Thai rap-activist collective Rap Against Dictatorship teamed up with singer and pro-democracy activist Ammy the Bottom Blues in a moving commemoration of the 2006 Thai coup d’etat titled “16 ปีแล้วไอ้สัส” (loosely translated as “16 Years”).
In the description for the music video, Rap Against Dictatorship writes in Thai, “September 19, 2006. Do you still remember? Another page in Thai political history that proves the power madness, the madness of arms, the perversion of the people of the Thai military.”
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On September 19, 2006, military leaders seized control of the Thai government, suspended the Constitution, and enacted martial law in the country. This happened while then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was in New York and about to address the United Nations. In a report by TheNew York Times, “[Thaksin] declared a state of emergency on Thai television, but was cut off in midspeech. Later, he canceled his address to the General Assembly.”
According to Reuters, on that day, “The military stages a coup as Thaksin prepares to address the United Nations. Thaksin, winner of two landslide elections and in power for five years, goes into exile in London.”
In a Facebook post announcing the track, the collective wrote, “It’s been a long time. With the past wasted, a hopeless present and a future still struggling.”
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The track features Rap Against Dictatorship members Liberate P, Fafara, and Nazesus. “16 ปีแล้วไอ้สัส” follows the release of “บ้านเกิดเมืองนอน” (Homeland), the rap collective’s first release of the year. In 2021, they challenged the Thai government’s block order of their 2020 track, “ปฏิรูป” (Reform), which has been banned on YouTube Thailand as per the government’s request to “suspend the dissemination of computer data with inappropriate content.” In a brief statement to HipHopDX Asia then, Rap Against Dictatorship said of the news, “We must share as much as we can.”
In the same year, the group’s Hockhacker shared that the government was attempting to “hack his iPhone” and had his passport revoked.
Watch the music video for “16 ปีแล้วไอ้สัส” here:
