The origin of Thai hip hop can be traced back to Thailand in the mid-1980s. "Moo Kang Thong" (หมูแข้งทอง, Moo's Golden Kick) by Mr. Tang Mo (มิสเตอร์แตงโม, real name Pratchaya Srithanyarat) in 1985 is credited as the first song to feature hip hop music in the
Thai language. However, there were earlier pop records that experimented with rap, such as
Thaneth Warakulnukroh's "Buea Kon Bon" (เบื่อคนบ่น), and
Rewat Buddhinan's "Mun Plak Dee Na" (มันแปลกดีนะ). The Thai hip hop scene began in the early 1990s, with artists like
Jetrin Wattanasin and
Touch Na Takuatung. While they were more representative of Thai pop, the earliest Thai hip hop group, TKO (Technical Knock Out), was signed to KITA Records. Their first album,
Original Thai Rap, released in 1993 and produced by Kamol Sukosol Clapp (later one of the founders of Bakery Music), was commercially unsuccessful but helped introduce Thai hip hop, heavily influenced by US hip hop.
Joey Boy's first album for
Bakery Music in the same name, had hip hop influences from
R&B and
reggae and became a hit on Thai radio stations during the mid-1990s. For this distinction, Joey Boy became known as the Godfather of Thai hip hop. One underground hip hop artist,
Dajim, became very famous among underground music listeners in the early 2000s. He was signed to
GMM Grammy's
Genie Records division and released his first hit album,
Rap Thai. During the 2000s, rap groups such as Southside, Sing Neua Seua Tai, Buddha Bless, and
Thaitanium became primarily popular among hip hop fans. One prominent Thai rapper and singer is
Illslick, who competed in the S.E.A. Audio Battle in 2006 and initially created mixtape records. Illslick's popularity began to grow after the successful underground single "Jai Rai" (ใจร้าย) featuring Southside, which had a more slow jam and R&B influence. He later became widely known in Thai hip hop and has been cited as an influence on several Thai hip hop artists. Although Illslick's songs in later years leaned more towards a pop and R&B style, he was also synonymous with
diss tracks and violent lyrics, drawing comparisons to
Tupac Shakur. Since crossing over into the mainstream in the 2010s, Thai hip hop has become one of the most popular in the internet and streaming era, with artists such as D Gerrard,
Youngohm, Younggu, PMC, and RachYO. In mid-2021, "Ton" (ทน) a single of duo
Sprite x GUYGEEGEE debut #89 on the
Billboard Global. In September 2021,
Lisa of
Blackpink released her debut single album
Lalisa. The first single, "
Lalisa", and the second single, "
Money" both charted in the top ten of the Billboard Global 200. It was also her first album to achieve this milestone, making her the first female artist to sell 736,000 copies of an album in its first week in South Korea. In October 2021, Thai hip-hop musicians F.HERO and Milli released single "Mirror Mirror," featuring Changbin of the South Korean boy group
Stray Kids. With the social media app
TikTok contributing to the song's international popularity, the music video for "Mirror Mirror" reached 53 million views as of February 2022. Additionally, the female rapper
Milli performed at the
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2022, making her the first Thai solo artist to perform there. ==Politics==