September 12, 2009

Boomer, a returnee rapping destiny


See a multimedia version of this story at this link.


Boomer is 27 years old. He was born in a refugee camp on the Thai border and arrived in the United States when he was just a baby. He has lived in Stockton, California. In 2003, after a couple of years spent in a Californian jail, he got deported back to Cambodia, in the “6th group” of returnees. Boomer is one of the 212 returnees who have already been deported back to a native country that they barely know – if not at all – when they arrive on the Cambodian soil. After his arrival, Boomer quickly realized that he couldn’t give up hope and looked forward to reconstruct a new life in Phnom Penh. Though it’s not easy at all, Boomer – in comparison with other returnees - hasn’t done too bad, even if he admits still struggling to make ends meet, support his family and the project that he has started.
Boomer has created his own organization, “A+ Entertainment”, certainly inspired by the success of KK and his organization “Tiny Toons”. Boomer is an artistic producer, mixer and DJ, but most of all he is an educator and role model for the young boys he brings off the streets of Phnom Penh, where he gives them a chance or at least a ticket to the growing rap-hip-hop-DJ club scene in Cambodia.
The “Khmer Tassou”, four boys who dream of being under the television spotlights, working under the mentoring and tutoring of Boomer, an older brother or a dad they may not have at home.































































In the studio, the “Khmer Tassou” are working on their texts. The four boys don’t cheat under Boomer’s instructions; they think and write conscientiously with Boomer behind them.





































































Poeun Sophon Pheap, 16, alias “DJ Shadow”, another singer at working in Boomer’s studio.