Fans vote the first Asian Hip-Hop Festival a major success

With a turn out of some 8,000 eager fans, the first Asian Hip-Hop Festival, held last Saturday at Impact Arena, moved than lived up to expectations.

Running from noon to 1am and featuring emcees, deejays, B-Boys, booths selling clothes and some cool graffiti, the event thoroughly embraced hip-hop culture but a real festival atmosphere was lacking, though mainly because of the venue.

That said, the festival was lively and loud, with great shows by Thai and foreign hip-hop artists generating lots of applause from rap disciples, among them celebs Jay Jetrin, Mr D, Taya Roger, and Mike Kingpayom.

Inside the hall, the action kicked off around 7, with Korean duo Onesun sharing the stage with b-boys Maximum Crew and 24 Herbs from Hong Kong following, drawing roars of approval as they changed the lyrics of their hit "Hong Kong, Kowloon" to "Hong Kong, Bangkok". They rapped in Chinese, sampling in rock tracks including Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Blur's "Song 2".

Shout-outs to Thailand

Joe Flizzow from Malaysia also mentioned Bangkok and Koh Samui in his "All around My World", while MC Hotdog from Taiwan chose to rap about how he loved Thai girls rather than Taiwan girls in his solo.

The crowds screamed and danced along with the seven-member Beatmathics from the Philippines but stood still for the show by Zebra from Japan.

Unsurprisingly, the hottest act of the night was Thailand's very own Thaitanium, who performed such favourites as "Tomyam Samurai" and "Shonenba", a tribute to late Japanese rapper Terry the Aki 06.

A special guest was 2008 Olympic medallist, boxer Manas Boonchamnong, who rapped with them on "Ja-Ma-Ride".

Many audience members left after Thaitanium's set though some stayed on for the festival headliner, American hip-hopper Nas, who performed a tight set including his major hit "The World Is Yours".