Thai rap collective Rap Against Dictatorship returns with their first track of the year, “บ้านเกิดเมืองนอน” (Homeland).
The group released a teaser and a group photo on February 25. They wrote in Thai,
“R.A.D. are reuniting in 2022 with the first MV. We hope that there are still people waiting to hear our work.” The photo shows its members, including Hockhacker, who faced multiple security issues last year, including an alleged state-sponsored hacking attempt on his Apple device and his passport revoked by the Thai government.
Rap Against Dictatorship’s latest track is about their country and what it means to be patriotic, especially these times. “Homeland does not belong to one person, and it shouldn’t be used by one generation as a tool of patriotism to push people to see things differently. But in an era where the gap between generations of Thai people is more, we have forgotten that this land belongs to all Thai people. This homeland belongs to Thai people of all generations, always and forever. ALL PEOPLE UNITE,” they wrote.
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In a press statement, the collective mentioned that “บ้านเกิดเมืองนอน” is “synonymous with conservative songs that the authoritarian government tries to arouse the older generation since last year.”
In December, Rap Against Dictatorship released “กอ เอ๋ย กอ กราบ” (Go, oh, go, bow) featuring Protozua. The track was made in collaboration with Thai group PrachathipaType, which describes themselves as “type lovers making weapons of mass communication for democracy protesters in Thailand.” The track aims to rethink Thai education by “not focusing on memorization but aims to make children know how to think, analyze, and understand the structural problems of society.”
Watch “บ้านเกิดเมืองนอน” (Homeland) below:
