sooo – hip-hop isn’t a culture? Or is it just not one we should export.

    Hip-hop and rap are just one aspect of our culture that has been exported world wide. Different areas now have their own style and unique emulation of the original. Personally I really enjoy stuff from the UK, like the Stereo MCs. (And don’t forget the BB darlings, Die Antwoord)

    While I don’t prefer most of the current artists, as a genre hip-hop and rap has a lot to offer culture wise.

  • [osmo]

    Are you serious? Why do Americans keep thinking that the rest of the world is filled with folk music, old-worldsy-ways and “hearty traditional meals”?
    Rap-music isn’t something “new” in the world outside of the US either. You could get Run DMC tapes (copied a thousand generations sure) in Adis Abedda in the 80′s.

    Your what Germany was once, what England was once, what France, Spain, Italy and others was once. A cultural epicentre – it lasts for awhile and then it dissipates. Its the way shit work. With a world interconnected things spread out faster and to a larger part of the planet. We snatch up thai food and kickboxing and they take away rap music, IMF and hamburgers.

    And considering the crime statistics in South East asia and the huge amount of gang members I dont think you have to worry about the thug culture…

    ALSO please please please US: your culture may travel, like every culture but since the reasons behind it isn’t universal some things differ. Many parts of the world doesn’t have the same form of racism as you do so it may not be about Black/White but instead concrning certain ethnicites or dialects or nationalities or skin colours so specific you wouldn’t know which was which… thus rap from other places may look wierd to you.

    Case in Point:
    Swedish Rap, Labyrint song: “trakterna” – switched into an immigrant-subculture http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLKM_jWsOXM
    French Rap, La Brigade song: “Change”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Cm_rTrp14
    Iranian rap: Jonoube Sorkh http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr-2H1mcey0 (you think your shits gangsta btw? Think about getting shot for even doing music)

    My point is, its nothing new. Rap musics great benefit is that it was in itself something rebellious and rewarded story telling instead of pure posturing. Texts and tales where of greater importance than guitar solos and the entry level knowledge is not as difficult to gain in comparison with metal or other genres.

• [Anonymous]

  I can report that hiphop and bboy culture looks like it is currently huge in asia. Recently went out to a club in Taipei and the entire evening was dedicated to a bboy dance competition, and they were good.

• [Anonymous]

  for much better (or at least, more interesting to me) thai rap check out buddha bless or joey boy

• [DoctressJulia]

  Joey Boy! Got his first album (on cassette!) years ago… I like him! You may also!

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzryayM-72w

• [Anonymous]

  @Anon

  P.S. Please reject globalization so we can rarefy you.

• [Anonymous]

  Sounds like a song about some fish : http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nieriä

• [penguinchris]

  There are plenty of badasses in Thailand, but pretending to be something you’re not is popular among the youth too. I mean, unusually so – obviously youths are like that everywhere, but trying to be something you’re not takes on a peculiar form in Thailand (as evidenced by this video and the backstory from another commenter that notes that they’re well-off and so on).

  There is a lot of legitimately good music, too, including hip-hop and folk-ish stuff that addresses the (massive) problems of the country. But this stuff is more fun and way more popular (same as everywhere else).

  And I agree with the anonymous commenter who said there’s something off about their Thai. I only understood about 1/4 of what was said but even I could tell there was something weird. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s because they were born in the US or even just spent a lot of time there (like if they went to university there). Of course, there are enormous regional differences in spoken Thai, to the point where in extreme cases someone from Issan or the hill tribes would be largely unintelligible to someone from Bangkok… but Phuket is not much different from Bangkok linguistically :)

  BTW I sincerely doubt these are the guys that came up with the RUN BKK shirts. Those have been around for quite a while, and BKK (airport code for Suvarnabhumi Airport) is widely used as the “badass” or, at least, “hip” way to refer to Bangkok, just as the airport codes for certain cities in the US are used that way.

  Perhaps these are the guys responsible for the BKK stickers on phone booths and such all over Thailand, though?

• [Anonymous]

  The mannerisms, clothing, beats, flow, ect… is copied from main stream hip-hop videos. I really wish they brought some originality to it… There is a lot of great hip-hop world wide, this defiantly is not among it.

  I think Die Antwoord is awesome because they are so different from the mainstream and brought something completely original to hip-hop.

  I highly recommend Ana Tijoux. She’s awesome.

• [Quiche de Resistance]

  Just for a bucket, or a fast ducat, just to stay a live, aiyyo I gotta say PHUKET!

  -Cypress Hill, 1991

  Thai gangstas been on the scene for 20 years!

• [LeSinge]

  Xeni loves her some foreign rap. Thaitanium: AWESOME name.

• [TheWalbert]

  I prefer this weird half-Filipino cat outta NC:
  pluckywalker.bandcamp.com

• [TheWalbert]

  Errr…that should have been: http://pluckywalker.bandcamp.com

• [Anonymous]

  Sweet, Boing Boing illuminates my neck of the woods! Here in Bangkok these guys are quite well known but to see them on Boing Boing cracks me up to no end. I see the guy with dreads somewhere all the time. Quick FYI tho, most if not all come from well to do families as you would have to in Thailand to get such a world savvy education. One was born in NYC and another went to uni I think in SF. So the gangsta street cred is all pose and prose. Nevertheless, they’re pretty talented and from what I hear very cool nice guys. Oh and they opened for 50 Cent when he played in Bangkok last. Hip Hop is huge here, perhaps 2nd only to Thai Pop. I worked on a music video for another Thai-American pop sensation Tata Young who is huge throughout Asia and she sampled one of their tracks which also kinda blew up at one point. Thanks for shining a light on us over here

• [Anonymous]

  It’s funny and all but it would be way more interesting to see a hip hop artist that raps the struggles of their 3rd world country and the trials of its people. That’s the heart of hip hop.

  • [Shai-Hulud]

    angry Malaysian rapper:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hacus1ni2ow

    context: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/dap-wants-johor-principal-slapped-with-criminal-charges/

• [Gyrofrog]

  Pull up your pants past your ass, and shirt-tuck-it/Walk around like a grown man and tell ‘em “Yo Phuket”

• [Anonymous]

  Someone *please* Buffalax this video.

• [MonsterMan]

  Watching this video I’m thinking it must be tough being a gangsta in Thailand. It’s hotter than *insert whatever’s really hot and yet also witty here* there! Much too hot to be walking around (nevermind *dancing*) wearing baseball caps, bandanas, heavy gold chains, cotton tees and jerseys, sneakers, and dark hoodies and jogging suits!

  They *must* be gangsta to do that there.

• [William George]

  They have mic skills, no doubt.

  But the beats… meh. Club drone.

• [Mister44]

  I appreciate their nods to the classics before them (RUN DMC), but I do wish that it sounded less like the hip hop/rap of today.

• [millie fink]

  *sigh*

  I guess a lot of Westerners do doubt that there are badasses among the Thai citizenry. Emasculating stereotypes about Asian men being what they are and all.

  • [Anonymous]

    Badass Asian men: Bruce Lee, Genghis Khan, Miyamoto Mushashi, Manny Pacquiao, Genki Sudo . . .

    • [millie fink]

      Oh there’s no doubt that they actually do abound. Fat lot of good they do, though, toward dispelling that general stereotype. Another contradiction embedded in the Western collective consciousness stands revealed.

      • [Anonymous]

        Ah, Phuket.

• [Anonymous]

  That’s not Thaitanium tho’