Joey Boy ( th, โจอี้ บอย; born 1975) or Apisit Opasaimlikit ( th, อภิสิทธิ์ โอภาสเอี่ยมลิขิต, ), is a

Thai hip hop Thai hip hop is hip hop music made in Thailand. Thai hip hop is distinguished from American hip hop by not only sound and language, but also by the culture from which the music is made. History The origin of Thai hip hop can be traced in Thailand ...

singer and producer known as The Godfather of Thai Hip Hop.

Biography

Born into a

Thai Chinese Thai Chinese (also known as Chinese Thais, Sino-Thais), Thais of Chinese origin ( th, ชาวไทยเชื้อสายจีน; ''exonym and also domestically''), endonym Thai people ( th, ชาวไทย), are Chinese descenda ...

family, Joey Boy started listening to hip hop when he was 14 years old and

skateboard A skateboard is a type of sports equipment used for skateboarding. They are usually made of a specially designed 7-8 ply maple plywood deck and polyurethane wheels attached to the underside by a pair of skateboarding trucks. The skateboarder ...

ing. In 1994, he was signed to

Bakery Music Bakery Music is a Thai record label founded in 1994. It pioneered the independent music industry in the 1990s, being the most successful of its time, and inspiring the creation of many other indie labels. The company is now a subsidiary of Sony Mu ...

. He finished high school from Wat Racha Thiwat.

Fun, Fun, Fun and work with Snow

In 1995, Joey Boy began collaborating with multi-platinum Canadian reggae artist,

Snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

. In 1995, Joey Boy flew to Toronto to record "Fun, Fun, Fun" with Snow and the single went on to become one of the top selling singles in Thailand. The video for "Fun, Fun, Fun" featured Snow and Joey Boy touring Toronto. In 1997, Joey Boy appeared on Snow's single, "Me and Joey."

Gancore and the Black Eyed Peas

In 2000, he moved to

GMM Grammy GMM Grammy Public Company Limited ( th, จีเอ็มเอ็ม แกรมมี่ or G"MM' Grammy) is the largest media conglomerate entertainment company in Thailand. Grammy top artists include Bird Thongchai, Silly Fools, Loso, ...

, where he runs his own

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

, Gancore Club, and produces other artists. He has spent time in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, where he became acquainted with

will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas. ...

The Black Eyed Peas Black Eyed Peas (also known as The Black Eyed Peas) is an American musical group consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo. The group's line-up during the height of their popularity in the 2000s featured Fergie, who replaced Kim Hil ...

, who co-produced Joey Boy's song "LA to BKK". He met will.i.am outside a disco in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and introduced himself. "Hey you, we're Thai rappers and we like your songs," he recalls saying to will.i.am. When the Black Eyed Peas came to Thailand in 2004, Joey Boy was the opening act and was invited onstage by will.i.am during the Black Eyed Peas' show. He also opened for the Black Eyed Peas when they played in Bangkok in 2006, and has continued to collaborate with the band on his albums. Joey Boy was among the

Thai pop music Thai pop or T-pop, is a genre of Thai music roughly equivalent to western pop. It emerged in the 1970s–80s, during which it was known as string music ( th, เพลงสตริง), before gaining mainstream popularity during the 1990s and ...

artists participating in ''Ramakien: A Rak Opera'', a rock-opera adaptation of Thailand's national epic, the ''

Ramakien The ( th, รามเกียรติ์, , ; ; sometimes also spelled ) is one of Thailand's national epics, derived from the Buddhist Dasaratha Jataka. Fundamentally, it is a Thai version of the Hindu epic Ramayana. Ramakien is an importan ...

'', at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in 2006. He made his feature film debut in December 2006 in ''

The Possible ''The Possible'' ( th, เก๋า..เก๋า, ''Kao ... Kao'') is a 2006 Thai musical-comedy film. It stars Thai rapper Joey Boy (Apisit Opsasaimlikit) as the leader of a 1970s rock group ( Thai string combo) that finds themselves transported ...

'' as the leader of a 1970s Thai band patterned after The Impossibles who

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...

to the present day. Joey Boy starred in the 2012 Thai comedy horror film '' Ghost Day'' as Mhen. He then made a hit single "Teerak" featuring Tinglish.

Discography

Bakery Music

* ''Joey Boy'' (1995) * ''Joey Man'' (1996) * ''See Ya Later'' (''Celebrate No Million Copies'') (1997) * ''Fun Fun Fun'' * ''Fun Fun Fun/The Chinese Association Remix Single'' * ''Fun Fun Fun 1,000,000'' * ''Joey's Hit Pt. 1'' * ''Bangkok'' (1998) * ''Tourist'' * ''Joey Boy Anthology'' * ''The Greatest Beats 1994-2000'' (2005)

Independent releases

* ''Joey Rama'' * ''JB'' (EP featuring "LA/BKK")

Gancore Club/GMM Grammy

* ''Gancore Club Various Artists' * ''Sorry, I'm Happy'' * ''Raii Gor Ruk (ร้ายก็รัก EP)'' (EP, 2006) * ''The Best of Joey Boy'' * ''Original Motion Picture Soundtrack:

(อัลบั้มเพลงประกอบภาพยนต์ 'เก๋า เก๋า (2006)

MC

Television * 20 : Online * 20 : (No) On Air YouTube:JoeyBoy

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joey Boy 1975 births Living people Thai male actors Thai people of Chinese descent Thai Theravada Buddhists 21st-century Thai male singers Thai rappers Thai comedians 20th-century Thai male singers Thai television personalities Thai YouTubers