Why did you decide to get ordained? It seems to contradict your reputation as a rapper.
That’s probably true. Last year, I was thinking to myself in the middle of a party, what do I want to do for my 40th birthday? Should I throw a crazy party? Or should I do something that’s quite unusual and unlike me? From a young age, I’ve been seen as the rebel, with dreadlocks and all, but personally I’ve always believed in Buddhism. I’m not strictly religious, but I don’t even view it as religion—it’s just a way of life. Living the middle path just works and makes sense to me. Initially I was going to get ordained on my birthday, but then I thought, why wait? So I got ordained at a forest temple in Loei in January. We’d wake up surrounded by nature, clean the Buddha image and meditate.
Would you do it again?
I genuinely felt like I could easily live a simple life like that. But the fact is there’s so much that I’ve created, the businesses, that would go to ruin without me running it. I still pray every day. From what I’ve learnt from the forest monks there, we really don’t need to become monks to feel refreshed and fulfilled. If you can follow the five precepts, that’s great. If not, just meditate and pray, and that’s already enough.
You make it sound so simple, when there are so many complex issues with Buddhism in Thailand.
Personally, I don’t want to judge—you practice what you believe in—but I do think that the “extras” are all made up. There are lots of people who make a lot of gains from these special elements, but if you understand the core of the teachings, these other things are completely redundant.
And why did you decide to raise money for your Tumboon Dai Boon campaign through this channel?
This campaign aims to raise money to build proper housing and bathrooms for the monks at Wat Pa Phutta Wanaram temple, located in the forest of Phu Luang district of Loei. The monks there are exposed to extremely cold weather because of the lack of proper shelter despite the fact that the temple is central to the faith of local villagers. I could do it via donations, but funding is difficult as there’s such a small number of locals that live in the area. Then I thought to myself that we already have a crowdfunding platform, and no one has ever tried to use it for this purpose before. Reception has been great. Over 90 percent has been funded and we still have around 10 days to go.
Can crowdfunding in Thailand be successful?
We should never underestimate the power of Thai consumers. We get accustomed to new applications very easily. Take Facebook, for instance, we’re the fifth-highest user in the world, which is why Facebook often tests out new functions with us. Asiola is a great platform to get the word out here. It was never meant to be a money-making business. I will die a happy man knowing that I’m helping out so many people.
What about your projects in the music scene?
I’ve been running Thaitanium Entertainment for over 16 years now, managing groups like Southside and Mindset. But I’m also having a great time working on a brand new project called Bang Bang Bang. People don’t know that I started off as a DJ, not as a rapper. In 1996 I was Thailand DMC Champion and represented our country at the world championships in Italy. I’ve always loved working behind the scenes.
