thai: my life and rhymes
Picking up where Jin's fifteen minutes endedby albert chen
In his interview with Jizo Entertainment, underground rap artist Thai Minh Ngo talked about the stereotypes that he has to face being an Asian American rapper. Thai said, “They think we can’t rap and that we want to be black, but anyone that has been following me since I first came on to the scene knows I have talent and that I’m my own person, I love music and the whole art form of it. Everything that I rap about is from my heart and nothing like what people assume.”
Asian American artists within the sphere of American hip-hop suffer from memories of Jin, the last Asian American rapper to make it on television and radio. Jin earned his fame by beating many rappers on BET’s popular program, “106 & Park.” He defeated all his rivals and eventually signed a deal with Ruff Ryders in 2002 to produce his first album. Jin’s flow is, to this date, undeniably one of the best anyone has seen on television. However, the songs that actually made it on to his albums were poorly produced and lacked the quality that mainstream hip-hop requires. Jin was hurried into a record deal and forced to throw out quick tracks that lacked depth and replay quality. While his delivery was excellent, his lyricism almost poked fun at Asian rap culture. His single, “Learn Chinese,” made Chinese (and Asian) hip-hop lovers everywhere cringe.
Rapper, songwriter, and producer Thai is here to prove that Asian Americans can create and market legitimate hip hop music. In 2000, Thai released his first EP, titled “Portland Love,” with the hit single “Vietnamese Gang,” which was downloaded internationally. After his first EP “Portland Love”, Thai went to work on his next album, producing and recording all the music in his room. In 2003, he released his first album titled “Together We Rize.” His most recent album “My Life and Rhymes” was released on August 28 of this year.
Thai’s style is best described as West Coast gangster rap, a genre of hip hop known for its promotion of gang life. Asian rappers have seldom ventured into this genre because mainstream hip-hop listeners do not recognize Asians as gangsters, thus delegitimizing Asian gangster rap as “wannabe.” Thai’s history clearly disproves this misconception. Thai was born on September 11, 1983 in Nashville, Tennessee, and he is the middle of three brothers. Thai’s family grew up in San Jose, California, and he was raised by his mother after his father left his family when Thai was seven. His mother worked at a restaurant to provide for the family and these early memories emotionally scarred him, leaving him feeling empty and confused.
Thai’s mother moved the family to Portland, Oregon in 1993 to start a better life. However, things only got worse since his mother worked two to three minimum waged jobs to make enough money for her family. At this young age and with no father, Thai began to explore the streets to find acceptance. He found himself spending his time mostly around Asian gangs. Around the 7th grade, Thai began to train his musical style by listening to artists such as Bone Thugs N Harmony, 2Pac, and Eazy-E. Thai would use their songs to make his own; he would use other artists’ instrumentals and rap his own lyrics over them. In this way, he began to develop his own Asian gangster rap style.
Unfortunately, at the age of 13, Thai found himself amidst gang activities that resulted in his involvement in a gang shooting after school. He was arrested and faced nine years in jail, but was let off with probation since he was so young and had no prior offenses. Instead of changing his ways though, Thai found himself living the same lifestyle in the streets. Soon after, Thai was attacked and stabbed in the face while hanging out at a pool hall. Thai’s mother felt hopeless in this situation and her fear bred more hatred within Thai’s heart.
Thai and his gang were involved in many shootings and their own homes were shot many times. He would get into fights weekly and the gang task force unit in Portland considered him a high-profile suspect. Thai dealt with this street drama by thinking that he would either die or go to jail at an early age, especially after seeing many of his own friends end up with similar fates. In 2001, however, the birth of his baby son Tysa changed his life forever. Thai knew that he had to change into a positive role model, and his son’s birth gave him the strength to change his lifestyle, to become a better dad than his own father.
Seven years ago, at age 16, Thai recorded his hit singles, “Vietnamese Gangster” and “Around My Town.” From the success of these songs from mere online downloading distribution, Thai began to work on his first EP release “Portland Love,” a record full of songs about his gang life and his pride for his friends, family and ethnicity. Thai manages to gracefully intertwine Vietnamese rap lyrics in a few of his songs, a skill that Jin never learned to do very well with Cantonese.
Thai raps about his own struggles, overcoming these struggles, and the things he sees around him. Thai’s goal is to help other people going through the same things everyday to realize that they are not alone and that he understands. In contrast to east coast/west coast gangster rap, Bay Area hyphy, crunk music or other mainstream forms of hip-hop, he is an artist purely rapping about his own situation. He raps about his life as a gang banger, his life as a reformed father, his pride for his Vietnamese ethnicity and his pride for all Asian Americans. On top of this, Thai’s songs pave the way for other Asian hip-hop artists since he collaborates with mostly Asian Americans such as Myss Jane and JimmyBoi. In many ways, his music has created a new genre of hip-hop, hopefully pioneering the trend of Asian American artists among an industry where Asian Americans are unaccepted.