Thaiboy Digital

Thaiboy Digital (born Thanapat Thaothawong in Thailand but raised in Sweden), a rapper of Sweden's Drain Gang with fellow rappers Bladee (also a former high-school classmate) and Ecco2k and producer Ludwig "Whitearmor" Rosenberg, released the nine-song mixtape Tiger (2014) when he was already notified that he was expelled from Sweden and was relocating to Thailand. Nonetheless, this mixtape boasts some of Whitearmor's most creative production. In general, Thaiboy specializes in gentle, trance-y, autotuned mumble-rap over trap-inspired beats, whose key elements are found in the first two tracks, the stately beats of Haters Broke and the new-age synths of Diamonds. There seems to be even a spiritual edge to his post-trap hip-hop constructs: Gtblessgo begins like a Buddhist-temple funeral chant but morphs into a soaring hymn in a ghost-industrial setting, and Yr So Beautiful evolves into a solemn hymn-like singalong, and the album ends with the mantra-like recitation of Van in a thriller atmosphere. Whitearmor's unbridled imagination concocts the complex exotic-flavored beat of Shadow Silence. The oddly bombastic production of All My Life is balanced by the psychedelic dilation of Moon. This is probably Whitearmor's peak, and Thaiboy Digital's limited vocal range transcends rapping to become a more abstract form of communication.

The brief eight-song mixtape Lord of the Jewels (Return of the Goon) (2015) opted for a more conventional sound, with simple, streamlined production and straightforward vocal delivery, with the notable exceptions of the neurotic Ball Alert and the suspenseful closer 100.

Thaiboy's first album Legendary Member (Year0001, 2018) opted for even more conventional rapping (best the subliminal, whispered Drainstar Rock) and for singing that flirts with neosoul like in the love song Kiss Me Through the Scope (produced by Gud) and in the trumpet-enhanced Bentley (a duet with Bladee).