It’s hard to believe hip-hop turns 50 this year: It’s forever fresh, forever new, forever defining the culture around the world. At The Standard, Bangkok Mahanakhon, we rang in the music’s golden anniversary with our friends at The Fav One, (founded by Ballisticone, DJTOB and Heartbreakkidz) and our media partner RAP IS NOW, Thailand’s biggest rap community.
Together, we celebrated four critical pillars of hip-hop culture: DJ turntablism, the MC, graffiti and b-boys and b-girls. The genre may have its roots in the United States, but its global reach has influenced the sound and look of Thai youth culture. Through a night of music, artmaking and conversation, we went all out exploring Hip-Hop Anatomy.
Picture it: Guests arriving and collecting their hand-drawn nametags in custom graffiti calligraphy by the Thai artists AKIE ONES and CHUN ONE. Shortly after, we kicked off a Standard Talks event with Petchy OD.wan and ARTISTRYX, O.G. artists on the national hip-hop scene. Guests sipped and listened to the music veterans discuss the culture in Thailand with multimedia presentations.
From there, the evening really jumped off. We featured a Turntable Showcase by Paranormal DJs WHATDATFROG and ZAMASTA, as well as a B-Boy showcase led by Art Praiwan from the Rama Flow crew. After that, MC’s took the mic representing Def Jam Thailand, YUPP! and Bars Entertainment labels. That set included exclusive performances by IRONBOY (winner of The Rapper Thailand 1), NICENX (from Show Me the Money Thailand) and NAMEMT (from The Rapper Thailand 2). Guests also got to hear up-and-coming MC’s Rhymekhamhaeng, Tattyxl, FIZZIE, AINN, ARCHY and TOBII.
Finally, we capped the night with sets by headliners KH and JROC from AA CREW and THAITANIUM on the turntable. From start to finish it was a full Hip Hop Anatomy lesson, with Thai flavor and a Standard twist.
