I was born in Myanmar and raised by my grandmother in Chiang Mai. My Burmese name means brightness. My dad was Burmese but we didn’t spend much time together. He used to be a doctor and a missionary who traveled a lot.

I was sent to the US when I was 14 because of my bad behavior. I skipped school and went out with seniors who did drugs. I did drugs too, but I wasn’t addicted. I just loved going out instead of school.

My grandmother tried to take me go to church where I learned to play guitar and piano. I didn’t believe there was a God back then. But now, I’m totally a Christian. I read the Bible and talk to God. He’s my father. He always answers my prayers.

I lived with my sister in San Francisco. My mom didn’t send me money so I had to work to study. All the pressures, from family, living expenses and racism at school, made me decided that I had to be a better person and save money.

I met Khan [Thaitanium’s Khan-ngern Nuenual] in high school. We became close because there were only three Thai students at the school. We all loved hip-hop so we made music together and occasionally DJ’ed at parties.

I dropped out because I wanted to make money. I moved to New Jersey and worked at a casino for two years. My mom cried and asked me to continue my education so I carried on studying until I got a certificate in business.

I moved to stay with Khan in New York and we did our first studio album, AA, to distribute in both New York and Thailand in 2000. It got a good response in Thailand so we decided to release our first album as Thaitanium, Thai Riders, in 2002.

I’ve grown up a lot in the ten years since that first album, both in life and in my thoughts. Our songs are like diaries where we collect life experiences.
One thing that we’ve never changed is our identity. We are what we are and believe in what we do. If there is a song that we don’t like, we won’t release it.

I like cooking. If I weren’t a rapper, I would open a 24-hour restaurant where everyone can eat all-day breakfast. I used to work as a sous-chef at a French restaurant in San Francisco. The head chef taught me how to cook every dish on the menu. I loved it.

I plan to do my own cooking show on You2Play. But they’ll be easy recipes to make at home. Thai food is the most difficult because there are so many ingredients to make it delicious. But it’s also the yummiest food in the world!

I also want to do more movies. It’s good to make yourself become someone else. It’s fun. I’ve loved it since my first film, Elephant White. I want to try the role of a killer.

I just finished acting in another international Film, The Lady, directed by Luc Beson. It’s the story of [Myanmar’s pro-democracy activist] Aung San Suu Kyi. It will be out next month.

I disrupted the script a little bit because I couldn’t speak Burmese. I took Burmese lessons for two weeks but I still couldn’t speak it. So they changed the script to English. I play Suu Kyi’s lawyer.

I think sex and drugs are part of hip-hop culture because it attracts people. But honestly it’s just an image.

The hip-hop scene in Thailand has flopped because there aren’t any new bands. Real hip-hop artists also feel discouraged to produce new work because it doesn’t make much money.

The hip-hop scene in Thailand is more like a fashion, not like in the US or Japan where hip-hop is a way of life. It’s not like you dress rock today and dress hip-hop tomorrow. Have your own style and live with it.

Bangkok is like a wild and sexy woman. Anyone who touches her will be fascinated and not want to go anywhere else. Nice food, nice people, beautiful places and cheap, too. You have so much to do from day till night.

I picture myself in the next ten years as a dad. I’ll have a bar on the beach and still do my music.