Star2 was born in a Thai refugee camp, Mae La, in Thailand. He lived there with his family until the age of six, then his grandmother and her four children migrated to San Diego, CA. Star2 and his family are Ka-ren, a persecuted indigenous tribe from Burma, now named Myanmar. He currently lives and works out of San Diego as a rapper with an affinity for conscious songwriting. His newest single, “Run Away” was recently released. The single is about the current state of the world, with references to the Black Lives Matter movement and current refugee crisis in Thailand, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. The music video for the single is just as powerful, with videos of current atrocities happening throughout the world on loop in the background. Star2’s hope is to raise awareness for these issues and give back to those helping out. He works with several nonprofits such as The Border Consortium, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Thailand, The International Rescue Committee, and Karen Outreach to support refugees in Thailand and Ukraine. Read on in our interview with Star2 to learn more about his music, upcoming EP, and how he is offering support to these organizations.

Where are you based?
I was born in a Thai refugee camp, Mae La, in Thailand. I am Ka-ren, a persecuted indigenous tribe from Burma, now called Myanmar. I was lucky and chosen with my grandmother and her four children to emigrate from the camp to the United States, to San Diego, California. I grew up in City Heights, in Southeast San Diego and live in San Diego now. I guess I am based in San Diego, but will always be Ka-ren from Burma and a refugee from Mae La camp.

You grew up in auspicious circumstances, having been born in a refugee camp in Thailand and migrating to California with your grandmother at the age of 6. How does this influence your music?
My life and my story influence my music… it is part of my story, and who I am. I wrote my earliest songs about being a refugee with my Ka-ren friends. We wrote half in Ka-ren, and half in English. I also wrote about my people’s struggle in my latest single, “Run Away.”

You were forced to adapt to a lot of new sights and sounds when you arrived in the US. What gave you solace?
In my song, “Real Life” I say “if it wasn’t for the music I wouldn’t be here today” and it’s true. Music was a way to be still, to zone out, to listen to songs that mirrored how I was feeling. Juice Wrld, in particular, captured my depression and despair at times. Writing music, rapping, and singing, which I started to do later, allowed me to process my emotions. Music also provided good times too. It lifted my mood and let me dream.

What inspired you to get into music?
Music is a big part of our culture. It has been part of my life since I was a kid. People sing, dance, play electric guitar and acoustic guitar, drums, keyboard, and cool sounding indigenous string and drum instruments at church, at New Year celebrations, at weddings, and other festivals. I sang at church, and learned traditional dance too.

Justin Bieber was a huge influence on me in the US — as a kid I wanted to be him! I sang his songs all the time, for anyone who would listen. I grew my hair long to look like him. In middle school, a friend who lived in our apartment complex set up a little studio in his room. We spent hours freestyling and copying the singers and rappers we loved — Michael Jackson, Chris Brown, Tyga, Akon, and Young Money Crew. I also loved Bruno Mars for ballads. I started writing my own songs and we recorded some music videos that we posted on YouTube. We got a lot of attention, and Karen1TV in New York offered to interview me.

In high school, I got a scholarship to a summer rap program at the LA College of Music, “Rap and Hip Hop: Change the World.” The program included making beats, writing melodies, vocal performance, and lyrics. Dr. Luke, the famous producer, was a guest teacher. The foundation that gave the scholarship wanted us to rap without cussing. It was hella hard! I had some performances where I was freestyling and went blank and busted up laughing!!

Your newest single “Run Away” was recently released. What inspired this single?
I wanted to write a song about the state of the world. I was in the studio recording during most of COVID and in LA during the Black Lives’ Matter protests. My family fled genocide, has experienced starvation and atrocities. My neighborhood in San Diego is a crossroads for refugees and the problems of poverty, homelessness, mental illness and addiction. The chorus poured out of me. At the lowest points in my life, I literally want to run away — to find safety.

I was born in a refugee camp, Mae La, in Thailand on the border with Myanmar. My people, the Ka-ren people of Burma have experienced genocide. My family walked 500 miles to reach this camp, one of nine, with 55,000 people, after soldiers attacked their village, killed people, and burned it to the ground.

The camp is surrounded by barbed wire, guards and guard dogs. There are land mines outside the camp in the jungle. Food is scarce. We receive rice and fish paste once a month and went into the jungle to kill small animals with sling shots, pick fruit, and dig up roots.

At age six I left the camp when my grandma was chosen by a lottery to go to the United States.

We arrived in City Heights, San Diego — a place where Vietnamese refugees settled in the 1970s, in Southeast, San Diego, with poverty, crime, drugs, and gangs. Her oldest son, my uncle, got addicted to drugs and went in and out of jail. My grandma left before dawn to pick mushrooms to support us. We were alone. After my uncle went to jail I was in charge of three younger children. My life has had continuous uncertainty and upheaval since I was born.

