AsiaLIFE

Phnom Penh’s latest international hip hop event shook Pontoon in early January. Nora Lindstrom had a chat with the artists, Akil the MC and rapper Hydro Phonics.

“This is hip hop you-know-what-I’m-saying” shouts Akil the MC, of 90s hip hop band Jurassic 5 fame, with an L.A. twang to the enthusiastic and expecting crowd at Pontoon. The float is packed to the rim and there are jokes about the place sinking – again. Thankfully all that disturbs the night of international and local hip hop are sporadic power cuts. Even these only elicit cheers from the audience as well as break dancing to the beat of claps.

State of the Art

Akil is one part of the Bangkok-based band 4dub, together with rapper Hydro Phonics. The MCs first time in Cambodia, he is both surprised and impressed, especially after a visit to the hip hop NGO, Tiny Toones. “It’s good to see hip hop in its purest form here,” he says. “It’s not commercial, and it’s not just rap.”

Cambodia’s hip hop artists have gone back to the roots of the art, instead of following the often aggressive but popular style of gangster rap, feels Akil. “Their music is not Asian at all,” he says. “It’s pure, almost soulful, like old blues.” Inspired by beats, social conditions, and little things someone might say, hip hop is an outlet for expression, a way of telling a story or sending a message, says Akil.

Hydro has the same aversion to commercial gangster rap as his partner. “Hip hop is holistic, it’s about graffiti, breakdancing ... it’s about creativity,” he claims. Despite being a rapper himself he wears a t-shirt stating “Rap is only one element of hip hop.”

The Nice Face of Hip Hop

Though they may look fierce in posters, in person both men are rather charming. Nor are they desperate for the limelight. For the Pontoon gig, they opened the stage for Cambodian hip hoppers by including teenagers from Tiny Toones as well as the Klap Ya Handz collective. “We are involved in this thing called ‘skill districts’,” explains Akil. “The project aims to open networking channels linking people involved in hip hop and highlighting artists who might otherwise go unnoticed. Now Cambodia is a part of it too.” 

The duo’s good deeds don’t end there. They have begun work on a charity song to raise money for the victims of a nightclub fire in Bangkok on New Year’s Eve. “The club didn’t have insurance, so many of the victims will get no compensation,” they explain, adding that many Thai-based artists are contributing to the project.

Although he admits to occasionally missing Jurassic 5, the group that was a major part of the alternative hip hop scene in the early 90s, Akil is not dwelling on his past fame. “Life goes on, I get to do a lot of things now that I wouldn’t have been able to with them,” he says. “Also, I can spend more time with my family – I have three teenage sons and a nine-year-old daughter back in LA.” Naturally, they are into hip hop too. Both Akil and Hydro hope to return to Cambodia in the near future, although they also have an album coming out in the Spring to work on, as well as both a Hollywood and a Thai action film to feature in.