Asia
Rap Against Dictatorship rallies against the Thai government in ‘Budget’
The 11 fearless MCs want to know why they are all living on borrowed time
Music has been used as a form of protest forever. Nowadays, video, especially YouTube since it’s readily available on most of the planet in everyone’s pocket, can have huge effects. This is where Rap Against Dictatorship comes in.
In their latest offering, ‘Budget,’ the 11 resolute MCs go hard against the Thai government for their mishandling of the pandemic and betrayal of their poor citizens. Instead of fancy backdrops, they have filmed each other at rallies, news conferences, hospitals where dead bodies are delivered, and in the middle of traffic jams.
The chorus for ‘Budget’ is brutal in its simplicity. “Your budget comes from our money/Spend our taxes on the oligarchy/Bow down to the crown before thee/Cause our lives are at their mercy.” The fact that Rap Against Dictatorship even exists is courageous because people in Thailand who criticize the government or the Royal Family disappear. The MCs - HOCKHACKER, Zo9, Liberate P, Protozua, Dif Kids, G-Bear, EP$ON, T-1K, SKBB, Numba9, and 3Bone - prove their strength by showing their faces in the videos and standing up for what they believe is right.
Towards the end of this seven-minute spitfest, 3Bone comes in hot with one of the hardest verses of the whole song. He raps, “F the bullies in this coconut shell/Squandering money like they taking it to hell” while imagery of poor people needing food is interspersed with the government pulling a black curtain off a brand new tank. He then finishes his verse in the middle of a rice field with no shoes on. And not much more is needed to be said about the Thai government after that.
Check out Rap Against Dictatorship’s ‘Budget’ below.