I relate to the homeless and their suffering, to those who have to flee violence to save their lives. I reacted to the refugees fleeing Afghanistan and the Haitian refugees who were whipped by border patrol agents trying to find a safety. I used these images in the video to the song. I added these lyrics, “…there’s also people in different countries…they’ve got to run and fight, just to see another day of life. They’re over there praying for help while we’re worrying about our wealth.” At some point we have to rise up and demand change and stop tolerating injustice. We saw this with the Black Lives Matters marches. We see it with the incredibly brave people of all ages in Ukraine.

The music video for the single shows scenes from the social and environmental catastrophes that are plaguing the world. What message do you hope viewers take from the video?
I think everyone relates to the images of injustice, the disgusting effects of our greed and waste ruining the planet, our inhumanity that shows up in wars, poverty, homelessness, and police brutality. It’s in our power to change our world. We have to do it together.

We filmed the music video in an LED warehouse in Compton, California. They manufacture LED panels that project a sea of moving images on the outside of high-rise buildings and high end stores. In New York City they show images of surfing and the beach that literally stop people on the street. In the warehouse they have a showroom section to show customers the panels in action. We took a tour and had the idea of projecting the images of everything we had all been experiencing — the border patrol agents whipping Haitian immigrants; the Black Lives’ Matter protestors getting beaten with batons; the tornadoes in Kentucky that wiped out entire neighborhoods because of climate change; the seas of homeless people in LA in other parts of the US — and using it for the video.

We created a reel of the images in a loop and set them to the song. When we filmed the video in the warehouse and saw them projected onto the LED panels, larger than life, we all froze. Several in our team started to cry. It was very powerful, and very sad too.

What inspired your choice to lean into conscious songwriting?
We experienced collective trauma over that past few years. We experienced a pandemic and were isolated from our loved ones and had to stay inside and away from each other. We stopped going to school. We stopped seeing our friends and families. There was no tolerance. We started hating on each other. George Floyd and the Asian hate crimes had a big effect on me. We watched injustice, inhumanity, and the fucked-up state of the world in real-time. Depression and anxiety skyrocketed and there was catastrophe after catastrophe — people just couldn’t take it anymore. I wanted to explore what we had witnessed, experienced, and felt emotionally…to ask everyone to consider how it could be different and how we could fix it. At the end of my video “Run Away” I ask everyone to “Pray for peace in our world.” I wear a sweatshirt in the video with a peace sign. I am the narrator who watches society’s horrors on an old tv set. There are scenes of my Ka-ren people fighting back against the Burmese Army who massacre them. I wanted to include footage of them fighting back and standing strong. I wanted to acknowledge their continued struggle. I was filmed in my traditional Ka-ren shirt in the video and on the thumbnail advertising it. We added footage of Putin and the unimaginable bombing and shelling of civilian neighborhoods in Ukraine just before we finished production. I made the video as a tribute to all those who are experiencing injustice in the world. I am hoping for change and enlightenment.

What is your songwriting process?
When I have a feeling or experience I wanna write about, I vibe with a particular beat and start with a verse or a hook idea and just go from there. Sometimes lyrics come to me first and I write verses on my phone. Sometimes I dream about a song and hum it into my phone when I wake up and write the lyrics later. Sometimes I use verses and lyrics I saved months before for a new song.

Other times I want something really upbeat, or something you can dance to, and I am obsessed until I find a beat I like so I can make that kind of song.

You have released an influx of singles since 2020. Are you thinking of releasing an EP or album in the future?
I am dropping my EP Real Life on April 29th. It has my last six singles, including a song called “Big Bands” with Asian rapper $tupid Young from Long Beach. I have a second EP following called New Me with features with Soulja Boy, Lil Poppa, another song with $tupid Young and some dope dance songs.

Your single "Real Life" is a collaboration with Jacksonville, Florida’s Lil Poppa. How did you two become connected?
A member of my team is from Ohio. He had the connection and we sent several songs to Lil Poppa. He loved “Real Life” and hopped on right away. We shot a music video together in the desert and got to know each other. He is so dope…very humble and very fun too. We had a blast riding ATV’s in the desert!

What is the story behind this single?
The hook is “I come from a place where you hear sirens all the time.” It’s about growing up in the hood and what that means when you are a child – what you see, what you experience, and what you are forced to do. Lil Poppa had the same experiences I did even though he was in Jacksonville, Florida, and I was in San Diego.

You also collaborated with Luh Kel in the single, “I Wanna Get F'd Up.” How do you approach collaborations from a songwriting standpoint?
Sometimes I write a song and later think it would be perfect for a particular artist. I reach out and if I can get them to listen to the song — we often have a successful collab. It all comes down to the song, to be honest.

You work with several nonprofits such as The Border Consortium, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Thailand, The International Rescue Committee, and Karen Outreach to support refugees in Thailand and Ukraine. How did you become involved with these organizations?
I am a refugee, and am involved in my people’s struggle. I want to help those left behind in the nine refugee camps on the border of Thailand and Myanmar. Though I am not directly involved with these organizations, I know they provide help and want to spread awareness and get aid to the people who desperately need it.

The International Rescue Committee is a well-known and respected organization that provides help to refugees throughout the world. They help refugees in war-torn areas and also when they go to new countries. They helped my family in City Heights, San Diego — when we first arrived and even now. They recently helped me file my citizenship application and pass my citizenship test — a very long and expensive process.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Thailand provides food and basic shelter supplies to the nine refugee camps. They distribute rice, fish paste, cooking fuel, and materials for shelter.

The Border Consortium coordinates aid and raises money to help the refugees in all nine camps.

So everyone understands, the camps are fenced in with guards. There are land mines directly outside the camp into the jungle. The camps are isolated and primitive. The paths and roads are dirt. There is often flooding, and fire is a constant danger. Bamboo huts provide shelter but there is no electricity and no bathrooms. My camp had 55,000 people. Food is very scarce and distributed monthly — rice and fish paste. There is very limited medical care. Refugees in the camp are not part of Thailand and cannot work or live in Thailand itself — the Thai government does not want them to take jobs away from their Thai citizens. The refugees cannot return to Myanmar because the Burmese soldiers will kill them. They are in a no-mans-land until they are accepted to one of the countries that takes refugees — a very small percentage of the camp gets this opportunity. All are hoping they can return to their homeland if there is peace — but the civil war continues with no end in sight. Many young boys are recruited from the camp to fight in the resistance army, and are killed. There is a high incidence of suicide in adults because of the hopelessness.

How do you support The Border Consortium and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Thailand?
I support these organizations now by spreading awareness. I hope I can make it big and help more financially in the future.

You are performing in Omaha Nebraska on June 4 and 5 for Karen Martyrs’ Day to raise money for the camps. Will people be able to attend or stream this performance?
People will attend this concert in person. I don’t know if streaming will be available. I am excited to help support the camps.

The conflict between the Karen’s (Kuh-ren) and the Myanmar government does not get the media attention that it should. How can people stay informed? What would you like people to know?
Many people know about the Rohingya. The UN and the US government recently formally declared that the Myanmar government committed genocide again them. I want people to know that all the minority groups in Myanmar have been attacked and have been subjected to these atrocities. The Ka-ren are victims of genocide too. People can stay informed by following social media stories on World Refugee Day, coming up on June 20th. I hope to continue to spread awareness, so they can also follow my Facebook and Instagram pages.

The International Rescue Committee is providing support for families that are fleeing Ukraine. What kind of work are volunteers within this organization doing? How are you offering support?
In San Diego, the IRC and other charities welcome refugees who first arrive. They help them get housing, enroll their kids in school, give them donated clothes and some furniture and help them get jobs. They also offer English classes, job placement, and offer information about receiving medical care if they need it. We needed help understanding how to use appliances and electricity.

How can our readers reach out and support these organizations?
Readers can donate directly to the IRC at https://help.rescue.org/donate/tax-dedeuctible-gift
They can donate to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Thailand at https://www.unhcr.org/th/en/sign-up-to-support
The Border Consortium at https://theborderconsortium.org/donate

There is a lot of debate over how the US handles its borders. What are your thoughts on the issue?
I understand that countries have borders. I also understand that people do what they have to do to survive. In Ukraine, people had no choice but to flee when their homes and neighborhoods were bombed. It is not easy to run for your life to a strange place. My grandmother picked mushrooms before sunrise to support her four children and me in San Diego. We had assistance for four months, and then had to pay rent and other expenses. We also had to pay back our airfare from the refugee camp. The people who are refugees are not to blame for their situation. Anyone would do the same to protect their families. It is wonderful that countries are generous and want to help people in need.

What would be your preference on how borders should be handled?
I wish there was peace. I wish people would not have to escape death and flee to refugee camps. Stopping a crisis so people can stay in their countries would be ideal. I am very grateful for the help I have received.

How are you staying positive during the current wave of the pandemic and state of the world?
I stayed positive by recording a lot of music! I saw my grandma and my close friends. I was positive by seeing the waves of people who protested police brutality. When I get really down I like to watch movies. Horror movies are an escape and laughter, of course, is very important.

What does your new normal look like?
It seems like we have a break in the pandemic. I am hoping that it sticks and we can continue socializing with family and friends, and also at concerts and even festivals. Everyone is hungry for our old lives. No one liked living a Zoom life and staying cooped up. All the artists I know really want to perform live again.

What is your motto in life?
Never ever give up, and take opportunities that come your way. Don’t talk yourself out of it - always say yes.

To hear more from Star2, please follow him on the platforms below:
Instagram: @Star2Official
TikTok: @Star2Official
Twitter: @Star2Official
Facebook: @It’sStar2
YouTube: @Star2
Spotify: @Star2

Raising Awareness for Refugees With Rapper Star2