New York City, the birthplace of hip hop music, is thousands of kilometers away and, culturally, very different from northeastern Thailand. But for Thai rapper RachYo, the language of hip hop is universal. The 18-year-old artist appears in a recent music video recorded in a rice field. RachYo is sitting on an old truck, rapping about trouble in a love relationship. The video has 57 million views on YouTube. “I rap about things that really happen to me,” RachYo told the Reuters news agency. Based in Thailand’s Nakhon Ratchasima province, the rapper says he mostly sings about girls. The rising popularity of hip hop in Thailand has created stars that have drawn the attention of music industry leaders.