Khmer Thug
KP: First thing's first, how it's going, how is everything?
Khmer Thug: - I'm well man, good to see you again, it's been a while. Everything's great, I've just been away from the studio, been laying low for a bit but my break is over now, it's time to get back to the music. I've been preparing and ready to put fire on the streets again.
KP: So tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are and what you as well as your music stands for?
Khmer Thug: As you know they call me Khmer thug, my real name is Monine Dara, I've been a big fan of rap music for all my life. I grew up in Phnom Penh and from time to time, I was shoved back and forth to the countryside. Moved to france and got kicked out back to Cambodia, so my life wasn't really stable at times and it was kinda hard for me to settle down, attend school and make real friends.
"
I've done some dirt in the past just to fit in with society, you know when you're young and ignorant, your boys start doing drugs, you do too... They steal, robbed and get into bullshit fights, you're always there."At the time I thought it was cool man, doing all that. Time goes by, some of them got arrested, killed or became handicap for life, I thought to myself it was the end, I gave up everything, then I found music. I listened to french rap at first, they were saying shit that I've been through, I was like, I could do this in Khmer so I can tell my stories to my people...
KP: So French rap made quite the impact on you, what about American rap music?
Later on, I started to picked up English and have been listening to american rap music since... It's still music, it's just something I can relate to but nowadays rap and hip hop totally changed their form, it's not what it's used to be... There are a lot of talented cats out there who can spit or try to flow in Khmer, I gotta give them props man, they're putting it down, you know what I'm saying but as for me,
If I can't be the best, I gotta be "one" of the bests. I wanna be the one who can change their prospective, the way they're looking at hip hop. My rhymes, my melodies and the vocabulary that I use are my style.
[laughs]
"They've already
called me the pioneer of Khmer rap... But they ain't seen nothing yet!
"
KP: What inspires you to write your songs? Is it more just random thoughts and topics or do you draw from real life experiences?
Khmer Thug: Yeah, my music is the soundtrack of my life. I have been to too many places and lived through a lot of shit, you know, I ain't no saint either haha... I try my best to put into words what I've seen and done. Good and bad in positive or negative ways. I tend to drag my personal experience into the open and make them the topic of my raps. A lot of fake people out there would vent their opinion by exaggerating in their lyrics... You just gotta be who you are man, real talk always attracts people's attention. My family wasn't wealthy, I was the poorest kid at my school, so what I lived through was just a transcript
to my songs. The bitterness of my life added to the already fucked up and corrupted society thatwe lived in was pretty much the subject of my music. This is America now,freedom of speech...
KP: What's in your IPOD?
Khmer Thug: Let's see what's in there...? I have no discrimination for music, I pretty much listen to everything (not them gay shit they play on the radio nowadays) haha ... But hip hop/ R&B is what I really can relate to. From underground hip hop to slow jams R&B, pop to country, blues and jazz, soft rock to reggae, classical to metal, oldies to techno...Khmer, french, English, Korean, Indian, Japanese... I have over ten thousand songs to shuffle so... I'm down with whatever's hot.
KP: You were once a part of a now defunk Javelin Records. Everything appeared to be doing quite well, there was quite a buzz surrounding the movement. There were music videos constantly being uploaded as well as a highly anticipated forth coming album, then all of a sudden everything came to a halt! In your own words, what happened?
Khmer Thug: I've been with Javelin Records for a long time. I can honestly say that was how my career really started, there's no doubt about it. I dropped 2 albums in 3 years. Everything worked out perfectly fine, you know what I'm saying... Everybody has put a lot into it, with blood and sweat... All the artists, song writers, composers not to mention sound engineers and video editors... You know, time changed and so do people, they all had other priorities in life, some of us were less dedicated, and so we decided to part ways... But music was always here, it never left me [laughs]... I've been on the down low for some time, now I'm ready to get on point again. This time, I'ma do it hard!!!
KP: How has that experiences changed you, and are you currently working with a new label or production company?
Khmer Thug: well, I'm always gonna be who I am. I'm to the point where I'm forward-thinking and calculating the times. This isn't where I wanted to be when I started to get involved with music. I'm getting older now and so does my audience. I've been banging so I'm a try to keep banging till the day music stops. The crew got scattered, wasn't anyone's fault, so I can't blame it on nobody.
"I think I still have some in me, and until the day I can't rap or sing no
more, I will never consider quitting music!
"
Like I mentioned before, I'm not looking to be getting rich off of khmer rap nor do I wanna be nominated for the Grammy awards [laughs], but rest assured that this name will always have an impact on some people, they will never look at Khmer Hip Hop the same way ever again! At the moment, I am working with a new music studio called [Genetix Sound Lab], this new crew consists of some of the cats that I've worked with before but under a new management, we gonna see some quick progress...
KP: I understand you are currently working on your new album as we speak. I believe this would be your third full length album correct? How is it different from your last two albums and what can we expect on the new one?
Khmer Thug: Yes, that's correct. This would be my 3rd album called "Made In Cambodia". It's gonna be once again, a variety of topics, love, hate, my people and my country. As far as the style, it's gonna be the same [laughs], my new producer had told me just to tone it down a little bit, my khmer lyrics are obviously too explicit and the people are not ready to hear them yet... I can't promise him anything we're just gonna have to wait and see. The instrumentals will be again made in house with in company, although it is okay to be inspired by others we do not condone any stealing or copying of other people's work. We will be dedicating our time and put in effort to see this dream finally come true. People put a lot of effort and not to mention heart and soul into their work, gotta respect that!
KP: We look forward to hearing all the new materials. We wish you all the best of luck in all your future endeavors! Thank you for your time.
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