Bestinthemix.com Meets Thailand - Take 1

     It’s 5:30a on the morning of July 23^rd here in Phuket, Thailand and as promised, your resident indie rebel, Irish Ninja, is checking in from Thailand to let you in on this field trip.

     Initially, I had this this grandiose notion that I was going to get here and that music by the likes of Roscoe Dash , DJ Khaled, and  Maybach Music would have just as secure a foothold here as they do stateside. I thought I was going to be covering how mainstream hip hop had reached into the some of the smallest parts of the world and still had people singing along to their lyrics without understanding the words. The whole music is the universal language motif with the American brand leading the way.

  

     What’s crazy is that where I’m at now, Some American artists are breaking here like Adele, Estelle, and Mark Ronson broke through in the US. The artists I just mentioned are a big deal in their part of the world and their level of fame was enough for them to break out on American charts. Artists like Wiz Khalifa and Roscoe Dash are pretty famous in America but I have yet to hear the clubs put any of their songs into a regular rotation. At first I just chalked it up to the songs not having a fast enough beat or America being ahead of the power curve. But there is so much more to it. Just the overall mood in music here is so much more………I don’t know………….alive, vibrant, more focused on the good and fun in life instead of the violent, paper chase at any cost theme we in America have been accustomed to. Being here has definitely proven how your surroundings are definitely going to influence the art you create. That last line sounds like a basic piece of common sense until you are able to experience it for yourself.

     I was lucky enough to be able to play a mix I put together at a bar that D. Money (my tour guide) and I have been pretty much become regulars at. (Shout out to P. One Bar on Bangla Road!) The mix was a success, but outside that mix, you just didn’t hear some of the songs. Case in point, I haven’t been to America since Wiz dropped Work Hard, Play Hard but I’m sure it is on EVERY SINGLE hip hop station back in the states. Out here, not so much. P. One Bar is the only place I’ve heard that song and that is since I’ve been here.

     This isn’t even scratching the surface of what I have for you all, but let’s be real, the sun is coming up which means it’s time for me to lay it down. This is Irish Ninja, passing out……….