How did Southside start?
Twopee: Our passion for hip hop started around ten years ago in Phuket. It’s such a small circle in Phuket that has these common interests, like skateboarding, wakeboarding and other extreme sports. We share a lifestyle and music. Then we decided to make our music and try and sell it at Fat Festival.

What brings you to work with Thaitanium?
Freddy: Many years ago Thaitanium was having a concert in Phuket and we had the chance to open for them. That’s the first time we met Thaitanium and we sent them our demo. And from then on, we made a new mixtape and launched it at Fat Festival every year. I think that’s when Thaitanium realized that we’re serious about music and are working all the time, not just waiting around to sign a big contract. Then, Khan from Thaitanium contacted us and offered us an opportunity to work on their record. It really changed our lives. Twopee was planning to go study in the US, but he canceled everything and flew to Bangkok. It’s been five years.

Tell us a bit on what inspired your debut album, “Welcome to the South”.
Twopee: We use a lot of Southern dialect because that’s where we come from and it represents us. We even used a sample from the old Southern song “Pak Tai Ban Rao” as the hook of our first single. As for inspiration, most of mine comes from Thaitanium. I’ve been a fan since I was very young.
Freddy: I do agree with Twopee about Thaitanium. They’ve been influential to hip hop in Thailand. But when we do our music, we just be ourselves. Many people criticize us and say we’re following foreign trends. But actually, everything can be from abroad, but we do it our own way.

What took you so long to launch your first album?
Freddy: We were really young at that time. Everyone in Thaitanium composes their songs by themselves and they do it well because they have a lot of experience. We were not ready at that point, so we preferred to collect more experience. And now that our first album is coming out on Oct 28, I’d say it was worth the wait.

Wouldn’t you say that hip hop in Thailand is at an all-time low, though?
Twopee: Yeah, that’s true, but for me, a downturn is good. Ten years ago, there was a hip hop boom here, with hip hop on television and commercial spots. It’s like when we do our song, we know that the fans is the real fan. They listen to us because of the song. Now that hip hop has fallen out of the main stream, the fans left are the real ones who really understand the music. So, I think that’s even better.
Freddy: Life style and fashion are totally different. Life style is the real you while fashion can change over time. Music in Thailand is more like fashion; if in the future Thai people start to focus on their life style more than what’s trendy, they’ll have a stronger sense of identity. If Angelina Jolie didn’t have the sak ha teaw [Thai sacred tattoo], people wouldn’t have known about it at all.

What else are you up to?
Twopee: Basically, we are still in school. Freddy goes to Thammasat and I’m at BUIC. Apart from doing the album, we organize the A.K.A party at Demo and some MCing for DJ Buddha from the Bangkok Invaders.

Who else you want to work with?
Twopee: I want to work with Burin Boonwisut from Groove Rider. I’ve listened to his songs since I was a kid, and Burin does very cool disco. So if we get the chance, it would be cool to do some mix between hip hop and disco.
Freddy: I’d like to work with Singha-To Numchoke as he’s from Phuket and he does beach music. It would be fun to collaborate with him. Vasachol Quadri