Student Publications
University of Houston
151C Communications Bldg
Houston, TX 77204-4015
713.743.5350

©1991-2007
Student Publications,
All rights reserved.

Last modified:

Contact:
ktruitt@uh.edu

Life & Arts

Hip-hop helps Thai culture to keep it real

Beat Box

Zach Lee

Well, those in charge are still looking to hip-hop as a way to control today's youth, but at least now it's getting a little interesting. According to Allhiphop.com, the Ministry of Culture in Bangkok, Thailand, has set Wednesday as the date of the unveiling of hip-hop's newest sub-genre. 

Weerasak Kowsurat, the vice minister for culture, has said the music will be called "Dhamma rap" The idea is to bring Thailand's young people back to the country's traditional roots. It's just a tad ironic that the government is using hip-hop to combat rampant Westernization. 

Sure, McDonald's made it cool for corporations to bust a rhyme in billion-dollar advertising campaigns, but now it's a government on the other side of the world. It could be the next big thing in population control.

In order to explain the majority of Buddhist philosophy to the nation's youth, Thailand's higher-ups will be replacing hip-hop's often violent and misogynistic words with lyrics about love, compassion and the ability to let go of material possessions -- that whole lack-of-material-possessions thing would be a nice counter to rap's obsession with bling. Maybe some young Buddhist cat could come up and do battle with someone like Master P and let the world decide if inner peace or a new Escalade is more important.

Its government support gives Dhamma rap an interesting kind of financial backing. Granted, government money isn't limitless, but it affords a type of artistic freedom that money-hungry record labels can't offer. Brainwashed as I am by the capitalist system, I think the only way for something to survive long-term is if it's profitable, and a government has enough money to weather the low sales that will undoubtedly follow any album that disavows materialism in a very materialistic world. 

Because I'm also a hopelessly liberal college student, I can't help but be optimistic enough to see the possibility -- slim as it may be -- that this kind of music could catch on. After all, if message had anything to do with sales in hip-hop, Chingy wouldn't have a career and Lil Jon would still have a grill made out of aluminum foil. A song that places compassion for humanity over spinning rims would be a radio hit if it had a nice beat and talked a lot of trash.

Hell, throw a couple guest appearances in, and the new thing could be East versus West ... Hemisphere. If Dre and Em can do it for The Game, I'm sure somebody can do it for Buddha.

And who could argue the streets of Thailand aren't tough enough to compete with the streets of Compton? Who could say the poverty of the Third World can't compete with the poverty of the Third Ward? It's not a question of whether or not they're hard; it's mostly been a question of whether or not Buddhist emcees existed. Now they've got the funding to be heard, and the world of hip-hop is listening. 

I'm no expert in Buddhist philosophy, but I don't think a little bragging is against the rules, and that's really all it takes to make a place for yourself in the annals of hip-hop -- if you can do it well, that is. 

It's a whole new world, and even if the Thai government is too controlling of Dhamma rap to let it find its own balance in the world of hip-hop, it will be exciting to see how a demographic as vitally different from American hip-hop fans as young people in Thailand reacts to the music. The government backing is the real x-factor -- it's good because it allows the music to focus on the message, but it's bad because the government decides what that message is. 

So we'll see where this goes. Kowsurat could end up being the next Russell Simmons, the soon-to-be incredibly wealthy mastermind behind the newest hit genre in music. Def Jam Southeast Asia has a nice ring to it, and there is a plethora of traditional Thai music that could be tapped for samples on beats. Who knows, maybe even China could catch on and issue a series of government-sponsored Hip-hop for Socialism albums.

 Send comments to dcshobiz@mail.uh.edu