Nas headlines the first Asian HipHop Festival. Got your ticket yet?

Thailand gets to host its very first international hiphop concert this month with rap stars from all over the globe jet¬ting into Bangkok for the Asian HipHop Festival, which takes place at Impact Arena on Saturday from noon to mid¬night.
“It’s long been our dream to organise a major hiphop event,” says Khanngern “KH” Nuanual of popular hiphop trio Thaitanium and founder of Thaitanium Entertainment. “No one has ever put on an Asian hiphop festival in this region, even though Japan, Korea, Taiwan and even the Philippines are all huge mar¬kets. For us, the most important reason is to introduce our hiphop circle to other countries in Asia and America.”
The festival, which will be an annual event, is divided into two zones. The outdoors zone will feature street culture, bboy booths selling streetwear, a graffiti show, and a stage for Thai and foreign hiphop new¬comers. Activities run from noon to 6.
The second zone is inside the arena, where the focus will be on concerts. Among those per¬forming are Taiwan’s MC Hot Dog, Beatmathics from the Philippines, Hong Kong’s 24 Herbs, Malaysia’s Joe Flizzow, Korea’s Maximum Crew, Japan’s Zeebra, and Thaitanium. The highlight is Nas from the US.

Don’t be a sellout
“Nas has been on the hiphop scene for 15 years and he’s known for his intricate poetic verses. Why him? We would like Thai people to know what real hiphop is all about. He’s proof that you don’t have to be com¬mercial to sell well,” says KH.
“Many more foreign hiphop artists are interested in the fes¬tival but if we accepted all of them, we couldn’t do it all in one day. We’re confident it will be a fun and actionpacked 12 hours.”

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>>Tickets for the Asian Hip-Hop Festival 2008 range from Bt300 to Bt2,000 at Thaiticketmajor. Call (02) 262 3456.
>> Also check out www.FUPM.biz and www.Thaitabium-Ent.com