When Khanngoen “Khan” Nuanual founded Thaitanium with Nay Myo “Day” Thant and Prinya “Way” Intachai back in 2000, the only hip-hop in Thailand was the music of Joey Boy produced with Bakery Music. Along came Thaitanium and the future of hip-hop in the Kingdom changed forever. With hits such as “Hey Girl” and “I Know U Love Me” and collaborations with the likes of John Legend and Snoop Dogg, Thaitanium and its leading man Khanngoen started both a musical genre and movement that would otherwise be absent in Thailand. Preference for the music aside, it is undeniable that the way Thai teenagers dressed and what they sang changed post-Thaitanium. Baggy jeans and backwards baseball caps have since gone mainstream (as hip-hop is essentially the new global pop). Thaitanium packs stadiums in Thailand and has a viciously large following with the Thai diaspora abroad. The rapper’s real “baller” move came with the procurement of shares in the airline Asian Air – after all, every hiphop mogul of our generation has to have an airline. Then there is the restaurant KNOCK and his involvement in Asiaola, the crowd-funding platform founded by Pranitan Pornprapha.
