Way Thaitanium Arrogant? Sure. But the 27-year-old is the hottest local emblem of today’s most popular musical style, hip hop. Now, he plans take on the world with his Money Exchange Movement.

I come from where hip hop was born. I can go to Brooklyn, New York, do a show there and have the rappers there respect what I do.

I can’t even tell you when I fell in love with hip hop. It just happened. It wasn’t, “Oh, I want to wear baggy pants. I want to wear my hat to the side.” It’s more than just dressing up. It’s more than just fashion. It’s something you become.

M.E.M. [the Money Exchange Movement] is not a gimmick. We [Way, Big Calo and Dandee] didn’t get together just to make one single and get the crowds in clubs. We started it for everybody who understands English, to show them what Thailand has to offer when it comes to hip hop.

Hip hop is universal. It doesn’t matter what language you speak, you can make money making hip hop anywhere in the world.

Thai hip hop artists have a lot of homework to do. A lot of the kids try to copy what they see on TV, which is cool because they are still young and everybody needs someone to look up to. But if it’s not what you do in real life, don’t talk about it.

We are not all about gangsta rap. We aren’t about killing, shooting and selling drugs. We just want to have fun with our music. Whatever we feel; wherever the music takes us, we just go.

People go to clubs in RCA to listen to the same music every day. If the song is not on the Top 40, they don’t listen to it and the clubs don’t play it. And let me say that Beyonce is not hip hop. She is a very talented artist, but how can you listen to Beyonce every day?

Hip hop is about individuality, about being somebody that isn’t the norm. You can follow someone’s footsteps, but you have to make something of your own.

The amount of hip hop that Thailand produces is like the dead skin on your body. Scratch, and whatever comes off, that’s Thailand’s hip hop. There are very few people who know hip hop, who have it in their blood, veins and bones.

Thaitanium couldn’t make the music that we make if we were just about fashion. We breathe, eat and shit hip hop. Khan and Day, ever since the early 90s, they’ve been part of the Zulu Nation. Do Thai people know what the Zulu Nation is? Khan was with DJ Qbert even before he became DJ Qbert.

Nothing comes easy. Everything that we have, we worked hard for it. Walk a mile in my shoes, won’t you?

I’ve gotten better and better with every day I’ve spent performing for the past six years. The joy of creating music is being able to perform it in front of other people and having them sing along to the songs. It’s the best reward. It’s magic.

We just do our music and stay true to ourselves. And that’s all we are happy with. We don’t care whether people like it or not.

You don’t like what we do? Then don’t listen. Go make your own music.

I love what I do and I get paid for it. I’ve got a company in America, a company in Thailand. I bought myself a house and a brand new car. I can afford to take care of my family and I don’t have to work from 9 to 5 to do that.

We are content with what we have accomplished, but we’ve got a bigger dream. We just completed the Tom Yum Samurai album, in which M.E.M collaborated with Japanese artists. Thaitanium Entertainment is now officially taking on America.

I want to grow as an artist and continue nurturing up-and-coming artists in Thailand.

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