Burmese hip hop

The Burmese hip hop is one of the most successful music genres in Myanmar today, and arguably the most popular form of music among the urban youth of Yangon and Mandalay.

First generation

Until 2000, rock and roll was the dominant music genre in Myanmar. The Burmese hip hop scene started in the late 1980s with the rapper Myo Kyawt Myaing although songs were plain rapping music rather than typical hip hop. In late 1990s, a Yangon-based four-member band named Acid started introducing old school hip hop in night clubs of Yangon, and became popular among Yangon's youth. Acid, widely considered to be the pioneers of Burmese hip-hop,^[1] made their debut in 2000 with Sa-Tin-Gyin (Beginning).

Their success attracted other hip-hop artists and groups, now known as the "first generation" of Burmese hip-hop, like Theory (Barbu and Thxa Soe), NS (Kyaw Thu Soe and Lin Lin) and Too Big. Most of the first generation artists used old school hip-hop. Still, hip hop was new to the Burmese and not widely accepted yet by the public at large. To find wider acceptance, some first-generation artists such as Sai Sai Kham Hlaing and Ye Lay mixed hip-hop with pop, and found commercial success.

Second generation

After Acid's breakthrough, a group named "9mm" moved the style of Burmese hip hop to new level. Although the group's underground music was well known to the youth, most of their songs did not pass the Burmese censor board, and the group never released an own album under 9mm. Later, because of the group's political activism, even the name 9mm was banned by the censor board.^[2]

Other notable groups were G-Family,Project-1, Byauk-Oh (Firecracker), Examplz, On-track, Cyclone. M.H.A. (Myanmar HipHop Association) was formed unofficially. Many youth joined M.H.A. and inspired to becoming hip hop artist someday.

Third generation

Since late 2006, new artists like Jouk Jack , Kyaw Htut Swe claimed themselves as "third generation". They formed a group called VIP (Rock$tar) with Ah Boy, Htein Win and Hlwan Paing. They made history in the Burmese music industry because they became famous artists without having released an album. In late 2008 and early 2009, many other third generation groups released their sample albums.

Politics

Many of the rappers had been detained or called for question by government. Zayar Thaw served 6 years prison term until 17 May 2011 ^[3] because he is the member of Generation Wave (youth anti-gov group).^[4] His group-mate, also member of GW, Yan Yan Chan released from a temporary detainment center not long ago.^[5] The name 9mm is banned to used in public because they distributed sample CDs of underground group MFG in one of their performance. G-Tone from Cyclone called to question during performing in concert.^[2]

References